Page 4 of Burned

I move again. Not far. Still within the general safety zone. Still near the woodpile.

Still absolutely doing the wrong thing.

The ground dips slightly beside the house where the snow has melted and refrozen.

My boot slides, and I catch the rough siding with one hand, my heart in my throat.

No one turns.

Good.

I press myself against the wall, breath held.

Rafe’s voice comes again. “If Carlos has her, or had her, then this is bigger than a rumor.”

Her.

My stomach twists.

We all know exactly who he’s talking about.

Lucian is silent for so long that the woods seem to hold their breath with me.

Finally, he says, “Say her name.”

My heart drops with a thud.

Why? Why does he need to hear it? Why does he need Rafe to say it?

Can’t she just go back to the past?

And stay away from my future?

Rafe lets out a long sigh. He’s not one to obey. At least not on the first request. But Lucian isn’t relenting. He repeats himself.

Three words.

Three words that set a storm of jealousy raging in my tight chest.

“Say her name.” He says those words flat, cold, and deadly.

Yet beneath his tone, something else moves.

Pain.

Pain and a feeling I can’t quite trace, one that makes the brewing storm inside me gather strength.

Lucian continues, “If we are going to face ghosts, we have to name them.”

I’ve heard Lucian angry. I’ve heard him amused. I’ve heard him order men to their knees and me to mine.

This is different.

This is the sound of a wound pressed too hard, like nails raking across the delicate scars on his chest. He’s in pain and something even he can’t figure out.

Love? Please, don’t let it be love.

Finally, Rafe exhales, her name delivered in the whoosh of his breath. “Isobel.”