24 April, 1369. Treby County, Havietten.
They were back where they'd started their travels - Duke Hirschell's manor home.
Had it really only been a couple of months that had passed since they'd first stayed there, on their first night after leaving St Ivan's? To Celia it felt like another life, lived by another woman.
That first night at the duke's manor, she and Lucas had maintained a polite distance from each other. She'd been pregnant and full of both anxious hope and outright fear.
She'd also had Sabine at her side. The two of them had watched Zoe scrub her vomit from the floor of the guest bedchamber she'd soiled in a drunken episode. They'd then giggled so much together in the carriage afterwards…
I'm better off now than I was at the start of my visit to Islia, Celia told herself over and over. I may have suffered great losses since then but I've gained even more.