“What did you say happened,” I demanded, my voice rising despite myself. “Start again.”

Isla flinched like I’d struck her.

She stood in the middle of the room with her hands clenched tight against her skirts, knuckles pale, eyes too bright. She still looked shaken, like she hadn’t fully returned to herself after whatever horror had unfolded hours ago.

That alone should have warned me—Isla didn’t rattle easily.

Something had happened to Sage.

The thought had been coiling tighter in my chest since the first wave of pain had hit me in my study.

I’d been reviewing reports, half-listening to the rain against the windows, when it struck without warning....