Author's Note: I know, I know, I'm not being a very good author lately. No sooner than I was back on a nice roll with my writing than my modem breaks and I'm offline for two weeks and lose an entire chapter of The Sons of Thunder due to a emergency shutdown. Still, I'm back and hope to remain so.

Augusta

Helga was almost as excited when Rowena returned to Lanast as she had been the day Rowena arrived there in the first place. Gwyneth gave her a smile and seemed surprised when Rowena merely nodded cooly. She couldn't blame Helga for the whole affair of setting her up as Salazar's wife and Godric's mistress-Helga simply wasn't bright enough to think it up or execute it, frankly-but Gwyneth...Rowena couldn't repress the feeling that she was living in the house of the enemy when she passed back through the doors with Gwyneth and Helga.

Rowena was startled to find that Lord Anthony had died over the winter, though she wasn't surprised that his wife and daughter barely noticed. Anthony had been incredibly easy to forget when one had to deal with Gwyneth. In the second of two bold, unconventional moves he would ever make in his life, he had left Lanast to Helga with Gwyneth holding the property for her until Helga was mature enough to manage property, in his words.

She was barely settled into her old rooms when Gwyneth came sweeping in, fiddling a little with her rosary. "You've been away for some time now, Rowena," she said, only too obviously trying to sound light and uninterested.

Rowena laughed mirthlessly. "Just ask what it is that you want to ask, Gwyneth."

Gwyneth looked up, startled. Rowena had always called her 'my lady Gwyneth' before, but now it was just 'Gwyneth.' Easy enough to understand how that would unsettle the woman. "Very well, then. The issue at hand is Salazar."

"What about him?"

"Don't toy with me, girl," Gwyneth said coldly. "If not for me, you'd be nobody for the rest of your life. Are you betrothed?"

"Yes." Rowena never hesitated at the half-lie. Marriage and betrothal were two words for the same thing in some places, and Gwyneth had not specified who Rowena was betrothed to. The older woman clearly believed her, because her face relaxed at once.

"Simply marvellous, Rowena. Have you told Helga yet? I'm sure she'll be delighted. I do wish, however, that you had sent word ahead so we could begin work on your bridegift and the other things you'll need-when is the wedding?"

"At Tintagel this summer. We're hoping to have everything very quiet, not much fuss, just the four of us-that is, myself, Helga, Salazar, and Godric, and the house priest of course." Nothing quite a lie.

"A pity-you really haven't spent much time here with us," Gwyneth said. "Still, it is your good fortune that you've secured a count for a husband at your age and in your circumstances."

"My circumstances are not so lowly as all that, Gwyneth." Lady of Tintagel, no less, she thought dryly.

"Of course not, but it is still your good fortune."

"Of course."

Gwyneth didn't dally long, leaving only a few minutes after she had, in her mind, recieved verification that her daughter's future was secure. Forgive me, both of you, Rowena thought as the door closed behind the Hufflepuff matriarch. I could not live my whole life trying to please everyone. Once she had collected herself, she went to Helga's rooms.

"What is it?" Helga said, looking slightly concerned when she saw Rowena's face. "Is something the matter?"

You have no idea. "More like is something right," she said, forcing a smile. She hated lying to Helga. "I'm to become a married woman at Tintagel this summer." Helga gave a squeal of delight and leapt to her feet to embrace her.

"Oh, Rowena, how lovely! Why didn't you or Salazar ever say anything? I've always thought you two were so well suited, you'll be happy, darling-"

Rowena laughed, though she wanted to cry. "This from the girl who told me flat-out the day I met her that she thought he was going to go raving mad and kill us all one day?"

"Oh, I just talk and talk sometimes. I didn't really mean it, Rowena. We'll both be so happy, you with Salazar and me with Godric-" Helga broke off then, her face shining with the rosy future she thought she could almost see, and Rowena truly hated herself for a moment.