“The Aldermaston will never ask you to lie,” he said. “For your own good, however, he desires that others in the abbey believe that you never went to Winterrowd. Your companion, Sowe, has been in hiding since you left. Neither she nor you have been seen since the day you ran away. Whatever you speak of together, for I know you share certain secrets, we cannot prevent. But you must be guarded in whom you trust with that knowledge. Is that clear, child? The less others know, the better.”
“I will obey the Aldermaston’s wishes,” Lia said.
“I hope so,” he answered. “That has not always been easy for you.” Prestwich turned to the open Leering. Beyond was another cellar and a circle of light shone coming from the chamber above. Even from the distance to the ladder, Lia could hear Pasqua muttering under her breath.
“Fits and stones, she should be here by now! Where is that nasty Prestwich? He is taking his own sweet time. By the idle, I ought to…is that you? Prestwich, do you have her?”
“She is with me even now,” he replied and motioned for Lia to take the ladder first.
Lia’s heart was nearly bursting. She climbed up the ladder, setting down her burdens as she cleared the top, and Pasqua met her with a ferocious hug that crushed her breath away. Sowe was there also, tears gleaming in her eyes.
“Child, child, child, you are home again! Oh Lia – oh my dear Lia!” The hug was strong enough to squeeze tears from her eyes. “Oh Lia – thank Idumea. Thank Idumea you are safe!” She sobbed against Lia’s shoulder, squeezing her harder and harder. Lia was surprised by her reaction, at the violence of her feelings. Pasqua hugged her tightly, swaying back and forth. “Never leave us like that again, child. Please…you do not know my poor heart. How I have suffered for you. How I have worried about you.” She pressed Lia’s cheeks with her hands and kissed her head. “I nearly broke my leg trying to hunt after you!”
“She did,” Sowe said, tears spilling down her lashes. “And I had to nurse her.”
“Pasqua,” Lia said, then stopped, choking on the words. “Sowe.”
Pasqua took her hands next and kissed them. “No, child. No – let me speak. You cannot understand my heart. You cannot understand, because you are too young still. But some day, you will be a mother, and you will understand then. So be still. Let me speak. Let me say what I should have said all these years. I have loved you like a daughter, though I never told you.” Her hands clenched tightly. “As if you were my own daughter. My own flesh. When you left, and I had not told you, I thought as if the pain would kill me. Dear child – I have loved you since you were a babe. Since the day the Medium left you here. Thank Idumea you have come home. You are home, Lia. Your home. Sowe, your sister is back!” The other girl was pulled violently into the embrace. “I love you both, do you hear me? You are my daughters. My sweet daughters!”
Lia could not see for the tears blinding her eyes, but she hugged Pasqua and thought her heart would break with so much joy when Sowe joined them.
* * *
The Aldermaston greeted her with a smile of affection and then turned to shut the door behind her, leaving Pasqua and Sowe in the corridor beyond. “I will only be a moment with her,” he told them before sealing it closed.
He walked back to his stuffed chair and eased himself into it. A tome lay open on his desk, a sheepskin covering beneath it. Part of the page was written on. The other part was clean and unblemished by etchings. She recognized it as Maderos’ tome.
“Welcome home to Muirwood,” he said, his gravely voice so familiar.
“Thank you for allowing me to return, Aldermaston,” she whispered, uncertain where she stood in his eyes. The reunion with Pasqua and Sowe had altered her heart in some unimaginable way. Her feelings were like a stew kettle bubbling over. She could not stop fidgeting with her hands.
The Aldermaston leaned back in his chair, wincing with the effort. “I am pleased you made it back safely.”
She swallowed, her eyes stinging with tears again. “I did. But I am sorry about Jon Hunter. You do not know how sorry I am…”
He held up his hand and grimaced, as if the pain were still too raw for him as well. “What is done is done. I cannot hold you accountable for his death, Lia. That would be unfair. I sent him, so I alone bear that blame. So the abbey has need of a new hunter. I began seeking to rectify that concern when I received the earl of Forshee’s message. Do not burden yourself with it. It was all the Medium’s will, surely.” He brushed his eyes, whether from tears or dust, but she could see the pain in his expression. “It will be no greater miracle that brings us into another world to live forever with our dearest friends than that which has brought us into this one to live a lifetime with them. Or almost a lifetime. Therefore, we weep when they depart. But we will see them again in another world.” A tear ran down his cheek.