"Anyway." The steepling of his fingers by her uncle had resumed. "That's why I want to send you back to Valendia."
She replied, "Send me back." Like a jet on an ice runway, horror moved through her quickly and consumed her. "Why do you say that? There is nothing there for me."
"I know." He shook his head sadly. "But I'm beginning to think there's nothing for you here, either. And at least there, you'll be safe."
"You mean like my parents were safe?" The words are torn out of me, ragged, painful, and terrified. Going back to Valendia meant leaving Elliott, and she didn't want to do that.
'I can't do that, not now, when it's obvious that something is happening between us. Not now, when he's the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last before I fall asleep.'
"That was a fluke, Lauren. A terrible accident—"
