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The grin she gave him was brighter than the sun. It echoed the swell of happiness in his heart as he bent to capture her lips with his.

Together they turned to go into the house in search of fish pie and gooseberry jam.

Epilogue

“Wait!” Faith cried. “Where are you going?”

“To meet the Devil,” the Hellequin said.

“Then I shall come with you,” she replied.

He looked at her, and for a moment Faith thought she saw an emotion in his eyes: sorrow. Then he held out his hand to her.

Faith took his hand and he pulled her in one movement onto the back of the big black horse. She wrapped her arms around his middle and for a very long time they rode in silence through the Plain of Madness.

At last a towering stone arch appeared before them, jagged and black.

“Is this Hell?” Faith whispered.

“Yes,” the Hellequin said, “this is the mouth of Hell. Remember: whatever the Devil says to you, he has no power over you, for you live and breathe. He rules only the dead.”

Faith nodded and gripped the Hellequin tighter. The Hellequin rode the big black horse through the Mouth of Hell and into utter darkness. Faith looked about her, but she could see nothing and hear nothing. It was a place so hollow and bleak and cold that had she been alone, she might’ve simply shriveled up and lost herself. But Faith still held the Hellequin, and as she laid her cheek against his broad back, she heard the steady thump of his heart. A thing in the shape of a man appeared before them, and though he was pale and thin and not particularly tall, the utter void of humanity in his eyes made Faith shudder and look away.

s aware, suddenly, of the chill condensing clammily on his skin, the smell of damp cobblestones, of the very air flowing in and out of his lungs.

But most of all he was aware of the woman, this woman, his woman, standing so proudly, waiting patiently for him, only him.

He walked toward her and knew with every fiber of his being that he walked to life itself.

MEGS’S VISION BEGAN to blur as Godric, dear, brave, reckless Godric, walked toward her. She’d held herself rigidly composed as she’d woken servants and found her pistols, as she’d waited for the horses to be harnessed and sent for a doctor, as she’d given hurried instructions to Mrs. Crumb, Moulder, and Mrs. St. John, as she’d ridden over in the carriage and tried not to imagine finding him already dead. She’d been concise, authoritative, and focused, but now she’d found him and he was alive.

Alive. Alive. Alive.

She didn’t even know how they made it inside the carriage, for she’d begun to shake, and once inside she simply let go and sobbed. Great, heaving, sloppy tears that held all the pain and fear she’d held back for the last several hours. He wrapped his arms around her and she gripped him tight because there was simply no way she was ever going to let him go again.

After a bit, she quieted enough to hear him murmuring as they rocked through the London night, “Hush, Meggie mine, hush. It’s all right.”

But his words only brought a new wave of grief. She squeezed her fingers into his shoulders until she knew she must be hurting him, but she couldn’t let go.

“No.” She shook her head against him. “It’s not right. You left.”

She felt his palm against her cheek, pressing as if he was trying to see her face, but she wouldn’t move.

“What’s not right, Megs? Why are you so upset?”

“Because I found you in your Ghost costume in St. Giles. You went after Lord Kershaw, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” he said, and even without seeing his eyes, she heard the hesitation in his voice.

“How could you, Godric?” Her left hand curled into the back of his neck, her nails gently scraping against the short hairs there. “What if you’d succeeded in finding him? What if you never returned? I couldn’t bear it if—”

“I did find him,” he broke into her half-hysterical words. “He’s dead, Megs.”

She did draw back at that, staring in horror at him, and moaned. “Oh, no!”

He frowned, looking very confused. He opened his mouth, shut it, and then finally opened it again to ask cautiously, “I thought you wanted him dead in revenge for the murder of Roger Fraser-Burnsby?”

“Not at the risk of you being hurt or killed!” she nearly shouted.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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