Mary wiped away her last few tears and smiled. “You will help me?”

“That was my intention since I first received your note, and when I read it to Brigid, she agreed.”

“I told Reena that we must come at once. Your note seemed urgent.”

“The Dark One’s plans have me remaining here until I am heavy with child. I wish to leave as soon as possible.” She realized when she helped Jenna escape that she would be wiser to hasten her own plans. When she was swollen with child it would only make for a more difficult travel. Now she was still agile and able to move freely, the babe but a tiny seed inside her.

“A wise choice,” Brigid said. “I have not yet grown full with child and I already find myself moving more slowly. It is best you go now when you have no added burden.”

“We will need to begin very soon,” Reena said. “If we delay there is always a chance of someone discovering our plans.”

“What of our husbands?” Brigid asked. “Will we require their help?”

“I think we will need them,” Mary said. “We will need strong men to carry the bodies.”

“Bodies?” Reena asked alarmed. “What type of plan have you devised?”

“A permanent one. I want everyone to believe that the Dark One and I are dead. I do not want to live in fear that one day someone will find us. I want there to be no doubt that we are dead. Tongues must wag, the gossip grow and spread far and wide.”

“It is a dangerous plan,” Reena said. “Decimus will want to view the bodies and make certain there is no breath left in them.”

Mary took a deep breath and looked at her friends. “When I was with the Dark One he took me to a village where many of the people he had helped lived. They assisted him in helping others to escape. I met a seer there and she predicted my future.”

Mary took another breath. “She told me I would be the demise of Decimus, that he was my destiny.”

Reena grabbed Mary’s hand. “You cannot mean to kill Decimus. It is too dangerous.”

Brigid agreed. “He sees everything, knows everything. He will surely find out.”

“Extremely dangerous is what I told you my plan would be.”

The two women looked ready to argue, but Mary spoke up.

“It is not the danger you think and what I am about to reveal you must swear never to speak of, not even in a whisper.”

The two women shivered and nodded their heads.

“The seer’s words made no sense and frightened me until I discovered the Dark One’s true identity. The Dark One and Decimus are one.”Chapter 35Reena and Brigid were stunned, neither woman able to speak. They sat and stared with wide, bewildered eyes at Mary.

“I was just as shocked,” Mary said. “I actually thought that Decimus had played a trick on me when he pulled off the black shroud to reveal himself. It took little time for me to realize he spoke the truth, though it has not been easy to merge the two men as one. Decimus continues to appear the cruel, unforgiving torturer of innocent souls and yet within him is the Dark One, the man who fights for and frees the innocent.”

“So with Decimus’s demise, the Dark One lives,” Reena said, Mary’s plan making more sense.

“Michael lives,” Mary said with a smile. “He is who I know and love.”

“And his plans for you are?” Reena asked.

“That I appear ill throughout my pregnancy and just before the babe is born, I die. Decimus would see to the burial arrangement and the Dark One to my escape, saying his last goodbye to me when he turned me over to the safety of his friend Roarke.”

“Roarke healed well and left with us, though we separated along the way,” Reena said. “He expressed the need to return and help the Dark One.”

“I will need Roarke’s help as well.”

“What is your plan?” Reena asked.

By the time they finished discussing what Mary had in mind, it was decided that Magnus and Thomas would not be told of anything until the very last minute. The women feared the husbands would attempt to dissuade them or change the plan to one they deemed more suitable and safer for the women.Mary entered the hall to find Decimus speaking with Magnus and Thomas. They all wore frowns, and she could only imagine what her husband discussed with them.

“Your visit will be short. I have work to do,” Decimus said and turned, almost colliding with his wife. He grabbed firm hold of her arms. “Should you be out of bed? You have not been well.”

“I am feeling much better,” she said, her head bowed in respect.

“Visit with your friends now for they will not be staying long.” Decimus released her and marched off, expecting his orders to be obeyed.

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