Page 54 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

Rheave doesn’t stir as I come up beside him. His eyes are closed.

I peer at his hands and face in the dim moonlight, but I can’t tell whether they’re already turning blue.

“Hey,” I say, unsure whether he’s even awake. Can a daimon fall asleep sitting up?

Rheave’s vibrant eyes blink open. He looks up at me and frowns. “Why are you out here? Isn’t this your time to sleep?”

“Isn’t it yours?” I retort. “I’m guessing you didn’t sleep as a daimon, but I’m pretty sure that body of yours needs it. And it also needs to avoid turning into an icicle.”

The daimon-man considers me with a gleam of curiosity rather than concern in his eyes. “Is that a thing that can happen to humans?”

What am I going to do with this guy?

My tone comes out dry. “Not exactly, but bodies of flesh can freeze if they do things like, I don’t know, sitting out in the forest in the middle of the night with no heat source nearby.”

Rheave shrugs as if the idea doesn’t particularly bother him. “I was never cold when I was a daimon. Or warm. Or anything like that. It’s interesting to feel it. Like the air is biting you, but not that hard.”

The breeze blowing past us is definitely nippy. I tuck my own hands deeper under my cloak, out of its reach. “So now you’ve felt it. Why are you staying out here?”

“The way it feels keeps changing a little. Some parts tingled. Some stopped feeling at all.” He taps his fingertips against his knees with apparent delight.

Panic jolts through my nerves. “How long have you been out here?”

I bend down to press my fingers to his cheek and then the back of his hand. The latter feels outright frigid.

My magic jostles inside me, clamoring to flood him with heat, push back the chill.

But where would that heat come from? Everything around us is freezing except me, my men, and the fire I don’t want to snuff out.

I wrap my hand around Rheave’s as if I can squeeze some warmth back into his skin and tug at him. “You’ve had enough trying out the cold for now. Come on—we need to get you warmed up before you do any permanent damage to yourself.”

Rheave pushes slowly to his feet and looks down at our clasped hands. “I don’t feel bad. I’m sure I’ll be all right, Little Vine.”

Is that what he’s going to call me now? I might be ‘little’ compared to him, but I’ve still got the ivy resilience.

I step away in an attempt to drag him toward the tent, my throat constricting with worry. “That part where you can’t feel anything? If you leave it very long, it becomes permanent. And then the bits with no feeling fall right off. Do you really want to start losing pieces of this body? I don’t think the scourge sorcerers are going to build you a new one.”

To my relief, my final comment finally rouses him to action. Rheave strides with me over to the tent, grimacing as he wobbles on legs that must have gotten stiff. “Mortal bodies are very fragile.”

“That’s right. How about you keep that in mind from now on?”

I push him into the tent, tug off his cloak which might as well be pure ice, and draw him down with me toward the blankets. Casimir is still awake, rolling over as I nudge Rheave toward him.

“He’s already going numb,” I whisper, wanting to avoid waking Alek too if I can. “We need to warm him up as quickly as possible.”

Rheave makes a faint sound of protest, but he lets me push him closer to the courtesan. The two of us tuck ourselves against the daimon-man’s body, even though I wince at the cold still seeping from his clothes.

“Put your hands in your armpits,” I murmur at him. “Pull your face right under the blanket so it’ll soak up the heat too.”

Rheave ducks his head. His silky curls graze my jaw.

I pull the blanket higher over him and instinctively set my hand against his arm to reassure myself that he’s still got some warmth in him. That he isn’t totally frozen.

The constricting sensation in my throat has spread down through my chest. What if he has done real damage to himself?

The realization creeps over me so gradually but undeniably that my heart clenches up too. As exasperating as the daimon-man can be, I appreciate the brightness and wonder he’s brought with him. I’ve enjoyed his company.

I don’t want to lose him.

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