The House Of Gaian

for the last time.
    Before Selena could say anything, do anything, Ashk turned away from all of them and started walking toward the rise.
    Ashk reached the top of the rise before Breanna caught up to her.
    “Ashk! Ashk !”
    Ashk stopped walking, but didn’t turn to look at her.
    Breanna reached out but didn’t touch. Ashk looked like a woman about to shatter. She knew how that felt. “She shouldn’t stay in that field, Ashk. She shouldn’t be buried near that... place. Where should we take her to give her back to the Mother?”
    Ashk swallowed hard. “Morphia is her sister. It should be Morphia’s choice.”
    “No,” Breanna said slowly, “I don’t think so.” She waited until Ashk looked at her. “You freed Morag from what she’d become, for her sake. Morphia would choose a place that gives her comfort, but you’ll choose a place that’s right for Morag.”
    Ashk clenched her hands, and Breanna watched strength battling grief. Finally, Ashk said, “Somewhere in the Old Place. A spot where there are shadows and light.”
    “As you will, so mote it be,” Breanna said.
    She watched Ashk walk down the other side of the rise. Alone.

 

     
     

Chapter 53

 

     
     

     
    waning moon
     
    Ashk took a deep breath to steady herself before knocking on the guest room door. “Morphia? It’s Ashk.”
    She waited a long time before she heard a muffled, “Come in if you must.”

    She stepped into the room, closing the door behind her—and simply watched in silence while Morphia packed her saddlebags.
    “Where are you headed?” Ashk finally asked.
    “I don’t know yet. Maybe back to the home Clan for a while.”
    “If you can wait a couple more days, you can ride with—”
    “I don’t want to ride with you, Ashk.” Morphia’s hands clenched around the camisole she’d just folded.
    Sighing, she shook it out, refolded it, and tucked it into the saddlebag before looking at Ashk. “I don’t want to ride with you, Hunter. You did what you thought was right—and maybe it was. But you didn’t give it a chance. If I’d had another moment or two to collect myself, I could have put her to sleep for a while—at least until the witches had a little time to discover if they could have changed her back.”
    A moment or two , Ashk thought bleakly. You might not have had that moment or two. If she lost control of what was inside her for even a heartbeat of time, you could have ended up dead. Worse than dead. Would you have wanted Morag to fight her way back to clarity to find your torn body, to find no trace of your spirit, knowing what must have happened to it ? But she couldn’t say those things to the woman staring at her with dark, grief-filled eyes.
    Morphia shook her head and went back to packing her saddlebags. “Maybe if Sheridan had lived ...
    Maybe when enough time has passed ... But right now, Ashk, when I look at you, all I see is the person who killed my sister. So I don’t want to travel with you. I don’t want to be in the part of Sylvalan where you rule. There’s work to be done in the world. I’ll find a place to do it.”
    “Safe travel, Morphia,” Ashk said as she opened the door.
    “Ashk.” Morphia hesitated. “For Morag’s sake, and in her memory, I wish you gentle dreams.”
    Ashk bolted out of the room, turned blindly down the hallway, and ran straight into Aiden.
    He caught her arms to keep them both from a tumble. When he saw the door, still partially open, he slipped an arm around her shoulders and led her to the room she shared with Gwynith. She was grateful Gwynith wasn’t there and wished desperately that Padrick was.
    “Liam asked us to stay for the council meeting tomorrow,” Aiden said. “He seems to think my writing is neater than his, and he wants to be sure the other barons can read the decisions that are made without stumbling over half the words. You’re staying, too?”
    Ashk nodded. “I’ll leave after the meeting.” I want to go home . The words echoed in her head, in her heart.
    “You’ll be heading back to Bretonwood?”
    She nodded again.
    “In that case, if you don’t mind the company, Lyrra and I will travel with you for a while.”
    “Your company is always welcome, Bard.”
    After giving her shoulder a comforting squeeze, he left her.
    She stared out the window for a long time, not really seeing anything. Finally she stretched out on the bed and did something she hadn’t allowed herself to do. She cried.

    Breanna sat on the