Broken Veil (Harbinger #5)(99)

And then she noticed the weeping woman washing soiled baby linens. Her mind opened up in a vision, and she saw the woman’s baby dying of the cholera morbus—and the waters in the fountain spreading the disease to everyone else who washed clothes there.

The disease was being spread by the washerwomen. And they didn’t even know it.

Her hands tightened on Adam’s.

“You will?” he asked, his mouth turning to a smile.

“Yes. Yes, I will!” she said, growing more excited. “But I see how the disease is spreading. I see it, Adam, and I know how we can stop it!”

She flung her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. Her feelings were so overwhelming at that moment, she couldn’t bear the ache of joy. With her hands clasped around his neck, she leaned forward and kissed Adam, grateful for the kindest of men who had rescued her heart.





EPILOGUE

BEYOND THE VEIL

It was a day that would be burned into Cettie’s mind forever, fastened there by the power of the Dryad’s kiss. The Aldermaston summoned her and Adam from the soft stuffed couched where they sat, side by side, wearing the same supplicant robes they’d donned as learners about to take the Maston Test. She remembered Adam being there that day.

They were not in the learning room, the place where they’d been instructed in the Mysteries of the abbey. This room was in the upper spire of the building. Two stained-glass windows, side by side, were mounted on the wall opposite the staircase. Three carved chairs sat beneath them. Cettie felt the Leerings hidden behind the glass panes. Though it was midmorning, they let in light that was as bright as a regular afternoon sun. The carpets had been painstakingly embroidered and designed. On opposite walls, two enormous gilt-framed mirrors were suspended, casting a mirrored image that made the room look as if it went on forever.

“Come forward,” the Aldermaston said. He stood before the trio of chairs. In the middle of the room was a plush pedestal with kneeling cushions on each side. Along the wall, by the mirrors, family and friends had gathered to witness the special occasion. The Fitzroys and the Hardings, Sera and Trevon, Mr. Durrant, and a few officials from the privy council. Anna’s smile was radiant and encouraging. There was no jealousy now—nothing but devoted affection. Adam, still holding her hand, squeezed it, as they both rose from their chairs.

Cettie felt anxious about being a spectacle, but her steps were sure. They reached the foot of the pedestal and remained standing along with the Aldermaston, who’d approached it from the other side. His robes were reminiscent of the ones he’d worn during the Test, and he had a slight limp, perhaps a remnant of the gunshot wound he’d sustained years before.

“My friends,” the Aldermaston said. “We are gathered here for a special occasion. We come not only to unite these two young people in holy matrimony, joined together by irrevocare sigil, but also to perform a ceremony of adoption. Before she becomes Mrs. Cettie Creigh, she must first become Miss Cettie Fitzroy.”

A tingling feeling went down Cettie’s spine. The music of the Medium was louder than she’d ever heard it, almost drowning out the Aldermaston’s words.

“Mr. Creigh, Mr. Harding—would you two stand at my side as witnesses of this solemn event?”

Adam gave her hand one final squeeze before releasing it, then joined the Aldermaston at the head of the pedestal. Cettie thought he looked particularly handsome that day. His eyes never left hers. She could almost drown in their color. He looked very pleased, but he was as dignified as ever. Oh, how she loved him.

“Lady Maren, if you would kneel at the pedestal. Lord Stephen, you may take the place of your father, Lord Brant Fitzroy.”

Upon hearing her father’s name, Cettie felt a strange shift in the magic’s music. There was a prickling awareness at the back of her neck, a small shudder passing through her. She felt a presence join them in the room.

“If you would,” the Aldermaston continued, “kneel before each other and take each other by the dextrarum coniunctio, the joining of the hands.”

Lady Maren and Stephen positioned themselves accordingly.

“Very well. Now, if the other members of the family will stand around you, you will clasp each other with the left hand on the left wrist, standing as a circle within a circle. This is the umbelica stella, a sign of the cosmos.”

Cettie felt the skin at her neck begin to quiver. Phinia and Anna had joined them, and the three of them stood next to one another at the base of the pedestal. She heard the Aldermaston’s words, but her attention was drawn to someone approaching them.

Unable to resist, Cettie risked a glance and saw, to her astonishment, Lord Fitzroy.

Father! she silently thought.

She could see him as if he lived in the flesh, although he had a radiance that was positively dazzling. He smiled at her, giving her a look of tenderness and love.

They cannot see me, he thought in reply. Only you can.

Cettie felt a thrill go through her. Her heart leaped with the joy of seeing his face. There were no more wrinkles, though his hair was white as snow.

Will we see each other again, Father?

He smiled at her question.

Of course we will. This second life is not the end. Only a bridge to a far better world. I was allowed to come here to witness this event.

Cettie bit her lips, hearing the Aldermaston speaking the words of the ceremony. But she wanted to speak with her father instead.