A Breath of Snow and Ashes

Jamie and Claire sell another gem to help Marsali and Fergus move to New Bern, where Fergus will take over the printing press. The former printer has been forcibly deported back to England by the Whigs. The Frasers help move the family. Along the way, Germain and Jem mysteriously disappear. They’ve found a cave and hidden there, not wanting to be separated. Ian and Roger find them, however, and tell them that Germain is needed by his family.

On October 25, 1774, Ian takes Brianna on a long walk. She’s surprised and annoyed to find it will be a three-day journey, a fact he doesn’t tell her until the first day is almost over.

They stop to sleep, and Brianna catches some fish. Ian tells her he thought of marrying her long ago, and she entertains the thought of him as a man, rather than just her younger cousin. Their journey has something to do with his Mohawk wife, Emily (her Mohawk name is unpronounceable by Brianna), but he won’t reveal more. He tells Brianna that his soul wanders at night, and he doesn’t feel right during the day, but he felt safe and at home with Emily. Brianna soothes him to sleep.