Free Within the Flames by Marjorie M. Liu

he replied, with a calm confidence that was assured, and, oddly, gentle.
    She shivered. “Estefan shouldn’t have told anyone.”
    “He made it clear he was violating your trust. But he didn’t see another way to help you.”
    In two seconds, frustration was going to become anger. “I told you, I don’t need help. So just . . . get lost.”
    “I can’t.” Eddie settled his gaze on her. “You’re being hunted.”
    Lyssa stopped and stared at him. He shoved his hands in his pockets and spoke with a grim gentleness that she’d never heard in another man’s voice.
    “Hunted,” he said again, “by witches who call themselves the Cruor Venator. ”
    Her heart squeezed down into a vicious lump of pain, and she drew an unsteady breath that was loud and rough, and made her dizzy.
    “Not even Estefan knows that,” she said, hoarse. “Certainly not that name.”
    “You already knew they’re looking for you?”
    She exhaled sharply, wanting to laugh with devastating bitterness. “Of course. But who told you ?”
    His hesitation lasted a heartbeat too long. “Another of your kind.”
    “My kind.”
    “You know what I mean. It’s in your eyes.”
    Golden eyes. He knows I’m a shape-shifter.
    Of course, if his friend was a gargoyle, then it made sense he would know the signs that made a nonhuman stand out. But still, it felt like too much, too fast. The world was too mundane for this conversation.
    Lyssa forced herself to breathe. “Does this person have a name?”
    Eddie closed the distance between them. As he did, the air warmed. So much, it was like being exposed to the immense heat of a Southwest summer afternoon. A dry, rippling warmth, mirage-inducing.
    Her own fire rose to meet that heat, with such power and hunger, she felt afraid all over again. She tried to read his face—as if her life depended on it. But all she could be certain of was that, for the first time in her life, she didn’t trust her instincts.
    Because her instincts wanted to trust him. Her instincts picked apart the way he moved, the way he looked at her, the tone of his voice—his eyes, those eyes —and there was strength in his intensity—and compassion, and even gentleness.
    She couldn’t trust it. She wouldn’t let herself.
    Her mother’s voice drifted like a ghost through her mind.
    You can tell everything from a man’s eyes, and the way he looks at you . If you’re not too afraid to see.
    I was afraid when I met your father. He was too good to be true. So I ran, Lyssa.
    It’s a good thing he followed.
    The memory was so strong. Lyssa touched her throat, the scarf wound so tight she could barely breathe. Fire burned in her gut. Her right arm tingled.
    Eddie’s gaze flicked to her hand. “Her name is Long Nu.”
    For a moment, the name didn’t register. But it sat there, the sound of it ringing through her head. Slowly, so slowly . . . her mind made the connection.
    And it was horrible. Terrible, and confusing.
    “It’s been ten years since I heard that name.” Lyssa’s voice shook, nerves betraying her. More rattled than she wanted to admit.
    Eddie gave her a cautious look. “You don’t seem happy about it.”
    Again, she wanted to laugh, but it would have sounded awful. “She knows you’re here?”
    “She was one of the people who asked me to come.”
    Fury gathered in her chest. “ She’s your employer?”
    “No,” he said firmly. “This was a favor.”
    “There are no favors with Long Nu. You do or you die . . . and if you don’t die, you’re punished.” Lyssa backed away, wetting her lips. “Why now, after all these years? Why not before, when I was a child? I needed help then, and no one came for me.”
    “My impression was Long Nu thought you were dead.”
    “Wishful thinking,” she whispered. “She’s probably disappointed I’m not.”
    Eddie gave her a sharp look. “What does that mean?”
    Lyssa shook her head and realized she was hugging herself. Hearing Long Nu’s name should