mill. I found the secret room.”
Emma’s eyes widened. She stepped forward, passing through her headstone, and leaned near to Keira. The sundress swirled in an invisible wind, and frost spread outward from where she touched the ground. Keira could feel the chill radiating off the ghost, and huge plumes of condensation billowed from her lips as she spoke.
“I’m so sorry. I found your baby.”
Emma pressed her hands over her mouth. Liquid flooded her eyes, mixing with the blood and dripping over her mute lips.
Keira tried to smile. “I looked for her ghost. She’s not there. She moved on to her next life—probably at the same moment she passed away. I called the police about her, so she can have a proper burial. But she’s not on this earth anymore. I…I don’t know what’s in the next life, but…I suspect she’ll be there, waiting for you.”
Tears continued to flow, but when Emma lowered her hands from her mouth and pressed them to her heart, her lips formed a fragile smile. She spoke, and although Keira couldn’t hear the words, she could read them: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
The spirit’s form seemed fainter. Keira, thinking her second sight was waning, pulled on the muscle until it ached. But then she realized her vision wasn’t at fault—Emma was fading. Her form disappeared in shreds as though she were made of a smoke that was caught up by a breeze. The spirit closed her eyes and lifted her chin. A moment later, she no longer existed.
“Oh,” Keira whispered.
The clouds had started to clear, and shreds of thin sunlight struggled through. Keira, still kneeling in the mud, knew she would need to get up and return to cottage, but her limbs seemed to have mutinied and refused to respond. Her head drooped forward. Blood continued to seep through her makeshift bandage, but she didn’t have the energy to care.
There’s no harm in sitting for a moment, surely? I don’t even feel that cold anymore. I’m sure I’d do better after a sleep…
“Keira!” The voice cut through her disorientation.
It was familiar, and Keira smiled. Oh, good. Mason’s okay.
“Keira!” He skidded to a halt at her side. “Where have you been? I’ve been calling and looking for you everywhere and—oh hell, is that blood?”
“It’s been a weird sort of night,” she admitted.
Mason swore under his breath, then draped a warm jacket around her, followed by his arms. Keira let herself fall against him as he lifted her and cradled her like a child. “Hang on. I’m going to get you inside.”
“Good, Mason,” she said, and she patted his shoulder. “You do that.”
Mason held her carefully, her head tucked against his shoulder, his gait quick and smooth. He inexplicably smelled like cinnamon. She closed her eyes and relaxed into him. When he tried to set her down, she grumbled.
“I know.” He rubbed at her hands until sensation began to return. “I’ll take care of everything. Just sleep.”
That sounded like an award-winning idea, and Keira let herself slip into patchy unconsciousness. Something warm pressed against her chest. A hot water bottle? She wrapped her arms around it as scissors snipped at the wet clothes. Then biting pain in her shoulder made her snap back to awareness. She’d been wrapped in at least eight layers of blankets, and Mason was dabbing a smarting liquid over the cut.
“Stop it,” she grumbled, trying to roll away. The blanket cocoon was too thick for her to move more than a few inches.
Mason looked pale and had dark circles under his eyes, but he still smiled. “Everything’s okay. Go back to sleep.”
The next time she woke, the pain had dulled to an ache and she no longer felt like a human-shaped ice block. Voices in the room spoke quietly. Keira’s eyelids felt too heavy, so she let them stay closed as the words flowed past her.
Mason sounded agitated. “Even if she hadn’t half frozen out there, the blood loss alone would stop her from traveling.”
Adage replied, “I understand—”
“She needs rest. And I don’t think she’s been eating properly either. There’s no way I’m letting her leave today.”
“If you would just—”
“You’ll have to tell that woman in Glendale to look for a different assistant.”
“My dear boy, please listen.” Adage sounded exasperated. “You’re spending a terrible amount of energy arguing against a shadow. I already called Miss Wright and explained the situation. No one expects Keira to leave today.”
“Oh.” After a pause, Mason sighed. “Sorry.”
“Now, kindly stop pacing. You’re wearing holes in both