Page 153 of Silver in the Bone

Emrys and I crouched as we came around the last corner. A cottage with its snow-dusted thatched roof, like something out of a fairy tale.

The trail of steps led to a firmly shut door. With its lone window covered by fabric, it was impossible to tell who, if anyone, was inside.

I caught Emrys’s eye and shrugged. He shrugged back but slid the sword across the snow to me with a meaningful look.

I hesitated, motioning that we should try to approach the cottage from the side, but he only pointed to the sword and drew his collapsible axe out of his workbag.

My fingers closed around the hilt, and blue flames roared to life along the blade. Emrys stared at it in wonder, shaking his head.

Before either of us could lose our courage, we charged at the door. Emrys readied himself to kick it in and I assumed the best fighting stance I could—but we never had the chance to strike. The door swung open and there was a knife at my throat.

Not a knife—a wand.

Neve and I both yelped, dropping our weapons. The sword’s flames extinguished themselves in the snow and the wand rolled to Emrys’s feet as we threw our arms around each other.

“What are you doing here?” I demanded, my voice tight with shock.

Caitriona hovered with a sword a step behind her, and Olwen twisted a misty snarl of magic between her hands a step behind that. Both relaxed at the sight of us, but only just.

Neve took a step back, keeping her grip on my upper arms, and gave me a look of utter disbelief. “We came to find you. Both of you.”

“Why?” I asked, alarmed. “What’s happened?”

Olwen pressed a hand to her face in either dismay or amusement.

“I’ll make some tea, shall I?” she murmured.

“What’s happened is that you left the protection of the tower, you utter ninny,” Caitriona said, her voice even raspier than usual. “Come inside, the both of you. Now.”

It took me a moment to understand. “You came to find us.”

“Yes!” Neve said, exasperated. “What else did you think we’d do when you didn’t come back before nightfall?”

Nothing. The word clanged in my mind. I only stared at her as she shook her head. My life wasn’t worth trading theirs. Neither Emrys nor the others should have followed. I tried to tell them, but something was happening in my chest, in my throat, and the urge to cry suddenly became too much.

Emrys bent to retrieve the sword, then put a gentle hand on my shoulder, guiding me inside so the door could be shut and latched firmly behind us.

The inside of the cottage was surprisingly homey, with a bed in the far corner, a dining table set up in front of the hearth, and a pair of stuffed chairs near a bookshelf jammed with what appeared to be record books of some kind.

“What is this place?” Emrys asked, all but collapsing into one of the chairs.

“This home belongs to the keeper of the orchards,” Caitriona said, sheathing her sword. Softly, she corrected herself. “Belonged.”

“Talk about burying the lede,” I muttered. “Is that really a dragon?”

“It was Caron, the last of her kind,” Olwen explained. “She was a dear friend to a keeper of the orchards years and years ago.”

Neve sat me in the other chair, putting her hands on my shoulders to push me not so gently down into it. I made a face at her assessing look and she returned it, twice over.

You shouldn’t be here, I thought desperately. None of you should have left the tower. The whole point of my mission had been to keep everyone safe, and now they were in far more danger because of me. This was the last thing I’d wanted.

Neve’s expression turned serious, as if she could see the flow of thoughts passing through my mind. “You really thought we wouldn’t?”

I looked down. “You shouldn’t have put yourselves at risk.”

“Too bad,” Neve told me. “You don’t get to decide that. I’m sorry to inform you that, despite your best efforts, people care about you, myself included.”

Turning back to where Olwen was using magic to heat a small pot of water, Neve said, “I’ll finish that, Olwen. I think you’d better have a look at these two.”

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