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Tara sat in front of Ameila’s crackling fire, wrapped in a blanket. It had been about an hour since she’d been deposited here to recover. She could feel life and warmth returning to her body.

Amelia sat nearby, her arms crossed. She was glaring at the fire. She hadn’t spoken a word to her since they’d arrived.

‘How are you feeling?’ Tara asked, breaking the silence at last.

Amelia span to her. ‘How am I feeling? Furious is how I’m feeling. What the devil did you think you were doing? You could have drowned!’ she demanded. She’d been waiting for her moment to explode.

Tara flinched at the truth of it. She really had almost died. ‘I thought I could get home,’ she said, her head dipped low.

Amelia’s expression darkened. ‘Well, you didn’t make it, did you?’ Her tone was sharper than Tara might have expected. But maybe sympathy was a big ask right now. ‘You truly thought you could do it alone? Out there, in that sea? At night?!’

‘In my defence, I did start out in a boat,’ Tara said weakly.

‘Do you think this is funny?’ Amelia asked. ‘I could have died with you!’

Tara managed to meet her eye. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’

Amelia’s gaze softened, but only slightly. ‘You could have just waited for Tom. I don’t understand what the rush was.’

‘I was… ashamed,’ Tara admitted.

Amelia frowned, her gaze narrowing slightly as she took in Tara’s words. Tara could see the confusion and frustration in her. She didn’t understand Tara’s shame. How could she? Amelia had made mistakes—Tara was one of them—but she’d never done anything truly wrong. The kind of wrong you couldn’t take back. That would be alien to someone like Amelia. She was goodness itself.

There was a long pause before Amelia spoke again, her voice quieter now, as if she were talking to herself more than to Tara. ‘You were so sure of it, weren’t you?’

‘What?’ Tara asked, confused.

‘That there had to be evil lurking here. You didn’t even attempt to see this place for what it is.’

Tara’s stomach twisted at the accusation that she couldn’t deny.

‘I didn’t think it was evil, necessarily,’ Tara said. ‘I didn’t know what it was. No one does.’

‘But we gave you the opportunity to find out,’ Amelia pointed out. ‘A trust no one has ever had. And you broke me—It!’ she corrected quickly.

Tara blinked. ‘I broke you?’

‘You broke IT,’ she repeated, flushing.

‘I’m sorry,’ Tara said again. ‘I didn’t mean to hurt you.’

‘I wish I’d never met you,’ Amelia said, slumping into a chair, exhausted.

Tara nodded. That was fair.

‘You’ve wrecked my life,’ Amelia muttered.

Again, fair.

‘I’ll never recover from this,’ she added.

There, Tara had to object. ‘I think you will,’ Tara said.

‘No, I won’t. I can’t. I don’t know what to do now.’

‘I’ll be gone tomorrow. I won’t be able to wreak any further havoc on Solhaven,’ Tara assured her.

‘It’s too late. You can’t take it back. Neither of us can.’

Tara watched Amelia carefully, starting to wonder if they were talking about the same thing. ‘I know my list of crimes, but what exactly is the thing neither of us can’t take back?’

Amelia turned to look at her. ‘Don’t pretend you don’t know.’

Tara thought maybe she did. But she didn’t want to be careless about it. ‘OK, Amelia. I won’t,’ she said thoughtfully.

‘Uggh!’ Amelia exclaimed and jumped up. ‘I’ve had enough of this!’

‘What?’

‘You! You’re just…’

Tara waited, but Amelia didn’t finish the thought. ‘I’ve got plates to clean,’ she announced suddenly and left the room.

Tara didn’t know how to react. But suddenly, her near drowning didn’t scare her as much as the woman in the kitchen, angrily scrubbing plates.