Page 42 of Silver in the Bone

Cabell’s face fell. He leaned in closer, studying my eyes until I turned away. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”

Of course he’d figured it out—I’d spent the better part of a year begging Nash to find the venom for me.

“I did, and I have no regrets because it worked.”

Cabell swore under his breath. “Where did you even get the basilisk venom?”

“Where do you think?”

“What was that about not taking on any more favors?” Cabell shook his head. “I swear to every god in the sky that if you ever do something this stupid again, I’m going to kill you myself.”

“Noted,” I said, quickly turning us back to the matter at hand. “You’re sure about working with a sorceress?”

“She doesn’t know the ring has to be claimed through deadly force,” he said, his voice low. “I grilled her on it while we were looking for you.”

“She could have been lying,” I pointed out. “Playing us.”

“Like she played you back in Boston?” He arched a brow at my scowl. “Oh, come on. It happens to the best of us. As Nash used to say—”

He stopped himself, his gaze drifting to the ground.

“Mistakes are like wasps,” I finished quietly. “They’ll keep stinging if you let them.”

Cabell let out a soft sigh.

“Look,” he began, “you may be right and Neve will put all the pieces together on her own. But I know we can get to Nash and the ring first. I know we can. Keeping her and Dye close is the best way to stay one step ahead of them.”

“Fine,” I said, relenting. “We’ll Prague it and deal with the fallout later.”

He put a comforting hand on my head, drawing me closer for a brief hug. “Man ... after all this time ... I can’t believe Nash might be in Avalon. Maybe he got trapped there. That would explain why he never came home.”

The mention of Nash’s name reminded me of what else we’d found hidden with his note.

Taking Cabell’s arm, I led him back to the shed and fished out the tarnished coin to show both him and Neve.

“Do either of you recognize this or know what the engraving means?”

Cabell smoothed a thumb against the words. “I am the dream of the dead,” he read. “I’ve never seen anything like this, but there is magic attached to it. It feels cold. Neve?”

She shook her head. “No clue.”

Emrys had been so quiet and still, leaning against the wall of the shed, that I’d nearly forgotten he was there until he spoke. “There’s no need for it to remain a mystery, folks. The note said to bury it with ash and bone if he didn’t return.”

Cabell blinked. “Does anyone just happen to have some bone on them?”

I shook my head.

Neve let out a happy hum. “You are all in luck ...”

The sorceress went to work pulling out an array of small bones and skulls from her pack, setting them on the ground. When she finished, she waved her hands over them, as if presenting her very own dead-animal petting zoo.

“Doesn’t it creep you out to collect bones like this?” I asked.

“Why would it creep me out?” Neve asked. “Death is beautiful, and people only fear it because they see it as an end, not the beginning it is. Also, I think the little ones are kind of cute. I mean, look—”

She selected a tiny bird skull with a jagged beak and, pitching her voice higher, said, “Hellooo, Tamsin. Pick me for your oh-so-mysterious coin and I will be your grim companion on this dark journey of discovery.”

Cabell laughed. I didn’t.

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