Page 62 of The Quiet Witness

Her cheeks reddened… he had heard every single word. Another circle was traced, her breathing easing in tune with his grounding touch.

She didn’t flinch away. Maybe she was just too fatigued. Yeah, that must be it.

“You good?” He leaned closer, eyes skimming over her.

“Yes. Yes, actually, I am… good.” Even though the shame of what she brought into the light itched beneath her skin. Something in her chest had eased. Blossomed open, as if a weight was lifted. If only for a bit.

She shook off the awkwardness. “How are you though? Must be tough being the boxing bag. We could have just used the actual bag.”

Lucien put a finger to his chin in thought. “We could have. Don’t think it would have had the same effect though.”

“No.” She laughed. Actually laughed. “It wouldn’t have been the same.”

He stayed near. As if he sensed how close she was to dropping to her knees.

Lucien sighed dramatically. “I needed this anyway.”

“Why the fuck would you need this?”

“It’s quite the conditioning drill for the abdomen, aids me to ignore the impact.” He shot her a wink. “Thanks for the help.”

She snorted. Mad, he was mad.

He clapped his hands together. “Now you’ve got that out of your system.” He made a show of checking his watch. “Perfect, we’ll be there in time. One thing though, you’d better dress warm.”

“For what?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Chapter 26

A Sight to Behold

Unbelievable.

Her lips parted in an attempt to voice her fascination. Words passed through her mind, but none would do this justice. She just turned, round and round, taking it all in. Earning her a chuckle from Lucien who wandered next to her.

It had taken over an hour’s walk, pushing past white, weighed down, creaking branches, frost spilling into her knee-high boots. She’d grumbled to Lucien, much like Donkey in the movie Shrek, are we there yet’s echoing out through the silent forest.

Now though, she understood. She´d happily walk ten hours more for ten seconds of the light show dancing across the darkened sky before her.

She’d asked her foster parents a thousand times for a visit to Yellowstone, if not that, any natural park would do. It had never come to pass. But this, it could make up for lost time.

Dark greens mixed with soft pink hues, clashing against the brightest of blues.

Many times had she watched it on YouTube, on an endless loop, wishing she could lay eyes on it in real life. Her small, cracked laptop’s screen had held the picture of an aurora with colors just like tonight’s for years on end. Maybe it still held the same picture today, before it got shoved into an evidence bag.

She made another pirouette. None of it came anywhere near the real thing. She knew that now.

Lucien had taken her to see the Northern Lights.

“It’ll be here for a while, you know.” Lucien said it so lighthearted, almost casually. But her chest ached, eyes glued to the sky.

“I don’t want to miss a single second.” There they were, the things called words. For a second there, she thought she’d lost the ability to speak.

“I thought you might feel that way.” Kate tore herself away from the sight, glancing over her shoulder to see Lucien spread out a thick, rugged blanket over the frosty floor. He walked around it, smoothing the edges down with care. “It’s why I took the necessary stuff with me.”

Food and a blanket. A picnic beneath twinkling stars. A scene out of a book. Were it not for the tiny fact he was her captor, and she was the captive. Kate shook herself, not today, not now. She wouldn’t let it bring her down. Even if it was the last thing she did, she’d remain here and enjoy it in full.