My eyes shifted to Kilter who watched the woman, and from his steadiness, I guessed he knew exactly who she was.
Her walk was like a whisper, feet gliding across the floor as she approached us.
I’d learned at the compound that there were many different kinds living amongst us, yet this woman was unique in that she appeared out of nowhere.
I’d never seen that, and I suspected Anton hadn’t either or he would’ve talked about it obsessively.
“Genevieve,” Kilter acknowledged.
Her smile was a breath of fresh air as her eyes perused over Kilter then came to me. “Rayne, is it?”
I nodded.
“I’m Genevieve. The Wraith of Water. A friend of Kilter’s.”
Kilter snorted.
She laughed and it was like a waterfall of rose petals.
I loved roses, loved all flowers.
Once Anton let me have a garden and I had several rose bushes. In the fall before the frost came, I’d pick all the petals off and scatter them like a beautiful red velvet carpet across my cement floor in my room. I’d sit on my bed and imagine I was on a river of rose petals taking me away from there.
“Well, more a friend of the Scars. I assume you know about them?”
“Yes.” Anton’s obsession.
She cast a quick glance at Kilter then back to me. “Perhaps we may speak in private?”
“Perhaps you can get the fuck out.” Kilter’s fingers gently squeezed my side.
Her brows lifted. “The Wraiths sense this woman is important. Tor requested I see for myself.” Genevieve’s smile never faded, but her voice deepened and she punctuated every syllable with clarity. “I will forgive your disrespect once, Kilter. However, you push me and I will retaliate. Our prison in the realm is rather unpleasant. As is being sent to Rest.”
Sent to Rest? What was that? I tilted my head to look at Kilter. His eyes were on the Wraith, lips tight and brows drawn low over his dark eyes.
“If you thought she was important, you should’ve gotten her out of that hellhole. You didn’t. I did. You have no business here, Genevieve.”
“We didn’t sense her until Ryker returned and her presence was around him. I wish only to speak with her for a moment.” The woman turned her attention back to me. “Come, we’ll take a short walk.”
She knew my name and about the compound. She’d even sensed me around the other Scar, Ryker, who’d been my husband’s test subject. I shivered and my stomach cramped as I thought of Ryker and his anguish over the death of his wife, Hannah.
Kilter turned me toward him and cupped my chin, his thumb stroking back and forth like a pendulum. “She’s a meddling pain in the ass, but she’s a Wraith, and they are part of the Scars.” His eyes remained steady on me as he tucked a wet strand of hair back behind my ear again. “You don’t want to talk to her, then don’t. You do, fine, but you need me, I’ll be close. Your choice.”
“What does she want?”
“Don’t know that, babe, and doubt she’d tell me if I asked. Best guess, to get a feel for who you are.”
I didn’t like that. “I’d rather not.”
He nodded once and turned to the Wraith. “Fuck off.”
The woman’s smile dropped and suddenly she looked scary as her eyes narrowed and blazed turquoise.
She stepped closer to us, her long silk dress rustling against her long legs, and I hadn’t realized how tall she was, maybe five-nine. She looked in her late twenties, although her actual age I knew could be hundreds of years.
By the way she addressed Kilter, she had the confidence of a dragon, but with the looks of a swan. Even when she walked, it was as though she floated on a cloud.
She stopped a foot away. “You were a good man at one time, Kilter.”
What did she mean? Why would she say that?
“I was a trusting man. Now I’m not.”
She was silent for a second, watching him, and he remained stoic under her powerful gaze. Her eyes shifted to me and I leaned into Kilter, although I was already as close as I could get. She gently laid her hand on my forearm and I held my breath, but didn’t move away.
“You’ve been hurt a great deal.” Her words filtered into my head and I gasped. “Not just physically, but much more than that.”
“Genevieve,” Kilter warned.
She continued, eyes soft, voice softer. “Kilter is driven and harsh. His past is one we all failed at. He’s suffered and endured more than most, but I suspect you see that in him.” She paused, her eyes glimmering with warmth. “He’s protective of you, and I feel his possessiveness. But he is not your husband. I have faith he will never harm you.” Genevieve sighed. “Kilter will have a hard time watching you continue to fade. I trust you understand what I am saying.”
I did. Because every day, I felt my body slowly failing me, and yet I no longer fought it. The fight had died a long time ago.
“Time can heal the most broken souls if you let it.” Genevieve smiled, but there was sadness to it. “I’ll leave before he does something foolish, but know that I will always be near if you need me.”
Her hand left my arm and she stepped back. “You are not a prisoner here, Rayne.” Her gaze shifted to Kilter as she said in a hard tone, “And you may leave if that is your wish.”
Kilter’s fingers splayed on my hip twitched, and I expected he was going to respond to that when her form dissolved into mist then disappeared.