A Touch Menacing by Leah Clifford Page A

nodded.
    She tried to picture the world he no doubt imagined, damned and out of control. A world built for Luke and his kind. One that could save herself and her friends.
    She rotated a fraction and the emeralds caught the light. Their sparkle was brilliant. “I think I can do that.”
    At her words, Luke’s snapped his fingers to bring the attendant back. “I’ve changed my mind,” he told her apologetically. “Bring her the necklace, too.”
    Madeline turned to him in surprise.
    A corner of his mouth cocked up. “My clever friend needs something around her neck to remind her of me while I’m away.”

CHAPTER 6

    T he hem of Kristen’s black dress tickled against her calves in the breeze. At the head of the grave, a preacher quoted a passage from the Bible while the crowd sobbed softly into handkerchiefs. Gears creaked against the cold as the coffin lowered. “Ashes to ashes,” the preacher went on, “and dust to dust.”
    “May God rest his soul,” Kristen said, and tossed a handful of dirt into the hole.
    Her house had been chaos. Decorations and rearranging furniture and finalizing the preparations and it wouldn’t stop until the conclusion of tomorrow’s ball. She’d needed space. She’d needed air. She found herself in the cemetery, standing in quiet repose at a stranger’s funeral. From the turnout, the man had led a good life, died old and loved.
    All the things you’ll never be, her brain spat. You were happy with Luke. Safe and sane. And now the Bound are coming for you. Gabe will abandon you again. What then?
    Kristen cut off the thought. No regrets, she reminded herself. She’d made a promise. No longer would she blame herself for giving in to Luke’s lies, for believing him capable of caring about her. She would bear no guilt over choosing him when her Second, Sebastian, had come for her. No guilt over abandoning her Siders. No guilt over mistakes.
    She concentrated, picturing the inside of the coffin, mentally locking her lingering feelings for Luke inside. Soon they’d be buried, gone. Another woman stepped forward. Another scattered handful of dirt.
    You miss him. The wind whisked through Kristen’s hair, tangled the strands into snarls. You were stronger with him.
    A small boy crept to the edge and dropped in a rose.
    On the antennas of the cars in the funeral procession, flags snapped in the wind. The crowd thinned.
    A man gave her arm a gentle squeeze. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” he said.
    She nodded gratefully. “It’s better this way,” she said. It wasn’t until his confused frown that she realized what she’d said. “With no more suffering,” she added.
    Her voice was embarrassingly loud, but she liked how strong it came out.
    You were hardly suffering. Luke gave you everything you could ever want. He considered you an equal.
    “Then why did he betray me?” she whispered as the man walked to his car, leaving her alone.
    Kristen kept her eyes open until the air dried them. She hadn’t shed a single tear for Luke, for what they’d had, for what could have been.
    Still could be, a stubborn voice persisted. It wasn’t a delusion, as much as she wished it were. The thoughts were hers.
    Somehow that made everything worse.
    A handful of dirt flew over her shoulder, hit the coffin, and skittered off the lid.
    Kristen whipped around to see Madeline brushing off her palms. “Friend of yours?” she asked.
    “How did you find me here?” Kristen demanded. She’d told no one, not even Sebastian, where she was going. “Did you have me followed?”
    Madeline gave her a Cheshire cat grin and batted her lashes innocently. “You think I’d know by now to call before popping up unannounced! You never were one for surprises.”
    In Kristen’s early days as a Sider, when Gabriel had found her ravaged by her schizophrenia and squatting in a funerary chapel, Kristen had thought she was mad with her need to touch others. After healing her as best he could, Gabriel, who’d