Chapter 56
NOW
The next morning, Violet, waiting for the nausea to claim her again, was delighted to discover that it never came.
Which meant that as well as waking up curled in the circle of Jake’s arms and being able to enjoy that without dashing to the bathroom, she could actually stomach the fried breakfast today.
They said goodbye to Ollie, Violet hugging him and making him promise to let them know when he was safely home.
‘You can come down and visit me,’ Ollie said with a grin. He looked happier today, more relaxed. ‘No way am I coming anywhere near this area again. But well, I’m glad I met you.’
‘Glad I met you too,’ said Violet. ‘It helped me make sense of a lot of things.’
‘I’m also delighted that you don’t really want to kill me,’ said Jake, shaking Ollie’s hand. ‘And yeah, not sure I want to come here again any time soon.’
Violet rolled her eyes heavenwards and shook her head. ‘It’s still beautiful,’ she said. ‘This place is incredible.’
The men looked at her as if she’d gone mad, so she just shrugged.
Mad was a concept, and she had come rather close to believing she was that particular concept over the last few days.
But she knew she wasn’t. And whatever had happened was real in the moments it had happened, no matter how bizarre it sounded when spoken out loud.
They watched Ollie drive away, and Jake spoke. ‘Have you decided what you want to do with Meg’s dagger yet? I don’t really want to take it home with us, so if you think it needs to go back to her cottage, we’ll take it there now.’
Violet shook her head. ‘No. I’m not taking it back there.
I think it needs to go back to Coventina.
I don’t know for sure, but it certainly seemed to be more – I don’t know, is “powerful” the right word?
– when we were there. I honestly think the goddess needs to decide what to do with it.
And realistically, I don’t think it should be left anywhere for people to find.
So, I think we need to go back to the Well, Jake. ’
* * *
Violet was pleased she’d made that decision. They collected the dagger from the van, where they had left it overnight by unspoken agreement – neither of them wanted to be close to it, really – and made their way down to Coventina’s Well.
‘You’re not going for a swim today, are you?’ asked Jake as they walked past the old fort.
‘Not today. But I have to do this for Coventina and Meggie.’
‘Nice.’ Jake nodded. ‘Like making an offering. I’ve noticed offerings on the altars at the Mithraic Temple.
Actually, do you mind if I have a look at the temple?
It’s kind of – paled into significance somehow.
You know – consumed as we have been these last few days with witch trials and past lives. ’
‘Sure. Like I always say, witches are my bag.’
‘Of course. Okay – here we are.’ Jake stood at the entrance to the temple. ‘You sure you’re going to be all right on your own?’
‘Jake.’ Violet shook her head. ‘I’m pretty used to it by now. And I’m used to the – feelings. I won’t be long. Promise.’
‘Yeah, but now you’re pregnant…’
‘Just like I was when I came here. And exactly. I’m pregnant, I’m not ill.’ She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him before he could protest again, then she turned and made her way across Meggie’s Dene Burn and along to Coventina’s Well.
She walked as close to the edge of the Well as she dared, and pushed her hands into her pockets.
‘Meggie,’ she said, looking into the Well.
The water was clear today, higher than it had been, and the snow around the edges was soft and breaking away, melting into the sacred spring.
‘I know you’re here. I know you’ll always be here, somehow.
And I hope, eventually, Emory found you again.
I know he went on to live without you, but I know he would never have forgotten you.
And he’s always loved you. He still does.
Because Jake and I found one another, and we know we’ll be together forever.
And Coventina.’ A breeze drifted up from the Well, a thin haze of mist hovering over the surface.
‘I know you’re here as well. I can feel you around the place.
All this calm energy today and that expectation – it’s you, isn’t it?
You’re the one who’s been here the longest and you’ll always be here.
I know what you’re waiting for. So I’ve brought it. ’
She paused for a moment, half-expecting an answer, but if Coventina spoke, Violet didn’t hear her. She took the dagger out of her waistband and looked at it. So small, so unassuming; but so – mystical. And cursed or blessed, she wasn’t sure which. But she knew where it needed to rest.
Violet lifted the dagger up and raised it above the Well, balancing it across both of her palms. She held it out and closed her eyes briefly. She didn’t know what to say, but she felt the energy building around her.
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.
‘It’s yours, Coventina. You should have it back.
’ Then she grasped the hilt of the dagger and threw it with all of her might into the Sacred Well.
The water around it rippled outwards and then the dagger tilted, spun slowly three times, and sunk beneath the water.
‘Coventina, I seek your blessings, your protection and your healing. Your love and my rebirth. And I pray you’ll help me when I need it.
’ Then she put her hand in her pocket and tossed a handful of flowers into the water, snipped off the arrangement in her room at the guest house.
They floated prettily for a few seconds.
Then a little whirlpool begun, and the flowers floated towards it, and it swept them down, down and down.
Violet had just felt as if she needed to send something beautiful to the goddess as well – like a proper offering.
A tingle ran up Violet’s spine, and she closed her eyes. There was a gentle touch on her cheek, and Violet knew both Coventina’s dagger and the flowers had been received with thanks from whomsoever they needed to be with. Then she opened her eyes, calm washing through her body.
It is done.
Then she looked down at her stomach and smiled. ‘We’ll be fine,’ she whispered. ‘We have people looking out for us. We’ll all be fine.’
Something caught her eye on the top of the fort, and she saw a glimmer: a silver haze that hung there, briefly taking the shape of a man and a woman in an embrace, then the vision disappeared. She knew exactly who it would be.
Then she looked to her right and saw Jake trudging along. He was suspiciously cheerful and tucking his phone into his pocket.
‘I’ve had a message from my aunt,’ he said by way of greeting. ‘The one who did the family history?’
‘Oh yes?’
‘We’re supposed to have connections to Corbridge. I mean, I’m not saying it’s definite, but she says she’s tracked a few of our relatives back to the seventeen hundreds – which is as far as she’s managed. But guess what?’
‘What?’
‘You know how Ollie said Thomas was a family name?’
‘Yes…’
‘Well guess what name came up a lot in our tree?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Emory.’
‘Emory?’ Violet stood stock-still. ‘Really?’
‘Really. And we had a lot of Margarets too. I’m just wondering if – big if – Emory eventually married, but insisted that Margaret was carried through the generations to memorialise Meg.’
‘Wow. It’s a thought. So you belong to the rich Milburn side then?’ Violet nudged him playfully. ‘That’s interesting. Might explain why you look like Emory as well.’
‘Maybe.’ Jake slung an arm around her and pulled her towards him. ‘Does it change how you feel about me? Are you just with me for my inheritance? Did you know all along?’
‘No.’ She laughed. ‘But if by any chance they did need someone to inherit a small fortune, I hope you put your name forward.’
‘I most certainly will.’ They were walking past the Mithraic temple now, and he looked longingly at the ruins.
‘God, those altars are fascinating! I wonder why they didn’t get thrown into the Well with everything else?
I mean I know they’re fakes, but the point is there were real ones there when they excavated… ’
‘Fascinating. And hey. I didn’t fall in.’
‘I’m very pleased about that. And you did everything you needed to do?’
‘Yes. I did.’
‘Good. Now, shall we check our itineraries, see if they match? Go somewhere together? If you fancy it?’
‘Sounds good.’ Violet wrapped her arm around Jake and held him close as well. ‘Let’s get back to the van and check where we can go.’
‘Good plan,’ said Jake, and they started walking back the way they’d come, back towards the temple and back along the track by Carrawburgh Fort.
It was definitely easier underfoot. There was more of a squelch than a crunch to their footsteps, and the temperature seemed a little warmer today under the blue sky and the bright winter sun.
‘I think the snow is starting to thaw,’ said Jake, pulling her closer. ‘About bloody time. Coventina must be listening to whatever you said to her over there.’
Violet smiled. ‘Blessed be.’ Then she glanced up to the fort.
There was nobody there: no silver haze, no figures. They had definitely gone.
But she was willing to bet that if she turned around, she’d see them there by Coventina’s Well. Meggie and Emory, together for eternity.
But she didn’t look back.
She didn’t want to look back.
Because Violet Marsh had a future to plan for.
* * *