Page 10 of The Midwinter Mirror
I stiffen my shoulders. “Well, we’d better go and find them then, hadn’t we?”
Snow falls, children vanish. Same old Elderfell. But this time I’m not running. This time I’m the hunter.
I came here for my baby sister.
And I’m not leaving without her.
Chapter 4
Exes & Hexes
Holly
Ican’t stop staring at him.
Zayne was such a handsome boy. But that’s all he was—a boy. Five years have turned him into something else entirely. How did he get so big? He must have sprouted at least six inches. Six foot four, six foot five maybe, with broad shoulders and hard muscle. I almost get a crick in my neck just looking up at him.
And it’s not just the size. He carries himself differently—confident, dangerous, like he owns the ground he walks on. Which, by the way, he doesn’t.
Dark brown hair, too long, tied back like he thinks he’s some kind of warrior prince from a freaking fantasy book. His eyes are the same stormy gray, but somehow weird and unsettling. High cheekbones, a strong jaw, and stubble. Either he’s forgotten how to shave or it’s deliberate. Though the Zayne I used to know, never cared about his appearance.
The boy I remember from that last day was broken, doubting himself. That boy’s gone. What’s standing in front of me now is all man—hard, assured…dangerous. And annoyingly, still stupidly handsome. Not that I care.
Except, okay, maybe I do care. Because…whew.
I have to resist the urge to fan myself. But I do resist because he’s looking right back at me with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips.
Then it vanishes, and his mouth tightens into a hard line. He’s probably remembering that he thinks I betrayed him—I didn’t—and that the children are missing. But like his aunt, I can’t help thinking that this is a huge coincidence—Zayne turning up here looking for his little sister on the very day she’s vanished. Though I can’t see how the two things could be connected. And I don’t want to think bad things about Zayne. At one point, I thought of him as the other half of myself. I know, dramatic—we were only fifteen when we parted, but still, there was something between us. Something powerful.
And I let him down. I know I did. But what else could I have done? I couldn’t make up things. I couldn’t say what I hadn’t seen. Shit, what a mess. But contemplating my feelings for Zayne will have to wait until we find the children. That has to be the priority right now.
At that moment, Zayne’s aunt, who had backed away from him earlier, suddenly finds her courage again. She steps up toward him. Her face is pinched, her lips tight. Which isn’t unusual; she’s a miserable woman.
“You’re trouble,” she snarls. “You were always trouble, like your father before you. This is your fault. I don’t know how, but it is.”
He slowly turns his head away from me and looks down at her. Pain flashes through his eyes—maybe she reminds him of his mother. She has her dark red hair. Or maybe because his aunt is really his only family, other than Tansy. It must be painful for him to have her dislike him so much.
But then the pain is gone, and a hard expression fills his eyes. He steps toward her. “You know nothing.” His voice is low, menacing. “In fact, you know less than nothing about me or my fucking father.” His nostrils flare, like a beast sensing his prey. “So unless you have something constructive to say, stay the fuck out of my way. You’re nothing to me.”
Whoa. That’s not the broken boy I remember. That’s someone who could break me in half without blinking. And, yeah, maybe I like it.Ugh.
I think she’s going to respond. For a second, the two of them stare into each other’s eyes. Her skin goes pale, and she takes a step backward.
Wow, I’m impressed. Again.
The tension leaves Zayne’s shoulders, and the hardness fades from his expression. He turns toward the small boy beside him. I’d hardly noticed him before—sort of cute, with dirty blond hair. He’s got something on his shoulder: is it a toy? It’s a gray gargoyle-like figure, its tail wrapped around his neck, and it’s so still—then I’m sure its fingers twitch.
Did it move?
I shake my head. I’m seeing things. This place always had a bad effect on me, and Zayne coming back has sent me into a tailspin.
Zayne crouches down beside the boy and talks to him quietly. The boy glances at me and then nods. Zayne straightens and moves toward me, tugging the boy by his hand.
“Holly, this is my little brother, Josh.”
His brother? Where did he come from? He must see the confusion on my face.
“We’re sort of foster brothers, but we’ve decided to make it a real thing,” Zayne says.
