Disclaimer: Libba's releasing The Diviner's #3 this fall. That's not really a disclaimer, but the fact that I don't own any of her material is.

Felicity and Ann spend the morning in my room, keeping Henry occupied as we lay sprawled across the beds talking. We are all a bit shaken after Neela's little joke in the realms, but neither of them mention it. Instead they compare the quality of crescent rolls in London versus in Paris. Felicity insists that everything is better in Paris, but Ann's limited experience will not allow her to believe that anything is better than the fresh crescent rolls we once tasted during a trip to the city. Eventually, I can take it no longer.

"Are you two alright?" I ask, my voice quiet but firm. They turn to me, their faces masks devoid of emotion. "I know we're all thinking about it. I can't be the only one mortified by the thought of Pippa returning."

Fee casts her face down, tendrils of hair falling to conceal her eyes. "It took me by surprise was all," she says into the linens. "We know she's gone."

"Fee is right," Ann pipes in, though her tone is less chipper. "Pippa is not returning. That is for the best." She reaches out to take our hands in hers. "We can't let this set us back."

Ann is right. We all spent four years of grieving and struggling to put the past behind us. And that is exactly where it belongs: in the past. I refuse to take steps back after coming so far.

I squeeze both their hands. Fee looks up, her eyes misty. "You're right, Ann." She smiles. "Why don't we take a trip to the cave tonight? Merely for pleasure." Both the girls' faces light up immediately, brightened by the idea of rediscovering the realms. "When Henry goes to sleep, we shall go."

Henry sits on the floor playing a game of jacks, though it is not his strong suit. But Henry is resilient and his spirit is light, so he laughs and continues, bouncing the ball purely for the joy of it. We will need supplies for our fun in the cave and my first stop us the chapel.

I leave Henry with Felicity and Ann, who are positively in love with him. I exit Spence through the back door, passing the stables in the open space between the school and the woods, a path which leads to the chapel. I manage to catch Kartik's eye, gesturing with a tilt of my head to meet me inside. He nods, sweeping away the last of the strewn hay before tucking away his broom and following me at a safe distance.

The heavy door of the chapel thuds shut behind me, the sound echoing against the high ceiling. I glance around, scanning the room to be sure we are alone. Luckily, Reverend Waite spends more time in the pub than he does in the pulpit, so the chapel is silent.

The door shuts more quietly behind Kartik, who takes me in his arms with a smile. "It's been a while since we've been here," he says, gazing up at the stained glass windows lining the walls. They are beautiful, but terrifying. His gaze stops on the depiction of an angel holding a severed gorgon's head and I feel the subtle chill that moves through him. I let the pull of the mosaic draw me out of Kartik's arms, remembering the last time I was here. It was silent, as it is now. I am no longer frightened of the angel.

"The last time we were here, you told me that we must make the best of this world. For better or for worse."

"So I did." His eyes return to mine.

"Do you think we both made the right decision?"

I turn to meet his eye. He watches me quietly for a moment, his head slightly cocked. "You mean to ask if I regret mine." A blush of shame creeps into my cheeks. I give a slight nod, not breaking our gaze. He says nothing, just stares. My breath hitches in my throat with the tension of anticipation. What if he does regret his choice? I could not bear to hear him say it. My stomach churns and for a moment, I fear I may be sick on the nearest pew. "How could you ask me that?"

My heart stops in my chest.

Kartik starts toward me and takes my hands in his. "If you think for a second that I would not do it again this very moment, then you do not truly know me."

I squeeze his hands tightly, feeling more than just relief at his words. "Please, do not think I doubt you. I simply needed to hear it spoken aloud." One of his hands moves to my cheek. His eyes search mine so that I feel a chill run down my spine.

"Gemma Doyle, I love you. And until the day I die, I will do everything it takes to keep you from harm. Not because I am bound to an oath of the Rakshana, but because without you, I would be lost." He bows his head, taking in our entwined hands. "I am not as strong as you. If I lost you…"

I open my mouth to console him, but the words will not come to me. Kartik is many things, but vulnerable is not one of them. To see him let down his walls is a shock to me and I am not quite sure how to react.

"Kartik, you are one of the strongest people I know." He rests his head against my shoulder, wrapping his free arm around my shoulders to hold me tightly. "Please, don't undermine yourself."

Kartik lifts his head, a very raw, renewed love in his eyes. "I don't deserve you," he murmurs. I begin to protest, but he silences me with a kiss so soft I cannot resist its pull. Before I can grow comfortable, he pulls away, taking in the vastness of the chapel. "Did you have a reason to come in here, or were you just dragging me off to have your way with me?"

I stride down the aisle toward the pulpit. Sure enough, behind the podium is a bottle, nearly full, of Reverend Waite's personal whiskey. I hold it aloft triumphantly. "Unfortunately Mr. Kartik," I begin, sashaying toward where he stands at the end of the main aisle, "the stolen goods I've come to retrieve are not yours."

"Ah!" He laughs with a dramatic hand at his chest, as if he has been stabbed. "Your wit is sharp, Miss Doyle!" He takes my free hand with a smile so radiant it could outshine the sun. "And what is that for, hmm?"

We stroll from the chapel, taking a hidden trail back to the stables to avoid the main path. "Miss Worthington and Miss Bradshaw and I are to have a bit of girlish fun tonight. It has been ages since the last time we-"

"Ah yes, I remember it all too fondly," Kartik laughs, rubbing the scar across his chest where Felicity attacked him with a sharpened limb after a moonlit quest for power my first year at Spence. I wish I could laugh at the distant memory, but I can remember nothing but the mayhem of that night, the broken body of the deer my friends slaughtered at the bottom of the ravine.

"Miss Bradshaw is now expected to become Mrs. Smalls soon," I inform him, eagerly changing the subject.

"Miss Bradshaw is engaged!" He exclaims. "My, I would never have guessed her to be first of you to be married."

Kartik is right. Pippa would have been the first of us to be married, but her engagement never quite felt real. But we are women now, and women are expected to be wives and mothers. I understand firsthand just how difficult it is to be a woman in the world, especially when one does it improperly.

I have always wrestled with the question if Pippa was right in condemning herself to the realms. Sometimes I believe she was weak for being too afraid to make her life her own. And at times like these, I wonder if she was the lucky one.

I kiss Kartik goodbye and return to my room, where Henry is waiting with Ann and Felicity. As I watch them play, gayly laughing and dancing about, I take a moment to myself to be thankful. I am no longer the girl who struggled to discover who she was, who was burdened with secrets and fears, who found herself stretched between two worlds that each demanded so much of her.

I do not yet have my life entirely in order. But I am back where I began and I am not the same, and that is something to be thankful for.

The fire burns nearly as brightly as the mischief in Felicity's eyes as she lifts the bottle to her lips again. How many times have we passed the bottle between the three of us? Five? Six? What comes after six? I cannot remember, for I am frightfully and wonderfully drunk!

I take the bottle from Fee, who pouts at her now-empty hand, and take a deep swig. The whiskey burns as it goes down, but I do not cough and sputter as I did when we were schoolgirls. Ann whines, something about how she has not had as much as we have, but Felicity and I both know that she blocks the lip of the bottle with her tongue, giving us the illusion that she has drunk more than she has.

As I pass the green bottle to Ann, temporarily placating her, I think about Kartik. He was slightly worried when I left, but I assured him that we would be safe in the cave before leaving him with a kiss. It felt incredible, having the ability to come and go as I please, not having to service myself to Kartik's every command from the Rakshana, not having to sneak past Mrs. Nightwing's door praying that her glass of sherry kept her sleeping hard enough to drown out the giggles the three of us muffled behind her hands. I can't help but think that this should have been how I lived my time at Spence, not trapped in shoes that pinched, or forced to choke down my emotions for the sake of beauty and grace.

"So, Fee, tell us more about Paris!" I demand, scooting closer to her. Ann nods in agreement, watching the bottle carefully in her hand, quite obviously contemplating drinking more.

Felicity crosses her legs underneath her, taking back the bottle for dramatic effect. Ann does not fight her. "It is incredible! I have never felt so at home!" She takes a drink. "Little Polly quite loves it, too. She has been attending school and her French is très beau."

"I am glad to hear it." I was sure that taking Polly into her home would teach Felicity true responsibility. "Taking care of a child is no easy task."

"You know better than I, Gemma dear," Fee says, raising the bottle to me.

"Is it quite romantic?" Ann asks dreamily. "Charlie has told me wonderful things about Paris."

"I will say that they call it the City of Love for a reason," Fee says with a smirk. Ann and I giggle, demanding more. "When I first arrived, a gentleman stopped me on the street, asking if he might carry my bags to my hotel. Of course I allowed it, and he invited me to dinner that night. I humored him for a bit, but I grew bored."

It is amazing how Fee can flit from one flower to another with such ease. "And now?"

"Now, I am seeing a woman named Emilie. She owns a pastry shop near the river. Polly simply loves her."

"And do you?" I ask. I vividly remember her fear of never loving again after Pippa died. She meets my eye, remembering the same conversation between two very different girls so many years ago.

"I believe I might," she replies, hiding her smile with the lip of the bottle. We all squeal, exclaiming our congratulations.

"Enough about me," Felicity says, uncharacteristically removing the attention from herself. "We all know Ann's love story, now tell us more about America, Gemma! How are American men?"

"Yes, we must know!" They are both eager to know, but I have very little to tell them.

"I am afraid I am not the one to ask," I tell them. Their disappointment is visible. "I worked too much to even think about courtships! And no man dared look twice at me with an infant on my hip, much less a swollen stomach." Their expressions are hopeful, but I know they understand my circumstances.

"Oh, but you've Kartik again!" Ann exclaims, wiggling with excitement. "How lovely it must be to have him back!"

"It is more than I ever imagined," I sigh, falling onto my back. The firelight dances beautifully across the ceiling of the cave and it suddenly feels as if it has not been so very long since we were here last.

Felicity and Ann move to flank me, joining hands as we lay on the cold stone floor.

"I don't believe any of us could have ever imagined finding ourselves where we are now." I cannot see Fee's face, but I can hear the smile in her voice. I am joyful beyond words that my two dearest friends have finally found happiness.

Drunk and content, we lay there giggling into the night until we finally sneak back into the old stone lady that is Spence and fall into our beds, weary but giddy all the same.

A slightly misleading chapter title? Maybe. Oops! Anywho, Thank you for all your responses! I never expected this many, but please keep them coming because they're wonderful! I'm definitely going to try to keep working on this but I'm currently working three jobs and writing my own novel so this project is on the back burner for a little bit. But I'm still pulling from my material I already have written so that I can keep updating for you guys so you're in luck! Stay tuned because things are probably gonna get real dramatic real soon!

xoxo Lady Hope