Page 154 of Harnessed in Gold

Through chattering teeth, I answer, “A lead box about the size of your hands.” I try to twist out of Leo’s hold, determined to help, but he only grips me tighter.

“Don’t go near it.”

Instead of arguing, I stay with him—here in the safe space between the dead body and the bracelet. He’s my shelter in thisstorm of horrors. He hugs me tight, his sticky hand tangled in my hair and his warm breath on my temple.

“Found it.” The box sits in Rime’s hand, plastered in pine needles and mud.

As he rises, he swipes his gun off the ground. “Now let’s get out of here before I have to use this again.” Like an undercover cop, he slips the weapon back into the holster hiding under his jacket. The one I had no idea he was wearing.

“Topaz?” I croak, the last few hours coming back to me in a rush. Ghosts, coyotes, snakes.

Daggers.

“It might take her a little longer to get back, but she’ll be alright,” Rime replies, the bob in his throat belying the confident tone of his voice. He points vaguely behind Leo and me. “When she realized I was following River, she lured Burdock and Juniper in the opposite direction.”

“That’s two against one,” I gasp, my throat tightened by a fit a shivering. “And two ghosts.”

Rime shrugs. “The ghosts vanished.”

I peer up at Leo. “Do you think?—?”

He nods. “Because you took the bracelet.”

And left nothing in the hiding place for them to guard.

Leo warns Rime, “We need to keep the box away from Betts.” He kisses my trembling fingers with frosty, purply-blue lips. “It’s been torturing her.”

It won’t be long until his calming magic wears off and Ember’s energy comes for me again.

“I’ll go ahead,” Rime says, eyes switching to red-orange. He pauses for a moment or two, alert and silent, then stalks away from us.

I bring him up short with a “But?—”

He spins around. “But what?”

I bite my lip.

“It’s okay,” Leo says, following my gaze to the body on the ground. “They’ll come back for him.”

Rime agrees. “They’ll send scouts to find him.” His eyes drop to River, but only briefly, before he turns to stare blankly into the trees.

Beside me, Leo wriggles out of his jacket.

“What are you doing?” I hiss. “You’ll freeze.”

“A chroí,” he starts softly. “We have to walk through town, and you—” He drags a hand across his mouth and sucks in a breath, his eyes scanning my torso.

I look down and sway on my feet.

Blood. Spatters of it on my chest and shoulders. I grab a handful of my hair and tug it in front of my eyes. Sticky dark spots cloud the silvery white.

Don’t cry. Not right now.

My inhale is more of a shudder. Lips and jaw clamped tight, I take the jacket from Leo and slide my arms into the cold, wet sleeves. Then I zip it up as high as it will go.

Leo smooths a hand over my head, but there’s no removing the crusted blood. “Put the hood up when we get to town.”

I nod and glance up at Rime.