Page 20

He shouted her name repeatedly, but each time, his voice grew quieter until it refused to emerge at all.

What in the devil was going on? He scrubbed his eyes, and then, as if by magic—there she was, standing in the doorway of her bedroom, haloed in light, calm and still amid the chaos.

Sarah.

Relief crashed over him. He reached for her, but she vanished right before his eyes.

The doorway was empty.

She was gone.

Like she’d never been there. And so were the flames.

It was eerily quiet and blindingly dark.

The ground shifted beneath him. Somewhere—far, near, impossible to place—came the thin, high wail of a child’s cry.

Maddie? Emily?

He spun around, but the hallway had disappeared.

Now he stood outside, barefoot in the snow. The cold bit into his ankles. The house blazed before him like a pyre, black smoke curling into a starless sky.

No!

How had he gotten out here? He was just inside. He saw her; he heard the children’s cries. They were alive, they were there.

His breath hitched.

He took a step forward, and the snow turned to ash beneath his feet.

He tried to scream, but nothing came out.

The fire grew louder. Or was it laughter? Or was it weeping?

No. No. No.

Gideon jerked awake with a strangled gasp, drenched in cold sweat, the echo of screams still ringing in his ears.

His chest heaved.

The fire, the smoke, Sarah… the girls.

A warm hand pressed against his arm.

He flinched violently, instincts kicking in before thought could catch up. He twisted toward the touch and caught a sleeve, yanking hard. A surprised yelp escaped the woman now tumbling into his bed, limbs tangled in the sheets, her long hair spilling across his bare chest.

“God’s teeth!” he rasped, his voice rough from sleep. “What in the devil…?”

The woman thrashed against his chest, trying to sit up. He reached to steady her, shoving the twisted linen aside as he sat up. Her wide eyes met his for a breathless moment before she attempted to retreat.

Leila.

“What are you doing here?” Gideon grabbed her by the shoulders, preventing her from rolling off his bed when a metallic glint caught his eye.

Something flashed in her hand. He seized her wrist and forced it forward.

A dagger.