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“I’m being serious, Luci.”
“As am I.”
I grab Luci’s shoulder to force him to stop and look at me.
“How are you keeping so calm around her?” I ask.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t treat me like an idiot. I know you gave her one of Anna’s nightgowns.”
“You mean the one you ruined?”
I sigh in exasperation.
“I didn’tmeanto ruin it. Now, can you hurry up and answer my question? I thought of all people you would be—”
“Well, you thought wrong,” Luci snaps, cutting me off as he turns to continue walking. “Where the hell is Dante anyway?”
I eye him warily as we make our way upstairs.
“Do you smell that?” I ask, my brow furrowing as I lift my nose into the air.
“Smoke,” Luci says.
My nose wrinkles up as I force the other scents from mind to focus on the smoke.
“And something charring,” I add.
We push open the back doors and step out onto the lawn, searching the horizon for any signs of a fire.
“Over there,” I say, pointing to a barely visible trail of smoke as it rises from behind a hill. “Isn’t that where—”
“Yes,” Luci growls, interrupting my line of thought as he darts off in the direction of the smoke.
I follow after him, the cool morning air filling my lungs as the dew on the grass bursts around us with each step. Slowing at the top of the hill, we look down to find Dante standing over a small fire in the midst of the overgrown garden.
He doesn’t look up or seem to notice us even as we make our way down to stand behind him.
“Dante?”
He doesn’t answer as he continues to stare down at the little fire. My eyes follow his gaze only to widen as I realizewhathe’s burning.
A book.
I glance over at Luci who seems to share my shock.
“What the hell are you doing?” I hiss, taking a step toward the fire only to have Dante’s palm slam into my chest to stop me.
“It had to be done.”
His voice is cold and distant, his gaze unblinking as he continues to stare at the pages as, one by one, they shrivel away into nothing.
“What was it?”
“It was hers.”
“Hers?” I ask, my eyes flickering to Luci once again only to note he doesn’t seem particularly bothered by this.
