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On the other side of the Hudson, down south from the Brotherhood co the saht She had long since willed the lights off, and the lack of illumination around her ht as day under the e point, the river was a wide, h it was iced in only at its shores

Froe point, she had seen little of the view before her, having dwelled instead on the stages of her life

Many hours had passed since Xhex had checked in with her, theposition, the black shadows thrown by the trees pinwheeling around over the white ground In , but it did have an effect: The longer she spent s, the er a shock, but instead so she began to change herself with -

At first, the dark slash that cut through the wintry vista seee of the property Except then it moved

It was alive

It was not an animal

It was a ht, but her instincts rushed forward and told her immediately who it was Tohrment

Tohro down into the underground retreat and pretend she hadn&039;t seen hi her plenty of ti her that out

She was not going to run, however She&039;d done enough variations of that to last for several lifeti from the chair, she went to the door that opened toward the river and unlocked it, pushing it wide Crossing her arainst the cold, she tilted up her chin and waited for him to come forward

And he did With an expression of somber purpose, the Brother approached slowly, his heavy boots crunching through the crusty top layer of the snow He still looked the same, still tall and broad, with his thick, white-striped hair, and his handsorave face marked with lines of distinction

How odd of her to ht

Clearly, she was ascribing her own transformation to anyone and everyone

As he stopped in front of her, she cleared her throat, easing the tickle of the bitterly frigid air She did not speak first, however That was his due

"Thank you for co to y he was about to offer easy on hi his way - or others&039;

"I want to talk for a bit - if you have soh her clothes, she nodded and stepped back inside The interior of the cabin hadn&039;t seemed particularly warm before; noas tropical And cra back down in her chair, she let him choose whether to stand or not He picked the former, and did so directly before her

Upon a deep, bracing breath, he spoke clearly and succinctly, as if he had h for what I said to you It was utterly unfair, and unforgivable There&039;s no excuse for it, so I&039; to try to explain it away I just - "

"You knohat?" she cut in evenly "There&039;s a part of y, and your weary eyes, and your heavy heart, and never, ever get anywhere nearpause, he nodded "Okay I get that I can totally respect that - "

"But," she cut hi in this chair, thinking about that candid soliloquy of yours Actually, I&039;ve thought of little else since I left you" Abruptly, she glanced out at the river "You know, you ht, didn&039;t you"

"Yes, I did Except it was snowing"

"It round"

"It was"

"Blisters to prove it, yes, indeed" She refocused on him "To be honest, I was fairly close to ruined when you leftcenter It&039;s important to ht, no feeling, nothing but breathing, and only because my body did that on its own"

He ret, he couldn&039;t find the voice to speak

"I have always known that you love only Wellsie, and not just because you told- but because it was evident all along And you&039;re right: I did fall in love with you, and I did try to keep it from you - at least consciously - because I knew that it would hurt you in an unbearable way - the idea that you had let soined how that would have impacted him "I really wanted to spare you any more pain, and I honestly wanted Wellsie to be free Her disposition was nearly as important tomyself, but because I truly loved you"

Dearest Virgin Scribe, he was so still Barely even breathing

"I&039;ve heard that you&039;re disposing of the home you had with her," she said "And have done likeith her things I a a new route to release her unto the Fade, and I hope it works For the both of you, I hope it works"

"I came here to talk about you, not her," he said softly

"That&039;s kind of you, and know that I a the conversation onto you not because I feel like a victim of some unrequited romance that has ended badly, but because our relationship in this era has always been based upon you Which is my fault, but also the nature of the cycle we have completed"

"Cycle?"

She rose up, wanting to put the "Just as the seasons come full circle, so have we When we first crossed paths, it was all about h This tiedy that you had lived through"