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Tara was still sitting in the dark shack, her legs stretched out in front of her as she leaned back against the rough wooden wall, fiddling absentmindedly with a piece of driftwood. She wished she could speak to Amelia. She’d ruined the poor woman’s life. And for what? A bloody shed. But what would Tara be able to say to her? How could she fix this?

Suddenly, the door was thrown open, startling her. Before she could process what was happening, Amelia stumbled inside, and the door slammed shut behind her with a loud crack.

‘What are you doing here?’ Tara asked, shocked her wish had come true so quickly.

Amelia didn’t answer at first, just looked at Tara silently. Tara thought she was about to get reamed out. She welcomed it.

But then Amelia started sobbing.

‘What’s wrong?’ Tara asked, standing and stepping toward Amelia.

Amelia shook her head, voice trembling. ‘I went in Harriet’s shed,’ she said miserably.

Wait, what? After Tara had been thrown in Solhaven’s version of the chokey, Amelia had repeated her mistake? That didn’t make sense.

But another question pressed. ‘What was in there?’ Tara had to ask.

Amelia took a shaky breath. ‘It’s a place to make… alcohol.’

Tara blinked, processing. ‘That’s it?’ she said, disappointed. She’d hoped for a sacrificial altar. Or juicier, some poor Solhaven resident who couldn’t follow the rules, chained up, bony from forced starvation. At the very least, an armoury.

But a boring old booze still?

Amelia met her gaze with a fierceness that took Tara off guard. ‘That’s it?’ You don’t understand,’ she said, her voice rising in frustration. ‘This is a breach of our rules. And she’s an Elder!’

Tara’s mind scrambled to understand Amelia’s upset. But she couldn’t quite understand why it was this big of a deal. It was a pretty small transgression.

But Amelia wasn’t seeing it that way.

‘If Harriet’s breaking the rules, then… I don’t know what else is wrong with this place. What do we even mean?’ Amelia said, blubbing again.

Amelia’s body now shook with the intensity of tears. Tara stepped closer, her gaze never leaving Amelia’s tear-streaked face. ‘I’m sorry. If I hadn’t fucked around with that shed, you wouldn’t have had to find this out.’

Amelia didn’t respond. For a long moment, there was nothing but the sound of Amelia’s tears.

At last, Tara found the strength to do what she really wanted to. She reached out and pulled her into a hug.

It was awkward at first—Tara wasn’t usually big on touching—but then Amelia pressed her face into Tara’s shoulder, her arms wrapping around her like she was clinging to the last thread of something solid.