Page 152 of Harnessed in Gold

Dark, horrified eyes meet mine as I home in on his jaw, hard and sharp and handsome, easy to tear when teeth meet bone. He cries out to the gods and shoves me back. But he’s too slow, too stiff with cold. I scramble to my knees and aim for him again, this time for his throat.

With a cry, he grabs me by the shoulders and dashes me to the ground. A lightning bolt of pain shoots from my hipbone, stilling me long enough for him to pin me. His arms vibrate with such force that my brain rattles in my skull. Heat emanates from his palms, sweeping through me and chasing away the bloodthirsty rage.

I’m sandwiched between him and the ground, his cold body flush on mine, his skin like ice, and his lips blue. I croak out his name, and he stills.

“Betts.”

“Wh… wh…” My lips won’t work. I try again, “Le… wh…” I sound like a bleating lamb.

Liquid pools in my throat, choking me.

Blood.

“Stop,” Leo hisses, laying fingers on my mouth. “Don’t talk yet.”

I don’t realize how much my lip hurts until Leo’s magic begins to heal it. When I flinch, he gently admonishes me, “You bit clean through it, a chroí. I have to fix it.” He manages a smile. “Otherwise, how will I be able to kiss you?”

Tears fill my eyes. I tried to kill him. I forced him to hurt me.

He whispers, “Don’t cry.”

But I do.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Leo wipesmy chin with his wet sleeve and sits back, pulling me into his arms.

“I’m so sorry,” I sob. The first words from my healed lips.

“Don’t be. You’re not the one who tried to hurt me.”

I clasp him tighter, his violent shivers vibrating in my bones. He’s poured all his energy into healing me, calming me, and dragging me from the river. And now he has nothing left. No way to fight the cold.

I bear his weight on my shoulders while I survey our unfamiliar surroundings. The current must’ve dragged us downriver. In the near distance, birds cry and dogs bark, but here on this little stretch of bank, Leo and I are alone.

For now.

Hastily, I splay my hands between his shoulder blades and channel the energy that’s ping-ponging underneath my skin. Ember’s lingering emotions won’t hurt him, they’ll feed him. I’m a human IV bag, dripping vitality into his system.

He raises his head, his back straightening and his shoulders now squared. Even his fingers come to life, twitching and sinking into my hips.

A sudden jerk at my throat has me fumbling for my neck. My hood twists in my hair, pulling my head back. Leo’s hands slide off my thighs, the distance between us growing as wide as his eyes.

Behind me growls a voice, one I immediately recognize as River’s, “Give me the ring and I won’t kill her.”

There’s another jerk on my hood and I’m tugged further back, dragged across tree roots and vines. Leo lunges for me, snatching my calf. “Let her go!”

“Give me the ring and I will.”

“We don’t have it.” Leo struggles to his knees, catching his wobble with a fist to the ground. He’s still too weak to stand.

River twists my hood so tight I can’t breathe. I kick and fight, trying to pull the fabric from my windpipe, but he only chokes me harder. Determined, I grope for the hem, hoping to tear the whole shirt off me instead.

“No, no, clever girl.” River hauls me back with another vicious yank. “You’re not getting away.”

Leo watches, pale and frozen. Why isn’t he calling the trees? Why is he looking up at River with so much fear in his eyes?

I dig my heels into the ground and push, thrusting my weight at River, hoping to knock him backwards on his ass. But all he does is laugh. “She’s a fighter,” he says, amused.