Rise of the Phoenix novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: Winter Thaw
Hedda gave us the loft over the great room and a lock on the door that she swore she'd never use.
"Nobody in this house is allowed to be loud," she said, "until the last guest leaves in the morning."
"Understood."
"I'm lying. Be as loud as you want. I'll be in the barn with earplugs."
She went down the ladder humming.
The loft was one long room under the rafters.
It held a low bed and a window at each gable.
Snow was falling past the east window.
Garth stood in the middle of the floor and turned in a slow circle, looking at the rafters.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing is cold," he said. "I keep checking."
He took off his shirt to prove it.
The lamplight lay along his shoulders, brown and gold, with not one white hair of frost on him.
He held out his arm to me, and I laid my hand on the inside of his wrist where the blue veins had been.
His pulse beat under my thumb.
"I want to ask you something," he said.
"Ask."
"The wings. I've only ever seen them across a lake and in the dark."
"You want to see them."
"I want to see them with nothing between us."
I looked at him for a moment.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Rise of the Phoenix are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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