Fortune’s Final Folly by Christina McKnight

Author:Christina McKnight
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2019-08-05T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

Z eta clutched the missive in her hand as she took hold of her satchel, stuffed with all her worldly possessions. It had never mattered to her that she had nearly nothing to call her own. Her years with the caravan had been about mutual survival for everyone, not about each individual. But that time was gone now—there was something that belonged to her, and only her.

And it was past time she reclaimed what was hers.

With Lavinia’s passing the previous spring, Zeta had nearly given up hope of ever finding Katherina. The harsh winter that’d followed had seen the entire caravan stranded near the Scottish border with few supplies. Thankfully, the snowstorm had passed after a few days, and the high snow drifts had melted with a swiftness Zeta had never witnessed in all her years traveling the land. Since then, they’d spent the year near Westmorland in an area that was more accepting of their vagabond existence.

Zeta had sent a letter to Augusta at Shrewbury, as she often did when she found herself in a town for longer than a fortnight or two. Yet, in the last seven years, she’d never gotten any word back from the maid. Which only meant that nothing had changed. Katherina’s whereabouts were still unknown. Zeta refused to believe that it meant anything else. She had to trust that Augusta was still employed at Shrewbury and that she remained focused on locating Katherina.

With blessed relief, Zeta’s trust in the woman had finally come to fruition.

A letter had arrived with the afternoon mail coach from Manchester, much to Zeta’s utter disbelief. In it was the information she’d been waiting for all these years.

She walked to the far side of the wagon where her horse waited, saddled, and ready to depart. Hefting her satchel up onto the horse’s back, she tied the bag tight for her long ride, checking to make sure she’d tucked her provisions inside as well as the spare coins the group had collected for her journey.

Normally, they all traveled together, but there was no time to ready everyone and make the four-day journey by wagon. Time was imperative, and it never failed that a wheel would break, or a horse would go lame. Zeta cared for everyone, but this was her journey to make, and she could not have anything slowing her down. They all understood and supported her decision.

Zeta—no, her name was A’laya, and she needed to get used to it again—took in the gathered men and women around her. Some had been part of the caravan before her, while others joined over the years. Regardless, each and every one held a special place in her heart.

“Ye shall return if ye doona be find’n her?” Charlie asked. The man was young but capable. He’d taken on the task of hunter for the group, and since he’d come to them, they’d never gone without food. “We will wait here for ye ‘til the cold hits…then we travel to Liverpool.”

Earlier, she’d begged them to do what was best for them, not wait in Westmorland for her return.

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