CHAPTER 40

Manon and the Thirteen had buried each and
every one of the soldiers massacred by the
Ironteeth. Their torn and bleeding hands
throbbed, their backs ached, but they’d done
it.
When the last of the hard earth had been
patted down, she’d found Bronwen lingering
at the clearing edge, the rest of the Crochans
having moved off to set up camp.
The Thirteen had trudged past Manon.
Ghislaine, according to Vesta, had been
invited to sit at the hearth of a witch with an
equal interest in those mortal, scholarly