meet one night. The whole block was lit up like a sunrise. Most people got out. Some didn’t. My foster
parents were home at the same time for the first time
in months. They died together when the roof collapsed.”
Her face was expressionless, her tone flat.
“My foster sister, Rhianna, got out, but there was a
price. She was burned. I saw her. I thought water was
pouring down her arm. But it was her skin melting
off.” She pressed her lips together and nodded. “I won’t
tell what it was like, what she suffered. The burn baths
were the worst. At least, that’s what I thought until they
started cutting off bits. Toes, then a whole foot. The
fingers on her right hand. I went to classes at night, then
worked graveyard at a gas bar, so I could be with her
during the day. I think I never got more than four hours
sleep a night for five, maybe six months.”
She dropped her head, closed her hands on his wrists,
and he looked down, shocked to see that his fists were
clenched. His heart was pounding, his stomach tight. He
felt pain and horror for a human girl he hadn’t even
known.
Because it caused Roxy pain.
Hefelther pain. Wanted to take her pain.
Her gaze held his, burning bright. “She begged me
to kill her. To stop the misery. Every day, I’d go see her.
Every day, she’d beg me to put the pillow over her face
and just let her go to sleep. Every damned day.
318
SINS OF THE HEART
“I kept thinking it would get better, and for a bit it
did. But, see, the thing about burn victims…even after
