Reborn From Oblivion by Christia Muray

"Nathan."

When Nathalie looked up again, Nathan was gone-vanished completely.

She broke down, screaming his name, “Nathan!”

No one answered. The silence pressed in, heavy and suffocating.

Frantic, she ran upstairs. But in just those few moments, the whole house had changed. Family members, dressed in mourning clothes, filled the halls. Someone must have called the priest, because he was already there, chanting solemn prayers and setting up for the ritual.

Nathalie watched in horror as he burned sheet after sheet of white paper, each one scribbled with Nathan and Nellie's birth dates. The priest muttered strange incantations Nathalie couldn't understand, but the meaning was clear: once the ritual was done, Nathan's fate would be sealed-changed forever.

She remembered Morris from that other world-how he'd lost his family, lost his title, lost the use of his legs, left utterly alone. That was all the proof she needed. This priest really could change destinies, and Nathalie refused to let Nathan end up lonely and broken.

She forced herself to breathe, to focus. She couldn't let the ritual finish.

At first, she tried everything-leaping, running, desperately trying to blow out the candles like some wild thing, hoping it would stop everything. But nothing worked. She ended up on her knees, exhausted, sobbing and laughing at her own uselessness. She cried for Nathan, gone too soon, and for herself, too weak to do anything about it.

But Nathalie had never been one to give up. After a few moments, she wiped her tears, pushed herself off the floor, and tried again. She lunged for the burning papers in the fireplace, clawing at them, even as her hands burned and her efforts came to nothing.

have the young master's body cremated as soon as possible. I've chosen a peaceful resting place for

clear instructions in his will. I'll do exactly as

the furnace, and in that moment, her whole world seemed to collapse. She'd survived so much pain before, but nothing had ever hurt like this. This was the kind of grief that made her

staff brought out the

forced herself to stand, determined to stay with Nathan until the very

goodbye, Nathalie

in this world for her-whether

her just didn't

more.

pulled out the bronze mirror Almos had given her and looked at

made her

did her face

She remembered Almos's warning:

If you

see a

it means something'se