Page 26 of Edge of Wonder

I was both the girl he’d hated his whole life and the ghost he’d threatened to dispose of by the end of the week.

Resentment coursed through me as I turned my stare back to Sebastian. His fingers were splayed across my shoulders. He wore an unreadable expression, but there was a gentleness in his touch.

Wait. I can feel...

The realization took me by surprise.

Ivy tickled my bare feet, and there was a damp chill in the air. Sebastian’s hands were rough and warm against my skin. His thumbs feathered across my collarbone as if he meant to soothe the shock flowing through my body.

It helped, and it didn’t.

His touch was heaven, and it was heartbreak.

I squeezed my eyes shut as my throat clogged and tears slid past my lashes. A sob built in my chest, and I bit down hard, trying to contain it. But the tears continued to flow, burning a path down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry, Alice. Everything is going to be all right,” Tessa murmured, smoothing a tendril of hair out of my face.

Was it? How was any of this okay?

The pins and needles subsided, leaving me feeling numb. I took stock again of my surroundings, noticing the sparse room with only a ring of white candles for decoration. Everything else was made of coarse stone and packed dirt. A lonely tomb for the girl who’d spent her life and her death in isolation.

“How long have I been here?” I asked as I slowly flexed my fingers.

Over my head, Tessa glared at Sebastian. “Ten years, I’m afraid. You’re twenty-three now. But you look…” Her voice faded as her gaze roamed over me. Her features were pinched. “Well, I’m sure after a nice long bath, some properly fitted clothes, and time with a hairbrush, you’ll look lovely.”

“Aunt Tessa,” Sebastian growled.

“What?” She lifted her palms. “It’s the truth. I think we owe her that after everything she’s been through.”

“Line the truth with some finesse, at least!”

Tessa leaned forward, hands braced against the glass. “Oh, I forgot! My nephew’s a consummate charmer. I think you’re about five years too late for compliments with this one.”

They continued to scowl at each other on either end of my coffin. You could slice their hostility with a knife. Maybe it was a good thing I hadn’t been entombed with anything that could be used as a weapon.

“Um, hello? I’d like to get out of this thing.” I tried to sit up, but the vines tightened around my limbs, and my coordination was off. Dizziness made the edges of my coffin blur.

“Let me help you.” Sebastian was quick to ease me into a seated position. He carefully pulled the vines away, then slipped an arm under my legs, using the other to brace my back. After lifting me over the edge, he gingerly set me on my feet, acting as if I were the object made of glass instead of my coffin.

I didn’t know why he bothered. I already felt broken.

His arm wrapped around my waist, securing me against him while I found my footing. In another circumstance, I probably would have relaxed and reveled in the way his body molded against mine—not bad for a revived girl—but I was still pissed off and oversensitive from all the new sensations.

“I can manage,” I mumbled, pushing away from him. His grip tightened for a second, drawing me closer before he let go. Supporting myself against the coffin, I watched as his fingers curled into fists and he forcibly took a step back. A tic worked in his jaw.

I looked away and inhaled a chilly breath. A shiver coursed through me, and Tessa wrapped her arm around my shoulders.

“Let’s go, Alice. I’ll run you that hot bath and fix you something to eat. If I remember correctly, you love fruit tarts and tea in those cute porcelain teacups. It will be like before when we had tea parties. And then, we’ll talk.”

We left my tomb and climbed the creaking wooden staircase. Step by step, I regained some of my composure, determined to focus on the minutes in front of me and not the years in the past.

Tessa’s spell had worked. I woke up just as she’d promised. We’d shifted the course of my future, allowing branches that hadn’t been possible to reveal themselves. I might still be a dead girl walking, but at least I had a second chance.

Even if I had to do it alone.

I resisted the urge to glance back at Sebastian and kept my head high as we approached the cottage. Inside, Tessa waved me over to Julian’s workbench and pulled out a chair.

“Food first, then grooming. Have a seat, Alice. I’ll be right back.” She hurried out of the room and started banging around in the kitchen.

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