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That thought was profound and aateway back to Idumea And not just to Idumea but to any of the other h rew stronger and stronger with the Mediuh in the Medium to banish death There would coh that two il, could use the Mediu all of their ancestors back from the dead, in bodies reether cross the threshold back to Idumea and join the ranks of others who had so done It had happened in Muirwood already, she suddenly realized The stone ossuaries that had washed away, revealing nothing but grave clothes and wedding bands The Essaios cared not for trinkets of gold or ceer behind on a fallen world Unseen, they had entered the Abbey and crossed the Apse Veil back to their true home

That was the destiny of her race, she realized It was the duty that corand chain, that link that would make it possible for himself and his family to conquer death She knew that it was part of her blood as well Was it possible then that her parents had been joined together by an irrevocare sigil? Or at least soiven went beyond anything she could fully understand It smothered her with possibilities Yet she was so happy, so full of the intent of what it meant But the Aldermaston was not finished There was more to the history than she had been told so far With the burning desire still inside, she listened as the inforan to shift in darker tones Yes, Idumea was a place of beauty and power But occasionally, rarely, there were those shadow-selves, like she had been, that wanted to becos that learned how to force the Mediu their wills to it Just as there wereand sparkling, there was a balance, an equal portion of dead things that would not progress, would not groould not enter the cocoons of birth and transform There were those that turned so ht was sh they could not die of it Rather than co to the world cocooned in a babe’s body, they had been flung out of Idumea – cursed for their wickedness and cruelty They were banished to the very worlds where the scions of Idu alive

Lia understood Colvin’s comments now The Myriad Ones were not the dead They were the Unborn They were the sparks, the gossaences that were too wicked to be born, too selfish to create, to wild to tame And they had a Queen

Lia watched in horror Yes, the Myriad Ones would never be born, but they were cunning and devious and twisted truths to suit their purposes They were led by a Queen na her and her followers and swore she would destroy the Abbeys, to prevent anyone fro to Idumea Anyone To further her cause, she created an order, just as the Essaios had created the order ofpeople back to Idumea They were called the hetaera and they only accepted woht to hate the mastons, to murder them, and destroy the Abbeys The hetaera were the hidden power behind kings and emperors who they manipulated all to their ends In every land, in every realm, they existed – soed the kystrels and used theal’s bidding

Without being told, Lia realized that Pareigis, the Queen Dowager, was a hetaera And just as assuredly as she realized that, she knew that it was she who had driven the old king to murder thethe Mediuht Only one of the race of Essaios was more powerful

Lia realized the risk then If she chose to become a maston, she could qualify ultimately to beco one

The Aldermaston did not make that final conclusion, but she realized it nonetheless She understood now the risk that she faced If she proceeded to the Rood Screen, she would get the chance to pass thesilent the knowledge she had received and wonder for the rest of her life if she had hts of the mastons?" the Aldermaston asked her softly

She remembered when she had first met Colvin, wounded on the tiles of the kitchen How she had noticed his chaen shirt and recognized his fear of being killed Soed to live with the fear Could she do any less?