Page 54 of Last Rites

“You came here looking for a community, just like the rest of us. That’s all most of the people here want. The Vessel, the desire to bring Eeus down into physical form? It’s… unnecessary.”

Penny shifted back half a step to give Philippa a clearer view when she turned from the shelves to face me. Her expression was even, but not unreadable, her eyes bright and the faintest hint of a smile on her lips.

“Eeus has already brought us all together,” I went on. “What further need do we have other than what a few fanatics have decided we should? Because Eeus doesn’t bring suffering. What he brings is the people and the places we need to come out of it stronger.”

“You seem to have gotten what you came here for.” Philippa gestured to Penny, who blushed, but kept quiet. “So why are you still here? I’ve seen your disdain for the work we’re doing, whether you think you’ve hidden it well or not. I know you hate it. So, why stay? Why not take your prize and go live out your life somewhere else?”

It was a question I asked myself often. It would have been easier to leave. Safer. I’d tried, too, first to protect myself, and then in a desperate bid to preserve what was most important to me. But Ashpoint and the Bone Men always found me in one way or another. They always would for as long as the cult existed.

“Because my father fed this fanaticism until the day he died, and there are people here who still need to know the truth about Eeus. Someone has to undo the damage my father did, and I was too much a part of it myself to walk away without exhausting every chance I have to make it right.”

Philippa’s smile widened. All traces of sadness were gone, and instead she looked almost proud. Like a mother bird who just watched her chick take its first successful flight.

Some old ache flared up in my chest and momentarily took my breath away. I hadn’t realized how much I needed someone to be proud of me for this, how long I’d been searching for validation from someone who wasn’t a lover or a friend. From someone who treated me like a son instead of a disappointment.

It had been so long since anyone looked at me like that, and I soaked it in.

She closed the distance between us and cupped one of my hands between her own. “And this is why I always hoped you’d succeed him. You have a bit of him in you, you know. The good bits. You’re a natural born leader, just as he was, but you care for others more than yourself. It inspires the right people to follow you.”

It was the first time anyone had compared me to my father that didn’t immediately make me bristle. Because he had been a good man, once. The man my mother fell in love with wasn’t the monster he’d been when he died. And if I could use the one thing I inherited from him to undo the damage he did, maybe that was something I could be proud of.

“So,” Philippa continued, something conspiratorial in her tone, “is it safe to assume that you had something to do with the cave-in last night?”

I nodded, and her eyes darted to Penny.

“You couldn’t have done that in one night alone. You had help, didn’t you?”

“I had help,” I confirmed.

“Excellent. But this will only delay us for a day or two. We’ll need to do more if we want to make a real difference.”

“What more can we do?” Penny asked. “Without putting everyone in danger.”

Philippa freed one of her hands to grab one of Penny’s, bringing it together with mine so she could hold them both between hers. Her grin was devious when she said, “I may have an idea.”

20

Penny

Chipping away at the walls of the tunnel under the Ossuary did little to prepare me for work in the lumber mill. My conniving half-brother knew exactly what he was doing sending me into the woods with all of nature’s predators and a crew of men big and burly enough they could snap me as easily as a branch from the trees we were felling.

They were felling.

I was trying to stay out of the way, and unlike Cedric, most of my new coworkers seemed content to let me.

I did a bit of work, of course. I couldn’t be sure who here had a mind to report my performance to Merrick, so I wouldn’t allow myself to be completely shown up. Though, after lugging log after log into the back of a cart—sweating, wheezing, and staggering all the way through—it seemed that’s exactly what I was doing.

Luckily, Kit had bought me a pair of thick leather gloves to protect my hands from the tree bark that ripped at my skin. The roughhewn edges of the logs had already scraped my forearms raw, and I was sticky with sweat and sap long before lunch.

At the end of the day, I stopped by the little creek that wound past the mill and washed off. I was not about to make the long walk home itchy and caked in sawdust. Since it was still light out, Kit was likely to be at the Ossuary, so I didn’t hurry.

A grumble from my stomach reminded me that if I meant to grow a lumberman’s muscles, I’d also be developing a lumberman’s appetite. But more than anything, I was craving sweets.

Rosie’s bakery stand was shuttered for the evening, which was disappointing, but not enough to stop me. If I wanted a pastry, I could go straight to the source.

I trudged down the lane toward Rosie’s house, whispering a few thoughts to Eeus as I went. Lately, I’d been talking to—or at—him more often. Maybe I was growing devout. Or maybe I was just lonely. Either way, Mother would have been scandalized that I’d chosen Eeus over Paneus.

Still, Eeus was the patron of Ashpoint, and while I was in Ashpoint, it made sense to stay on his good side.