He sounded so angry…Why was he angry? The moment of lucidity began to fade. She clung to it desperately, her muscles shuddering beneath Steve’s touch as he slung her over his shoulder and strode from the small room. With her head bobbing, she caught a glimpse of Rafael Luna’s body sprawled bonelessly on the hard floor in a spreading pool of blood. Then the dark shadows came to claim her, washing over her in clouds of black streaked with crimson.

There was a vague impression of men in uniform, and she thought she recognized one man who wasn’t in uniform. Steve went to the man and talked to him in a hard, low tone before she was thrown atop a horse. Steve mounted behind her, and there was a jarring, jolting motion as they rode out of the village and into the night beyond the cluster of buildings.

When she glanced back, the wool blanket tilted into her eyes, she thought she saw flames licking at the sky, but it was probably just the fever working, turning the world to crimson and heat, to a fire that was consuming her.

It seemed forever until they stopped. A night sky so purple it was almost black held thousands—millions—of tiny pinpricks of light that glittered overhead. She was pulled from the horse and went sprawling on the ground. Unable to do more than stare upward, she felt the world wheel around her in a slow revolution that left her reeling. Her fingers clutched at something solid, but only found the blanket beneath her, and bunched it in folds.

“Ginny!” she heard, and knew it was Steve. He was always so angry with her. She wanted to say something, but no words would come and nothing made sense. It was the heat that made her so confused, the pulsing need that made her ache so badly.

Unmoving, she lay atop the blanket, shivering in the cold night air, her hands clutching fistfuls of wool. She was afraid to move, afraid she’d fall off the edge of the world where she was balanced so precariously.

From above, his voice lashed her again, sounding so strained, so sharp.

“Be still, Ginny! You’ve got blood all over you. Where are you hurt? Damn Luna, death was too easy for him.”

Another wave of heat engulfed her, and the wool was a harsh scrape against her back, making her cringe. He was saying something important, something she should comprehend…if only she could think straight! But the fever and chills overwhelmed everything else.

Her head tilted back, and more stars swam in front of her eyes. The night air was cool and silky, washing over her endlessly but not easing the heat that engulfed her. There was something important she should say, should do, but what was it…?