EPILOGUE

A spine-chilling, high-pitch scream from inside her head stirred Fiona awake. Breathing heavily, she sat up in the Queen Size bed, her soaking wet nightgown clinging to her shivering body. Once again, she’d been reliving the nightmares in Belli castle in her sleep. She knew there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. Instead, she threw a quick glance to her side, got up and tip toed barefoot down to the kitchen where she made herself a nice cup of camomile tea. In the living room, she lit a lavender candle and drew in the soothing scent. There. She was already starting to feel a little better. She sat down in a rocking chair, covered her legs with a thin blanket and sipped the warm, tranquillising brewery while looking out the window. The diamond ring on her left hand glimmered in the soft moonlight. In the distance, the Washington monument lit up the dark sky like a giant phallus.

Hewie came up to where Fiona was sitting and put his head on her lap. Fiona started rubbing the faithful dog behind his ears. After years of endless nightmares, these late rendezvous had turned into a nightly routine.
“Three years,” she whispered to herself. She couldn’t believe it had gone over three years since the kidnapping and the death of her parents. She still missed them like crazy. It was like a wound that would never heal. Fortunately, she had her family and friends to support her. Her youngest aunt, who was now expecting her first child, had taken over her parents’ old house in London. Moving to The United Stated far away from her aunts and her childhood friend Alyssa had been a tough decision, but in England everything reminded her of her parents. She needed a fresh start with the man she loved.

When her story had leaked to the press, it had turned into quite the media circus and the Belli castle could no longer hold on to its anonymity. Fiona had managed to keep a low profile and her name had never been revealed in public, but being reminded of the nightmare she’d been through wherever she went had been tough. Riccardo had been right about one thing though. The castle was indeed hers, but as she wanted nothing to do with that place, she had sold it to the first bidder. She had put away some of the money earned from the sale for education and accommodation, the rest she had given away to animals and children in need. The property was now under the care of the government and had been turned into a museum of sorts. It was a popular destination for pilgrims seeking the secrets and wisdom of Alchemy and ‘The Great Truth’.
Debilitas, the giant, had been terrified when the police force broke into the castle and they had been forced to sedate him. He was now living in a place in Europe that specialized in handling the mentally disabled where he was gradually learning to socialize with others and handle his own strength and excitement. If he managed to keep his dolls in one piece for a full day, he was given a reward. He was happy there and, according to the keepers, the garden had never looked better. Fiona had visited him there once and he’d given her a hug. A normal hug that did not threaten to crush her torso. A big step in the right direction. It was also expected that with the right stimulation, he would eventually be able to communicate like a seven-year-old child.
The maid, Daniella, had not been equally blessed. According to the autopsy report, the parts of her brain dealing with empathy, emotions, reflections and such had proven to be deformed and highly abnormal. Some areas and neural junctions had even been missing altogether. She would never have been able to live a normal life, not even Azoth could have saved her. It also meant that she could not be held responsible for her actions. She had been acting in despair, desperately in search for a life that she could never have and she could not have understood the consequences of her actions. Fiona had forgiven her everything.
Riccardo on the other hand, was a different story. She could never forgive what he‘d done to her. He was the one responsible for everything that had happened to her -and her parents. He was now locked behind bars for life in a high-secure jail in Europe, but Fiona still feared that one day he would escape and come after her. Or even worse, what if he came after… Fiona shivered. It was one of her most frequent nightmares together with the burning corpse. Lorenzo had been drinking her blood… Had Aureolus Belli really been resurrected, or had it been just another unhappy clone? She would never know. Lorenzo was definitely dead and Riccardo wasn’t speaking to anyone. He’d started to read some books about medieval history in the prison library, but he’d quickly thrown them in al directions screaming in rage that they were empty, deceiving and far away from the great truth. He’d never spoken again and didn‘t want to socialize with the other inmates. He was just sitting in his cell, writing the same Latin phrase on the walls over and over again: alterius non sit qui suus esse potest, -let no man that can belong to himself be of another.

Fiona rose, blew out the candle and walked out to the kitchen with the empty teacup. Hewie went back to bed. His injured paw had healed completely and he had no problem with jumping or running. The scar on Fiona’s thigh was almost invisible too. A sound made her go back upstairs. She opened a door and peeked into the room. Just as she’d thought, the baby was awake. She walked over to the cradle, lifted up her seven-month baby boy and sat down on a chair to give him some milk. Becoming a mother was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to her, though it was hard too since she was still in college. She would be graduating next year and she was hoping to land a job at the UN or Amnesty International. She wanted to promote human rights where they had none and be a spokesperson for innocent people fallen victim of kidnapping and torture.

“Nightmares again?”
Fiona turned and saw a drowsy Leon leaning on the door. Her face softened and she sent him a warm smile. She shifted in her chair so Leon could sit down next to them.
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
Leon shook his head and hugged her close. “You know I can always tell when you’re not lying next to me, sweetheart,” he whispered in her ear and caressed her hair with his fingers.
Fiona stroked his chin and touched his bare chest. Leon always knew when to say. The baby had fallen asleep and Leon carried him back to his bed.
“Sleep tight Josh,” he said and stroked his son’s head.
Fiona felt the familiar lump in her chest. Joshua Noah would never know his grandparents. Her parents never got to see her get married. Her father had not been there to walk her down the aisle and her mother had not been sitting on the first row, crying of happiness. Leon slumped back in the chair.
“I promise I’ll cut down on work assignments from now on,” he assured his young wife. Fiona nodded and her eyes filled with gratitude. A returning subject of their rare fights had been Leon’s travelling hours. However, no matter how much the job as a Special Government Agent and the thrill accompanying it meant to him, Fiona and Josh meant so much more.
“C’mon, let’s get back to bed honey,” he said and started to rise.
Fiona shrugged. “What would be the point, I won’t be able sleep anyway.”
“Who said anything about sleeping?” Leon asked and cooked a smile.
Fiona raised both her eyebrows and hit Leon’s chest with her elbow. Leon moaned and pretended to sink to the floor. Then she returned his teasing smile. A tingle in her stomach was gradually moving south.
An hour later, she was sound asleep in Leon’s arms.

                                        ~ * ~    ~*~ THE END ~*~    ~ * ~

“Azoth and so the term, which being originally a term for an occult formula sought by alchemists much like the philosopher's stone, became a poetic word for the element Mercury.”