Haunted by Hazel Hunter Read Free Book Online

eat,” he said, tearing the bread in two and taking a bite.
    He held a small piece out to her. She got up on one elbow and reached for it, but he kept it out of her reach. With an arch of his eyebrows, he opened his mouth, and pointedly looked at hers.
    He was going to feed her.
    Still propped up, she rested her head on her hand, and opened her mouth. With a little grin, he gave her the piece of bread, and her lips lightly brushed his fingertips.
    “I could so get used to this,” she said, after swallowing.
    “Be careful what you wish for,” he said, smiling.
    Though they both ate for a little while longer, it turned out that neither of them was that hungry. The gloom of the growing evening, the awakening city, and the impenetrable portal seemed to have left them both at loose ends.
    Eventually Shayne stretched out next to her, and she curled into his side.
    “Shayne, does it frighten you that we may have lived before?”
    He was silent for a long time. She kept still, thinking he must have fallen asleep.
    “I don’t know,” he said quietly. “Not really. I hope that I lived well in the past. I hope I honored those who loved me, and that I protected them.”
    “Are you…jealous of what Mathias and I supposedly had? Or maybe I should say Galia and Mina.”
    Shayne snorted. “I’m not exactly jealous of a homicidal lover, no.”
    Gillian wrapped her arms around Shayne, hugging him tightly.
    “I loved you once, I know that. I loved Mina too. I think there’s a good chance we loved each other, and that ended in disaster.”
    Shayne held her close.
    “I’m not going to let that happen,” he said. “I don’t care what came before, or what needs to happen to get us out of here. We’re going to be all right.”
    Gillian nodded.
    “Of course we will,” she murmured.
    But she had the horrible feeling that, somewhere in the past, she’d said that very thing.

CHAPTER SIX

    GILLIAN WASN’T SURPRISED when she dreamed.
    “Have you not figured it out yet?” Mina asked.
    Gillian sat next to her at a desk. There were maps on the table in front of them. She recognized landforms that would eventually be known as Europe and Asia, but which now had strange names. Some of the continent was colored with red ink.
    “I’m not as clever as you are,” Gillian said. “Why don’t you tell me all about it.”
    Mina laughed, reaching over to comb her fingers through Gillian’s hair. Gillian ducked away. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the beautiful woman. A part of her yearned for Mina, beyond all reason, because another part was also afraid.
    Mina shrugged and turned back to the map. She pointed at a spot that Gillian thought might be Russia.
    “That’s where you came from,” Mina said. “You were still so small when I met you, but you had the best stories about houses that hopped on one leg, and about princes that turned river witches into princesses.” She pointed at the Scandinavian countries. “This is where I came from. I thought I was in the realm of fire when the sun burned so hot and so bright.” Her hand fisted. “I don’t know where he came from, but he was just like us. Chattel. Something fit for the pits or to be some nobleman’s plaything.”
    “What was his name?” Gillian asked, her stomach knotting.
    Mina shook her head, glaring at Gillian.
    “You always cared about him most,” she said accusing, but there was a tiredness to it. Even to Gillian’s ears, it sounded like an old, old argument.
    “I’m not her,” Gillian said. “I’m not Galia.”
    Mina stared at her. There was something in Mina’s gaze that would kill men for daring to look at her wrong. Finally she sighed.
    “I know. And I’m not Mina anymore, not really, I don’t think.”
    Gillian bit her lip. “What are you?” she asked softly.
    “A memory. I will still battle to my death and beyond it, and I will not rest while you are still wandering.”
    A sudden stab of pity for Mina overwhelmed Gillian. She might be