Page 120 of Nothing But Air

Meg nodded at the nurse, then turned back to Nimue and Liam. “But why would Kyle sabotage your radio? Why would he hurt Trey? What’s his endgame?”

“I don’t know. Maybe the gold.” Liam’s eyes closed briefly—exhaustion and pain and frustration all warring across his features. Nimue ran a soothing hand over his arm. “But whatever it is, Eden and Teague are in danger. Marcus too, if he gets in Kyle’s way.”

Noah reappeared in the doorway. His face had gone grim. Hard. “Xander’s at South Rim dispatch. He says they haven’t been able to reach anyone down in the canyon since early this morning. He thought it was just residual effects from the solar storm, but?—”

“It’s not the storm.” Liam tried to sit up, muscles straining against the sheets, but Meg pushed him gently back down with a firm hand on his shoulder.

“Stay down.”

“It’s Kyle.” His voice cracked on the name. “And they don’t know.”

Meg’s gaze met Noah’s across the room. In his brown eyes, she read the same terrible calculation running through her own mind. How far behind are we?

And what happens if we’re already too late?

Eden had a gift for reading people. For spotting danger. For knowing exactly who to trust.

At least, that’s what she’d believed before this week proved her catastrophically, humiliatingly wrong.

The man she’d been so sure was dangerous? He’d just been desperate to find a letter from his dying grandfather. A personal message that had nothing to do with sabotage or violence or any of the dark scenarios she’d constructed in her head.

Marcus’s tears when he’d read those words. The map that promised that the real cache was close. The way his hands had finally stopped shaking.

She’d been so confident in her assessment.

And she’d been completely, utterly wrong.

They made their way down the cliff face in silence. Eden moved carefully, methodically—finding holds, placing feet, trusting the rock—but her mind was elsewhere.

They reached the canyon floor as afternoon shadows lengthened, the light turning golden and soft. The four of them gathered near their gear, and for the first time in days, the mood was lighter.

“I don’t know about you all, but I’m glad to put this to rest.” Kyle studied the map Marcus had spread across a flat rock. “You’re right—it’s not far. That’s incredibly close.”

“According to this, there’s a rock spire in the northern section.” Marcus traced the route with his finger, his hands steadier than they’d been in days. “It shows it connected in my grandfather’s map, but that has to be it. The bridge must have fallen in the last fifty years.”

Teague eyed the map. “That one wasn’t even on our list.”

They spent the next twenty minutes organizing gear, redistributing weight, preparing for the final push. Even Kyle seemed relaxed, joking with Marcus about family legends and hidden treasures.

“We need more firewood.” Eden stood, stretching muscles that ached from the climb. “If we’re hiking until dark, we should eat first.”

“I’ll help.” Teague was already moving. “You two get the food organized. Back in ten.”

They walked upstream, following the creek bed away from camp. Eden kept her pace casual, her body language relaxed. But as soon as they were far enough away—the sound of the water covering their voices, the scrub brush blocking any view from camp—the silence between them shifted.

Charged with everything unsaid.

“Eden.” Teague stopped, turning to face her. The afternoon light caught his auburn curls, turned them to copper. “About this morning?—”

“I wasn’t taking Kyle’s side.”

“I know.” He stepped closer. Close enough that she could see the darker flecks in his green eyes. “And I was wrong. About Marcus. About Kyle. About assuming the worst.”

“You were being cautious.” She toyed with the end of her braid. “That’s not wrong.”

“But I didn’t trust your judgment.” The words came out rough. “I made you feel like you had to choose between me and doing the right thing.”

Eden looked up at him—at the tension in his jaw, the shadows under his eyes. At the man who’d positioned himself as a wall between her and danger, even after she’d broken his heart.