Page 55 of A Bond in Flames

I scooped Hemlock up and held out my hand. “How about I show you?”

She put down her brush and strode over, taking my hand with a grin. “Are we going on a field trip?”

I chuckled; I’d been doing that a lot lately. I’d forgotten what it was like until I found her and she’d pulled me from the cloak slowly but surely, without even knowing she was doing it. It had been so long since I’d had occasion to laugh, to feel happiness, to feel anything but rage. I didn’t think it was going to happen, that again, it wouldn’t happen, but it had. Zinnia had brought me back.

“Yes, a field trip.” I loved the feel of her hand in mine; it was small and smooth and warm.

All she had to do was hold it back and not let go, and we would make it.

Just trust me, and finally, we’d make it to the other side.

* * *

Zinnia

Death led me from the castle and along the skull path, the one I followed when I came and went from Limbo. We walked until we reached the edge of the forest. Hemlock had stayed perched on Death’s shoulder the entire time, which amazed me, honestly.

I gave his head a little scratch, and he squeaked, letting me know how happy he was, so I left him where he was.

“Which way?” If we took the path that went to the left, it would lead us to the gateway to my home, but there was a path that went right as well. I’d never explored it. It was less trodden, narrow, the skulls not as compacted down, leading into the thickest part of the forest.

“Right,” he said, and since this path was only wide enough for one person, he pulled me forward so I was in front of him.

“This is where my reapers bring the souls,” he said as he walked.

It was cooler in here, under the thick canopy of the trees, the scent of loam much heavier. Finally, we reached a clearing and stopped. “Now where do we go?

“Nowhere. We’re here. This is where they are,” he said.

“What do you mean, here? All of them? How?”

He lifted a hand, and his cloak appeared, shrouding him as he waved his palm in front of me.

The clearing transformed to a cottage with a woman sitting on the porch singing while she knitted. He waved his hand again. A man busking on a city street.Again. A woman on a beach walking her dog.Again. A wolf shifter howling mournfully in a dark forest.Again. A man playing violin in a concert hall.

I heard them all, felt them; the souls were bright and so incredibly vibrant.

Again and again and again, Death waved his hand, showing me the souls locked in Limbo, in the place they’d most wanted to be for eternity.

Finally, he lowered his hand, and his cloak vanished.

“That was…” Shockingly, I felt tears gather in my eyes. “I felt them,” I whispered. “My ability to communicate with the dead, it’s… bound here, well, except for the visions I’ve been getting, but I haven’t been communicating with them. It’s all one-sided.” Having his past consorts trying to tell me something that I didn’t understand was so goddamn frustrating. “But just now, I felt those souls. When you showed them to me, I felt each and every one… I heard them.”

He cupped my face, brushing the tears from my cheeks. “It hurts you not to use your power?”

“It’s a huge part of who I am, you know?” I shook my head. “It’s what I do, how I help people. When I’m here, I feel… like I have no purpose, like I’ve lost a part of myself.”

He swiped his thumb over my cheek again. “I’m sorry, Zinnia, I truly am. It won’t… it won’t always be this way…” The muscle at the side of his jaw pulsed. “If you… things won’t be…” He cursed.

“What? Tell me.”

He drew in a breath as if he was trying to regain control. “I can’t.”

“Or you won’t?” I stared up at him.

“This is one of those things that you have to figure out for yourself.”

Frustration filled me. “How the hell am I supposed to do that? You’ve given me nothing, no clues, no hints. Not one damn thing.”

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