Still, without exchanging a single word, Jamie lifted Claire into his arms, carrying her away from the grisly scene to a grassy enclave shielded by a screen of aspen trees. Lowering her to the ground, he settled down awkwardly beside her, his knees buckling under the weight of the harrowing experience. Claire felt a bone-chilling isolation as if the winter wind itself had permeated her very being. Instinctively, she reached out for Jamie, and as he raised his haggard face, their eyes locked in a gaze that seemed to betray a sense of unfamiliarity. But as her hands found purchase on his shoulders, he pulled her to his chest with a sound that hovered between a groan and a sob.