Chapter 19: Hetta's Last Word

Hetta lay propped on three sacks in the back of the Fen's cart, under a tent of oiled cloth.

Her white hair was loose and her face was grey.

"About time," she said. "I could have died twice."

"The healer says you'll live," I said.

"The healer doesn't know me. Sit."

Corwin knelt on the boards beside her, one arm across his ribs.

She looked him up and down.

"You look terrible, boy."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Don't say 'ma'am' again, it makes me feel old."

She coughed and waved off my cup.

"Now. Doran left two messages that were never written down, because he didn't trust a pen with them."

"I've carried both for two years. I'm putting them down."

She turned her head to me.

"Yours first. He said, Tell Tilda I never sold her."

I stopped breathing.

"He said it twice."

"He said, I put my girl into a Bexley's hand to buy a peace I had no right to."

"He said, I called it a treaty because I was a coward. It was never a price. Tell her that."

"Hetta..."

"Let me finish, I'm dying."

She pointed a bent finger at me.

"He said, You're better than I ever was. Don't make yourself pay for what I did."

"And don't stay with any man out of guilt."

I put the back of my wrist against my mouth.

She nodded and turned her head again.

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