#Chapter 58: Fire Starter

Elara “Smile, Mommy! Smile, Daddy! Please!” My breath caught at the sound of those words, all the heat in my chest suddenly cooling like a flame snuffed out. Smile. Our little ritual. The one thing that had always, always, cheered me up when things couldn’t possibly seem to get worse. Sometimes, Zoe really was wise beyond her years. I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing, a byproduct of the suffering she’d endured, but right now it didn’t matter. All that mattered was this moment. And our palpable regret. Alaric froze, his eyes cutting away from mine to look down at Zoe clinging to my legs, her big eyes wide and glistening with tears. Ella stood a step behind her, gripping the edge of the doorway, her face pale and her stuffed bear dangling from one hand. I swallowed hard, my pulse slowing. No matter what happened between me and Alaric, it was never supposed to involve the girls. They were the purely innocent ones in t