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Back The Art of Dying Save as PDF
Chapters (90)
  1. PROLOGUE
  2. 1849
  3. ONE
  4. TWO
  5. EDINBURGH
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  81. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  82. SEVENTY-NINE
  83. EIGHTY
  84. EIGHTY-ONE
  85. EPILOGUE
  86. HISTORICAL NOTE
  87. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  88. Extract from A Corruption of Blood
  89. 1850
  90. ONE

It bore no return address. He surmised that she could not afford to disclose her precise location for fear that the information might be intercepted, and when he read on, he understood just how well her fears were founded.

Dear Will,

I wanted to reassure you that I am alive and well, and to send this as a token of my gratitude for your actions.

Though I did not know it at the time, the men who set upon us were neither vagabonds nor strangers, their attack neither random nor robbery. They were led by my husband’s brother. As you might already have learned, the police believe that he intended to abduct me, but they are wrong. If this were the case, Javier would not have been so ready with his pistol.

My husband wishes to marry again. As a prominently devout Catholic, his religion and position forbid him from divorce. However, his piety does not preclude plotting to murder his wife in order to rid himself of an impediment to future marriage the old-fashioned way.

I have no doubt Javier meant to kill me. He and his men posed as thieves in order to disguise their actions and their motives, that my intended death would have been attributed to common robbers.

I do not know what happened in that alley when you ran down there after them, but I know that had you not done whatever you did, Javier would have found a way to finish his mission. I would be dead by now.

This painting is a paltry offering, for I owe you my life.

I hope that all you missed and all you sought were awaiting you back in Edinburgh.

You once asked me if it is possible to become someone else. You were clearly fearful of your own nature, but your nature is the reason I am still here to write this.

I told you that you must first ask yourself who you wish to become. In truth, I believe that you are already who you need to be.

Yours,

Gabriela

Raven read it several times, hearing her voice clearly in his head. He was relieved that she was alive and at liberty, but this was tempered by the understanding that her self-imposed exile meant that they were unlikely to cross paths again.

It struck him that the two women he trusted most had now both told him not to fear his own nature. He would be a fool not to embrace such advice. He was not sure he shared Gabriela’s confidence when she said that he was already the man he needed to be, but with Sarah by his side, perhaps such a thing was within his grasp.