Page 34 of Mountain Summons

“No. It’s about him.”

Her father hesitated. That was all she needed.

She grabbed her coat, shoving her arms into the sleeves before he could protest. “I’m coming, whether you like it or not.”

As they stepped outside, the cold night hit her full force, but she barely felt it.

All she could think about was Tristan.

In the car, her father took an unexpected left turn. “That’s not the way to the hospital …”

Her father’s jaw was clenched so tight, it was a surprise he was able to get the words out. “They’ve been airlifted to the Annecy hospital.”

So it’s bad. Chamonix’s Hopitaux du Mont Blanc had a good emergency department, but its experience was mainly in mountain traumatology. Falls, breaks and sprains. For more serious emergencies, Annecy was the better hospital.

Neither of them spoke again. Her father gripped the steering wheel too tightly, his jaw a hard line, his profile illuminated in the glow of the dashboard. A few times, he cleared his throat, and Lena thought he was going to say something, but in the end seemed to think better of it.

For a while, Lena leaned her head against the car window and pretended to sleep. The rest of the time, she stared out into the night, not really seeing the road ahead. Her reflection—pale, drawn, eyes wide with fear—stared back at her.

Tristan.

The name pulsed in her mind, over and over, like a steady, unrelenting drumbeat.

She wasn’t ready to talk. It was hard enough to think, the way the thoughts crowded in her head. But there was one thought, on repeat, that wouldn’t leave her.You lied to him.You told him you didn’t want anything to do with him. Because you were afraid.Afraid of what the ending would be. So afraid, you never gave it a chance. He’d made it clear he wanted to see her again.And she’d wanted it, too. So badly. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. But she’d been too afraid.

Of course you were afraid to get involved.

Look at what’s happening now.

She closed her eyes again, but instead of blocking out the fear, it just amplified it. She saw flashes of wreckage, twisted metal, the smell of jet fuel thick in the air, Tristan slumped over in the pilot’s seat, blood staining his uniform?—

Her eyes snapped open.

She took a deep, shaking breath and clenched her fingers tighter.

The roads blurred by. Arriving in Annecy, her father drove without hesitation. He seemed to know exactly where to go.Of course he does. He’s been here before.

At the hospital’s near-empty parking lot, Lena stepped out of the car, stretching her legs. Her ankle twinged, reminding her she’d forgotten to put the brace back on. She’d been taking it off more and more, as the therapist had suggested, but maybe tonight would have been a good time to use it.

Her father stepped beside her. “This way,” he said.

Hands curled into fists inside her coat pockets, Lena forced herself to follow. She wanted to run ahead, and she also wanted to stop and stick her head in the proverbial sand. Because once they were inside the hospital, this would all become real.

Tristan.

“Madou?” her father asked as he pulled the glass door open, stepping aside to let her through. “Would you rather wait in the car until I?—“

Lena didn’t bother answering. She was already holding herself together by sheer force of will. But she wasn’t going to wait in the car.

Her father headed straight to a waiting room, where Beau Fontaine and another tall, athletic-looking man were alreadywaiting. Her father made short work of introductions. “Beau Fontaine. Lorenz van der Berg. You remember my daughter, Madeleine.”

“Please call me Lena,” she said, shaking Beau’s hand. She didn’t shake Lorenz’s hand because his right hand was in a cast. It looked brand new.

“I’m not sure what happened. We were reaching the refuge. And then, suddenly, we were falling. Falling fast.” His jaw clenched, his eyes flickering with something darker—not just pain, but memory. “Tristan kept us steady long enough to land without too much damage, but...”

“Alex?”

“He was knocked unconscious by the crash, but the CT scan was clear. Yvette’s with him.”

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