“Up late last night making sure Ashford never does another harebrained thing again?” he asked with forced joviality, trying to bring a spark of light to her eyes.
“That would be impossible,” she said. Oh dear, it looked as if he’d reignited her rage with his quip. “I haven’t seen or spoken to him since we were all in his study together. I bunked in with the boys last night and that’s why we’re coming down so late this morning. I’m still so angry I’m afraid if I see him I’ll break something, namely his face.”
Well, that wasn’t what Kostya expected to hear. That meant Ashford had been alone since the previous afternoon. Alone and simmering in a very bad idea. He tried to keep the anxiety off his face as he moved aside for Tilly to get down the stairs. As soon as she was safely at the bottom and around the corner, he hurried to Ashford’s study.
As he feared, the room was empty. Both sides of his desk were a mess of his chicken scratch notes for spells, but there was a disturbingly empty area in the middle. He’d taken some papers with him.
“Oh Ashford, you couldn’t be that stupid, could you?” But stupid wasn’t the proper word and Kostya knew it. He knew exactly how desperate Ashford was to save his daughter.
Not wanting to panic yet, he decided to go and see if Ashford might have actually taken his advice and gone to sleep. He had been so sleep deprived it was possible that if he’d managed to fall asleep at all, he may still be blissfully slumbering. Kostya didn’t really think so, but forced himself to be calm.
As he passed the window, some movement on the hill caught his eye. It wasn’t the lone groundskeeper who kept the family cemetery neat and tidy, but three figures trudged up the hill. He moved closer to the window and squinted to make out who it might be. He sagged with relief when he made out the unmistakable gait of his son. Owen followed behind a petite dark-haired girl, with another girl close behind Owen.
“Dear God, let that be Ariana,” he prayed. He didn’t dare get Tilly’s hopes up without knowing for sure and immediately took off to find out, forgetting all about Ashford.
***
Owen hated coming up this hill. He barely understood why they had stopped here to begin with, but he was so tired he almost didn’t care anymore. He just did what Maria said and as they neared the road to his house, instead of passing it by for her mysterious destination, she’d turned her horse onto it. Then they actually turned up the lane that didn’t go anywhere but his house and he began to wonder if she was going to let them stop and rest for the night. He almost cried at the thought of sleeping in his own bed.
No matter how she’d tried, Maria couldn’t make their journey any faster than their horses would carry them. Ariana tried to explain that it was her. No location spell had ever worked on her. This had put Maria in a sour mood and she hadn’t spoken to them the entire journey. She’d barely let them stop to relieve themselves or get a bite to eat. Halfway through he demanded they change horses, refusing to be a horse killer on top of everything else he already had to live with. So with all her bluster to be wherever she wanted to go as quickly as possible, he didn’t understand at all why she was letting him go home.
“I hate coming up here,” he finally said. The house was so close. His bed and a hot meal were so close. He didn’t even care that a sound berating from his parents was also so close. He was happy to take whatever they wanted to throw at him. “There’s nothing up here, Maria. Just some—”
“Don’t waste your breath,” Ariana muttered. “She’s too far ahead to hear you anyway.”
Owen opened his mouth to inform Ariana that Maria could probably hear them at one thousand paces if she wanted to, but she grabbed his arm and pointed. Maria had stopped at the top of the hill and was grinning down at them. She looked radiantly happy, despite her tattered clothes and gaunt frame. She gestured for them to hurry up while bobbing on her toes in excitement. They both used the last of their reserves and charged the rest of the way, skidding to a halt in front of the Alexander and Povest family graves. She pointed proudly at one of them. Her bad mood from the journey seemed completely gone.
“That’s my name,” she said giddily, still bouncing. “I knew it was written down somewhere.”
“Your name’s Lucy?” Owen asked. “But how did you know about—”
He whirled around at a thumping sound to see Ariana had sat down hard, her voluminous skirts settling around her. She gaped at Maria.
“That’s what- who you are?” she asked, coughing to get the words out.
“Yes, that’s me.” Her voice no longer sounded anything like Maria. She sounded young and carefree. “Home at last. It’s been a long time away, but I was happy to do it. Happy to see some things as well. And for the new book, too, of course.”
Cold dread washed over Owen as he looked from the grave to Maria to Ariana who still gasped like a landed fish. “Who are you?” he demanded, absolutely done with the mystery. Done.
She smiled impishly. “I’m Lucy.”
At that moment his father
