Burnt Read Online Free

name down in the core of you. In the dark, terrifying places that you will find yourself, that forgotten promise will sustain you. It will endure long after the food and water are gone.”
    Her vision done, her words spoken, the Lemme turned her back on the three with a finality that did not need to be voiced. His head swirling worse with every beat of his racing heart, Kaie stumbled to his feet and out the door. He didn’t spare the slightest glance backward, even to be sure Sojun and Amorette were following. He couldn’t, for the minute he was able to draw in the crisp, clean air outside, he found himself hunched over a small bush just outside her hut.
    Kaie puked all over it.

Three
    The moment he was done Sojun wrapped his arm around his shoulders and helped drag him back into the village. There weren’t any rules in regard to not getting sick after meeting the Lemme but it wasn’t going to do his reputation any favors. Soon, he would probably be grateful for the care his friend was taking to avoid that. He might even care what state that reputation was in. Just that moment, though, he was locked in images of fire and death and Amorette kneeling in blood-colored snow.
    “Have you ever heard of anything like that?” Sojun was asking. “Five destinies? And what she said…”
    Amorette shook her head. “I went with Esme. She only talked about the family and having babies. But this? Gods, Kaie…”
    He was supposed to say something. He didn’t know what but it seemed like she was waiting for him to speak. He opened his lips, hoping that what came out would make more sense than anything going on in his head. After of standing there with his mouth agape for several minutes with no sounds forming, he gave up and shut it again.
    Sojun’s chuckle was stilted. “At least some things will never change.”
    Amorette’s brows knit. “What do you mean?”
    Kaie could feel the tenseness in Jun’s muscles no matter how light his friend was trying to seem. “Our Rosy doesn’t do anything by halves. Including his future, I guess. It’s kind of comforting.”
    “Sure,” she agreed with a heavy sigh. “If you think dying five times is comforting.”
    The tone in her voice was off. Flat, like the way someone sounded when they were saying storms were unpleasant. Kaie thought it was just him, but Sojun twisted his head in a way that said otherwise. For a second the air crackled with a tension new to the three of them - or new to him anyway. He got the sense it was not quite so rare for them. They were, he realized with a start, about to fight. It was his fault.
    That jarred him out of the fog. A bit at least. “I saw it,” he murmured. “The things she said. I saw them.”
    It was very effective at putting a stop to the brewing argument. Not a gradual slowing or even an abrupt halt. They truly stopped talking, moving, breathing, everything. For two heartbeats, and then three, his friends were as still as the unchanging mountains that cut up the horizon.
    “What do you mean?” Her words were barely whispers but he heard the fear. It was not a sound he ever thought to hear from Amorette. “You had visions?”
    He shook his head. The simple move seemed to release them. Sojun sagged, his relief visible. Amorette’s eyes drifted past them, her attention shifting in the direction of the Lemme’s hut. She clasped her right thumb in her left hand and rubbed at the nail vigorously and obsessively. It was a gesture he didn’t know and one that brought him no comfort. Kaie didn’t want to inspire more of it but he couldn’t hide the truth. Not from them.
    “They weren’t visions. Not exactly, I don’t think. Just flashes. Like… like memories. Ones I don’t have yet. I don’t know. But I saw it, in my mind’s eyes. The fires, the armies…”
    Sojun turned him with a violence Kaie didn’t know his friend possessed. Before he realized what was happening, he was staring into hard grey eyes that were empty of all the