“Halvard,” she called softly as she approached.
He looked up, brows lifting briefly—until she spoke again.
“Who is Bonnie?”
He went still.
The change was immediate. His shoulders stiffened, the warmth she’d glimpsed in his eyes left them, replaced by something guarded, hard as stone.
“Nae now,” he said sharply, tossing another shovelful of dirt over the embers.
“People keep mentioning her,” Elsie said, trying to keep her voice even though her throat tightened painfully. “They speak as if she was… a choice. As if you had chosen between us.”
His jaw clenched. “I said nae now, Elsie.”
She stepped back, stung despite herself. She had not meant to provoke him, only to understand the comparisons being thrown at her from every direction. But a day filled with smoke and chaos had stripped away her defenses. Exhaustion unraveled her restraint.
The uncertainty of it—of who Bonnie had been, of what she had meant—gnawed at her like a quiet thorn.
Halvard didn’t look at her again. He strode past, calling orders to men who scrambled to keep the embers from catching anew.
She swallowed hard and tried to refocus on the bandages in her hands. Her vision blurred for a moment—not from smoke, but from the ache forming in her chest.
A sudden blast of wind tore through the clearing, stronger than the rest. It whipped her hair into her face, carrying sparks high into the air. Elsie’s head snapped up. Smoke twisted violently down the lane, carried straight toward the row of cottages everyone had believed were safe.
Before she could shout a warning, one of the untouched cottages ignited.
The thatch hissed and flared in an instant, flames racing across it with horrifying speed. The walls followed—thin lines of fire at first, widening into streaks that devoured wood. Smoke ballooned skyward as villagers screamed warnings and men grabbed buckets.
Then she heard it.
A child’s scream.
High. Terrified. Coming from inside the burning cottage.
“No…” Elsie whispered, breath catching.
Halvard heard it, too. He broke into a sprint before anyone else reacted, moving with frightening speed. He shoved past two men attempting to pry open what remained of the doorway and plunged through the collapsing frame without a second thought.
“Halvard!” Elsie screamed, stumbling forward.
He didn’t turn. Didn’t hesitate. He disappeared into the smoke like a stone dropping into water, swallowed completely.
Elsie’s heart slammed painfully against her ribs.
The world around her blurred as heat surged outward from the burning cottage. The flames climbed higher, lighting the lane with a hellish glow. Men ran with buckets, shouting in panic,but the fire was spreading far too quickly, feeding eagerly on the wind.
She moved closer without meaning to, as if distance itself might harm him. The air near the cottage was unbearable, searing her cheeks even from yards away. She covered her mouth with her sleeve against the smoke, eyes watering as the doorway crackled and sagged.
“Oh God,” she whispered, voice shaking. “Please… please come out.”
But seconds dragged. Each one longer than the last.
She could hear nothing inside. No shout, no cough, no movement. Just the roar of flame and the cold realization that he was alone in there. Alone with a terrified child. Alone while the roof beams groaning under their own weight.
Someone grabbed her arm, pulling her back as sparks rained down. She hardly registered the touch; her gaze was fixed on the doorway, on the flickering orange beyond it.
Too long, her mind whispered. It’s been too long.
