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Ellie is mine to have and to hold To save and keep Forever and always

At last, I see The Goat ahead of ulfed in flah the crowd The heat is onMy lungs strangle on the acrid smoke that coats the air But it doesn’t matter--she’s in there, so that’s where I need to be

I clear the crush of people and am just a few steps from the doorwhen I’round

My heart roars, even if ht, ready to destroy whatever’s stoppingin my ear, but I don’t hear theher name

But I can’t hear my own voice

It’s drowned out, overwhel, splintering wood As the roof of The Horny Goat caves in, sending an eruption of deep-red sparks into the air like a volcano

And anything or anyone--is consumed by flames

"WHERE WERE YOU?"

Olivia, the Duchess of Fairstone, my Lady and so much more, looks down at me with an ashen face, her eyes like two sapphires left out in the rain--hard and wet

I don’t know if she means to sound accusatory but I hear the blame in her voice

Where were you? Why weren’t you there? What were you doing, you worthless cunt?

Ored behind the lump in my throat I have to clear it to speak

"She ith Tommy I left off early"

We’re in the front parlor of Guthrie House Where we’ve gathered--me, Olivia, Nicholas, Henry and Sarah--to wait for nehile the fire ate and Winston and his army of Dark Suits chase down leads Evan Macalister, the owner of The Goat, is in the hospital being treated for smoke inhalation Tommy’s one floor below hi bea; the other patrons all made it out on their own

Except Ellie

"Why?" Olivia asks

I rubbreak, now "I can’t remember"

When I was seventeen, in the military, I watched a ht in the heart I reed around the edges He didn’t bleed, not right away And he didn’t fall at first; he stayed standing

A deadto bleed out

That’s what I aony, the likes of which I have never known But I don’t feel it I can sense it, like it’s shored up on the other side of a wall, a rising tide

And I have to hold it off, just a little while longer

I can’t think of her Can’t picture her face inblue eyes--the most beautiful I’ve ever seen The sound of her voiceher laugh One wrong word, one thought, and the anguish will surge over the wall It’ll send me to et up again

Prince Nicholas walks into the room, his expression drawn and hesitant Olivia sees it too

"What is it?" She glances past his shoulder, waiting to see if anyone follows behind hi--I can see it in your face What is it, Nicholas?" Olivia’s voice sharpens, bordering on hysterical, and the sound echoes in my veins "You have to tell me!"

He clasps her arm, pets her hair, then rests his palm on her round stomach "Easy, love Be easy"

Then Nicholas looks down at the ground "They found so--a phone--that they think may be Ellie’s They want to see if you can identify it"

Olivia nods, and her husband gestures to the man just outside the door He steps in and presents a clear plastic bag Inside is a charred, led heap When he turns it over, I see traces of the pale pink phone case--and remnants of what used to be an E etched in rhinestones