My sister had never unnerved me before.

There was something about her words… or maybe just the way she said them, that seemed to put a great distance between Isa and me.

I wanted to seal the gap. I had to. I could hear her words echo behind me like a cold gust of wind that follows you even after you’ve closed the door.

I was going to warm her words away. I was going to cross that distance.

It made each step ache with anticipation. It made the hallways seem to long and the empty rooms seem so threatening.

Sammhain was out on the large balcony that extended from the main room. The balcony over looked everything you’d ever want to see, the gardens spreading out before you like an unraveling dream, from that single balcony, if you waited long enough, you could see the sun and moon rise, and set after they’d crawled across the sky.

It was a beautiful sight from that balcony, but every footstep that hadn’t taken me to him, every room that he hadn’t been in, had worn a hole in my heart and patience wouldn’t fill it. I needed Isa.

Before now I thought everything in my life was as plain as the green of the grass, as stark and beautiful as the passing white clouds in the sky. Now, for the first time in my life, I doubted the facts that I thought were right in my face.

Mostly, I doubted the fat that I thought I had known for years since I had kept the boy.

I needed him to tell me, I needed him to state what I’d thought I’d known as obvious for all these years.

I needed him to tell me that he loved me.

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