Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
“Of course not,” Tuck said firmly. “You’re asking the same questions every man and woman has ever asked. But prayer is not for asking things from God. Not as I see it. Prayer is for giving. It’s for offering yourself to God, for devoting yourself to whatever it is He wants of you. And whatever that is, all we can do is accept it. Through prayer we are closer with Him, which gives us strength. But that’s only half of it. We give God strength as well, when we give of ourselves, unselfishly. Why ask Him for His help, when you can give Him yours instead?”
They were fine words, but for another time. A panic swelled in her, born of exhaustion, at the idea of giving any more. For once, she would have preferred one of Tuck’s empty, pretty stories. She would have liked to simply hear it was going to be alright, even knowing that it wouldn’t be.
“I WANTED TO SAY goodbye,” Alan said softly, standing with his pack slung over a shoulder. It was a fine day, with clear skies that bathed their field in even light, marred only by a small lump in the ground with a crude cross. “I wanted to say thank you.”
Marion would have thanked him in return, but she was too weary. “You’re not going off on your own, are you? You’re valuable, Alan. Find a group, go with them. They could use you.”
Alan just balled his face up and shrugged his shoulders, over and over until he had decided that was his answer.
“Alan?”
“I’m no good at it,” he scoffed. “Not without Will. I’m just playing at it. I never really knew what I was doing.”
There was indeed little about Alan that could be called brave. But he had lived at Locksley. He’d been part of the group since before the fire. He had heart in him, perhaps too much. Perhaps that was what called him away now.
“I’m sorry about them,” Marion said. “I know what they meant to you.”
“I could have left earlier, you know. I wanted to, I was going to. When we had that Guardsman here, Jon Bassett? He said I could go with him, he said it would be safe for any of us. It would have been safe.”
That seemed like a lifetime ago now. “Why didn’t you leave?”
Alan’s eyes were wet. “Will. Elena. They were here.” Marion’s heart ached for him. “Now they’re gone, and now it’s not safe anymore.”
She met his eyes. Alan seemed so young at times, so unsure of his place in the world. He had never found his own strength. “What will you do?”