Toward the saddle.
Mysaddle.
The leather is rich and dark, the red stitching catching the faint light in the barn just right. I swear I can smell the new leather even from here.
The memory of them giving it to me—of what it meant—causes my chest to tighten.
They chose me.
They planned for me.
They imagined a future where Istayed.
Suddenly, Griffin’s posture changes, and a low growl rumbles deep in Lucy’s chest.
That’s when I feel it.
The entire barn feels… different.
It feelswrong.
Slowly, I turn to look around the barn, hoping my hackles have risen over nothing. But I know that’s not the case. I know it before I seeher.
She’s standing near the far wall of the barn, her face half covered in shadow.
My mind refuses it at first. Tries to name her as something more plausible. More real.
A stranger taking shelter in the cold.
A trick of the light.
Anything.
Then, she lifts her head.
And my breath leaves my body with enough force to almost bring me to my knees.
Katerina.
I didn’t imagine her that day in town. I actually saw her. Mysister.But, in a way, she almost doesn’t look like my sister at all. She looks thinner. Sharper. Like pieces of her have been carved away. Her coat hangs loose, her hair, hair that’s always been the same shade as mine, is dulled and pulled back. And her eyes—
God.
They’re the same and yet…there’s something in them I’ve never seen before.
Fear.
“Kat?” The word falls from my lips before I can stop it.
She flinches like she’s been struck, the motion setting off Lucy, who’s still tucked firmly against my leg as her bark rings through the otherwise silent barn.
Kat’s gaze darts to the open barn door, then back to me, panic flaring bright and raw.
“You were never supposed to be here,” she whispers.
Dropping the last of the carrots, I cross the space between us without thinking, my hands shaking as I grab her coat and pull her to me.
“I thought you were dead,” I say, her face now in my hands. “You-you left me.” The three words come out breathless and broken.
