Anne felt herself drift between the veil of life and death. It was a strange place. Without sound, without colour, without warmth. She wasn´t sure if she was inside her own head or halfway into the next world. A considerable amount of time later, she found herself in the most unlikely of places: right next to her own body. The lifeless thing that had housed her soul had been placed in Omar´s bed. Her face looked wan and oddly waxen. Omar knelt next to her, his face buried in his hands. His shoulders were shaking uncontrollably. He was crying, Anne realized. She tried to lay a hand on his arm, but no matter how far she stretched, she couldn´t reach him. Now she noticed Newton standing next to a stranger. "Doctor, there must be something more you can do." The stranger shrugged. "I gave her every antidote I have. It is now up to her body to fight whatever poison is inside. Mr. Khaled, we should leave her now. She needs her rest." Omar didn´t move. When the doctor protested again, Newton shook his head and led the man out. "Ye got yerself a lovely lad, my lamb." Anne turned around to find her grandmother sitting in the armchair in the corner. "Granny!" She threw herself into her grandmother´s outstretched arms. "Easy, child. It´s all over now." Granny looked exactly the way Anne remembered, from her grey braid to her twinkling eyes and her kind smile. "I am dead, then?" she asked. Granny nodded. "Very nearly so. To be honest, lass, I dinnae have thought ye to be the first one of my grandkids to go, but…" She shrugged. Anne looked from her grandmother to Omar. "God, Annie. Come back to me. Come back." His voice was choked with tears. She had never seen him cry openly before. Anne felt the overpowering urge to take him into her arms. "I am sorry, Granny…" Annie shook her head. "I am staying." Granny smiled. "I thought ye might. Ye are of my blood, after all. Never forget that, wee Annie. Yer old man dinna manage to beat the Campbell blood out of ye. Whatever yer name will be… McGregor, Khaled… Ye are part of my clan as well. Us Campbell women have a knack of cheatin´ Death." Granny joined Anne at the bed. "He really is bonnie, yer man. I believe, ye´ve seen enough to save him?" Anne was puzzled. "Save him? From what?" "Save his life, my lamb. Your vision. The ship? Ye dinna want to tell me ye forgot?" Granny gave her a playful slap. Annie stared at her. "I thought that was some kind of fever dream. That was… that was a vision?" Granny shook her head. "Really, lass. I thought ye knew better than to doubt yer gifts. Now, on with yer. Go back to yer bonnie lad." Granny kissed her forehead like she had done so often when Anne was small, then she was gone. Anne closed her eyes and concentrated. Wake up. Wake up.
Anne felt like death itself when she opened her eyes. Her whole body ached and her stomach turned. She coughed and moaned. Omar lifted his head. "Annie! Annie, can you hear me?" "Yes." She barely managed a whisper. Omar made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. He took her hand and pressed it gently. "Oh God, Annie. I thought... I thought…" He couldn´t bring himself to say the words. "Wait, I´ll fetch Dr. Fraser." He hurried out of the room, yelling for the doctor. The examination was brief but thorough. Dr. Fraser rubbed his hands with obvious self-satisfaction. "Well, well, well. It´s good to see you back among the living again, Miss McGregor. One, two weeks of rest and you will be as good as new." He left in high spirits with a more than generous payment. Omar stayed at Anne´s side, only leaving the room to fetch her broth and tea. Anne smiled. "You are such a mother hen." Omar chuckled. "A bit, perhaps. And now, drink up and go to sleep." Anne finished her cup and rested her head on the pillow. When Omar stood up from his chair to leave the room, she stretched out her hand. "Stay. Please." Omar drew the curtains together, slipped into bed next to her and wrapped his arms around her gently. "I am not hurting you, am I?" "I am fine." Anne sank into his embrace. She was close to sleep, but Rose´s face appeared in her mind and pulled her back. "How did you get us out of the Tower? Did Rose make it out alive?" "We´ll talk about that when you are rested." Omar murmured sleepily. Anne shook her head. She knew that Omar could sense it. "Omar, please. I need to know." Omar stayed silent for some time. When he spoke, Anne could hear the sadness and the anger he tried to keep out of his voice. "There was a hidden passage at the floodgate. I opened the gate and the water ruined the explosives. There was no time for a more… delicate resolution. I managed to get us out, but Rose… I don´t know what happened to her. We didn´t find her body after the water had been drained again. She escaped." For some reason, Anne was relieved. She still felt the strange ties between herself, Omar and Rose. They might be enemies now, but they were still bound together by fate. "I should have killed her." Omar whispered. "But I couldn´t bring myself to do it." Anne placed a kiss on his cheek. "You would never have forgiven yourself. You are blaming yourself for her choices even now, am I right?" Omar was silent for some moments. "I should have seen it. Instead of helping her through this, I bring you into it as well. You could have died because I made such a mess of the whole situation. Annie, you almost died." Omar emphasized. Anne pulled him closer. "But I didn´t. I am still here. So are you, and so is Rose. There is still good in her, I know it. Maybe we haven´t lost her completely."
In the course of the next two weeks, Omar, Newton and Lowndes cleared up the rest of the conspiracy. Chaloner was taken into custody as the main culprit, waiting for his trial. Prisby had vanished without a trace. Before Anne was strong enough to get up, Omar brought her the news that the family Galloway had relocated to Paris. Nigel Galloway had money troubles which he had hoped to rectify through collaboration with Chaloner. Now he was forced to look for greener pastures elsewhere. Surely, this was the easiest outcome for Omar and herself. Had Rose stayed in London, they would have had to leave. Omar was less upset than Anne had feared. "Rose is strong. She will make her own way." He put some logs on the fire in Anne´s bedroom. It was almost unbearably hot, just the way she liked it. Anne watched him mend the fire. She looked for any trace of tension in his shoulders that would betray a hidden sadness. Nothing. "I hope that she will rethink her arrangement with the Templars. After all, they were too ready to let her sacrifice herself." Anne regretted her remark instantly. There it was, the tension in Omar´s shoulders. He stood up from the fireplace and sat down on the edge of her bed. "All those years since I left London, I have wondered about Rose. What had become of her… Would I ever see her again…" Omar shook his head. "I´d never have thought that we´d be on opposing sides. I hope that we won´t see her again. If she ever tries to hurt you again, I will kill her. Regrets or no regrets." Anne shuddered. Suddenly, she was gripped by a strange sensation. As if somebody stepped over my grave, Granny used to say.
As soon as Anne was strong enough, they were married. It was a very small affair, witnessed only by Isaac Newton, his associate Nicolas and Mr. Lowndes. Somehow, Omar had managed to sneak into the Galloway estate and recover some of his late father´s effects. The ring he put on Anne´s finger had belonged to his mother. Anne could hardly repeat the wedding vows through her tears. She had hoped to be a more dignified bride, but weddings were emotional affairs. Especially when the bridegroom looked as handsome as Omar in his new suit and when he smiled at her like that.