Page 76 (1/2)

Ever since thefire, a fire that snow and rain couldn’t put out But now, her flames were doused, and she was as cold as ice It was the first time I’d seen her that way

She sat in the armchair near the fire, in one of my shirts she’d fished out of the draith a blanket over her legs Her arlazed over, as if she wasn’t really looking at the fire

She kneas there but didn’t acknowledge me

I grabbed a bottle, filled two glasses with my favorite liquor, and set them on the table between us

She i s

I felt like I was drinking with Ian

“How is she?”

I turned lass “Shaken up”

“I can only ilass as she looked inside, her eyes heavy as if she’d cried after I left “Now I knohy she’s not close with your mother”

“My mother has always been distant…unfortunately”

“That doesn’t surprise me”

I watched her from the side, stared at her cheek and the deep shadow under her jawline “I don’t always agree with her, but it’s wrong to judge her for this”

“I don’t, actually” She took a drink “So, I have a sister… I’ve alanted a sister”

“Having the same blood doesn’t make you family”

She looked at me for the first time

“She’s my family—not yours”

“I wasn’t i, Huntley”

I turned back to the fire

“I’ you’re the one who took care of her?”

I watched the flalass in my hand “Yes”

“What about Ian?”

I gave a shrug “He’s like my mother Not invested”

“Why aren’t you that way?”

Because I’d had to sit there and watchelse No attention No love Nothing She didn’t even have a naive her one “I pitied her”

“That’s not enough reason”

“I loved her” I could feel her stare burning into the side of my face, feel it like the sun “I’m her brother, but sometimes I feel like more than that Ian and I are friends, not just brothers, but the relationship is different with Elora because I raised her”