Page 164 of At First Spark
Lark goes still beside me. Not frozen. Focused. Like prey finally seeing exactly what’s been hunting it.
“What the hell are you doing?” I snap.
Kenzie tilts her head slightly, almost thoughtful. “I wanted him to see.”
Smoke curls thicker through the barn. The fire crackles harder behind us, but she doesn’t seem to notice it, or care.
“You weren’t supposed to keep staying,” she says to Lark now, voice tightening. “You were supposed to leave.”
Lark’s hand tightens around Rook’s collar.
“You set the inn fire.”
Kenzie laughs softly again.
“You made him forget me.”
The words hit like a punch.
Obsessed.
Delusional.
Dangerous.
“Holt,” Lark says quietly beside me.
Not in a panic but in a warning, because Kenzie is moving now. Slowly descending the stairs.
“You weren’t supposed to matter this much,” she says, staring directly at Lark. “But then he looked at you like…” Her expression twists violently. “Like you were special.”
“Kenzie,” I say sharply, stepping fully in front of Lark now. “Stop.”
For the first time, her gaze flicks fully to me. And somehow—that’s worse.
“You left me,” she says.
The fire surges loudly behind her, flames climbing the far wall.
“I told you it wasn’t serious.”
“You lied.”
“I was honest from the beginning.”
“No.” Her voice cracks suddenly. “No, you just replaced me.”
The heat spikes harder. Smoke thickens. The barn groans overhead. Lark grips my arm suddenly.
“Holt.”
I smell gasoline now, and my stomach drops.
Kenzie smiles again.
“I wanted her to see what it felt like.”
The loft above us cracks loudly. Flames burst higher behind her. This entire place is seconds from collapse.
