Though Sylvia had told them to wait, Addison snuck a sip anyway. The bourbon hit her tongue sharp and sweet. Not only did the rosemary spice the drink, but the hint of lemon from the shadow garden gave it a sour quality. Addison closed her eyes as she swallowed, not wanting her grandmother’s judgment to ruin an otherwise perfect cocktail.

She leaned back in her seat as the shadow magic started to work through her. Addison’s heartache bloomed fast, and she started to tremble. Her chest weighed her down. Her mind felt thick with sorrow.

She set her glass under her chair to keep from dropping it as she fought to stabilize her breathing. She’d felt the sadness the moment her eyes had landed on River, and the shadow garden amplified what you were already feeling. But this was more than an emotion.

This was an onslaught.

Chapter 17

Kaden

The drive from the rope swing to the distillery had done little to help them dry out. Kaden stumbled out of the truck, Irene right behind him. Her willingness to let him try to take her memories—and his subsequent inability to do so—had calmed his roiling thoughts, but something about the collective hole in Yarrow’s memory still unsettled him.

Irene tugged on the hem of his T-shirt, and he turned back toward her. He could almost pretend things were normal if she weren’t looking at him like that. He leaned a little closer to her.

“You might want to flip this around,” she said.

He hadn’t even noticed he’d failed to put his shirt on right. He laughed and shrugged out of it. Irene didn’t take her eyes off him as he fixed it, and he considered ditching the funeral altogether.

It was only once Clem cleared her throat that they started toward the door. As they reached it, Nate stepped out of an alcove, and Kaden walked right into him.

“Shit,” Kaden said. “You scared me.”

“I was afraid you weren’t going to show,” Nate said. “I certainly didn’t expect you to turn up with them.”

Irene arched an eyebrow. “Your brother does have friends in this town.”

Nate flicked the ashes of his cigarette. Irene made an exaggerated gesture of blowing the smoke away from them. Nate looked from Kaden to her. “Funny, I thought no one remembered him.”

“New friends,” Clem said.

Nate dropped what was left of his cigarette on the pavement and crushed the smoldering tip under his shoe. “You look like shit.”

Kaden glanced down at himself. “I feel like shit.”

Nate laughed softly. He shrugged out of his suit jacket and held it out toward his brother. “Here.” Then to Irene he said, “See? I’m not all bad.”

Kaden looked down at the jacket, then back up at Nate. As he reached for it, he listed a little to the left.

“Are you drunk?” Nate asked.