Page 29 of Horn of Winter

I safely tucked the note and the box into my purse. “I’m pretty sure Eljin can’t be counted as one of them.”

Even if the Eye seemed to dislike him.

Sgott smiled. “Yes, but if you’re wanting any sort of advice from a fatherly figure, I vote for the wait-and-see approach. It’ll give you time to shake out any secrets or bugs the lad might be keeping.”

I laughed. “I can totally assure you the lad hasn’t got any bugs, but I’m sure there’s a secret or two still lurking.”

And considering how early into our relationship we were, that was to be expected. Hell, I certainly hadn’t been upfront about everything, so there was no reason to presume he was.

Sgott chuckled softly, then reached for the radio as it squawked. “Bruhn here. Go ahead.”

“Chief, we’ve just received an urgent call from Kaitlyn Avery.”

I remembered the chill invading her place and my certainty that it was due to more than just a lack of heating, and instantly knew my trepidation had been right. That coldhadn’tbeen natural.

“What did she want?” Sgott replied evenly.

“Bethany Aodhán,” Dispatch said. “She said she tried to contact Bethany directly, but her phone is off.”

And it was. I hastily dug it out of my purse’s side pocket and switched it back on. The phone began pinging as multiple messages came in—one from Lugh, one from Eljin, and five from an unknown number that had to be Kaitlyn’s.

“And why is she requesting Bethany?”

“She said Bethany was the only one who could save her.”

“From what?” Sgott said, exasperation creeping into his tone.

“From the ice,” the dispatcher said. “Her entire building is encased in it.”

“It’s not cold enough—” I stopped. It might not be cold enough for ice under normal circumstances, but whatever was happening to Kaitlyn’s place wasn’t normal. It was magic. Perhaps even godly relic-type magic.

“Tell her we’ll be there in ten,” Sgott said, then flicked on the lights and sirens. As the car surged forward, he cast a brief but confused glance my way. “Why on earth would her building be encased in ice? My men made no mention of it, and they arrived not long after you’d left, apparently.”

“There were a few icicles hanging off the guttering when we were there, but no obvious signs of magic. My instincts twitched, though the knives didn’t.” I gripped the edge of the door as we slid way too fast around a corner. The car fishtailed for a couple of seconds, but Sgott quickly brought it under control. “But I think Fate might be having a good old laugh at my expense right now, because just this morning the council asked me to find a relic known as the Horn of Winter.”

“And it’s capable of encasing a building in ice?”

“The council were light on details, but given the god who wielded it was known as the devouring one, it’s probably wise to presume it can. Question is, who would want to set such a thing against Kaitlyn?”

“Lass, there’s a queue several miles long of people wanting—but not daring—to take revenge against our queen of dubious contracts. The better question is, why do it like this? It’s not exactly a quick or easy death—though maybethatmay might be the whole point.”

“Isn’t freezing to death supposedly a peaceful death?”

“Only to the degree that once you’re unconscious, you can’t feel your body shutting down.” Sgott’s voice was grim. “But I can’t imagine frostbite, loss of coordination, and the extreme shivering that comes before unconsciousness would be in any way pleasant.”

I clutched the edge of the door again as we spun around another corner and hurtled toward Kaitlyn’s building. Up ahead, two regular police cars were sitting across the road, each a good distance away from Kaitlyn’s. A third sat directly out front with its tires encased in ice, though the bulk of the vehicle only had a small smattering of frost across its front and along its roof line, the crystals gleaming with a bluish fire in the storm-spun gloom.

The building itself was fully encased, and somewhat reminded me of a big blue ice block. But, just like the police car sitting directly in front, that ice only extended small slivers onto the buildings on either side. Either the person behind the freezing was being careful not to take out innocents or the horn’s powers were not as all-encompassing as the God of Winter and Destruction wanted everyone to believe.

It wasn’t like we could ask him, though I would certainly ask both the codex library and Beira.

“Are your knives capable of acting against that sort of magic?” Sgott asked as he came to a halt beside the blue and fluorescent green police car blocking this side of the road.

“I honestly don’t know.” I climbed out and slung my purse over my shoulder. “If the ice threatens me directly, then yes, they will, but whether they can counteract what is happening to that building, I can’t say. They didn’t react when I was here this morning, but the building wasn’t encased like it is now.”

A policewoman lifted the tape so we could approach the building. The chill in the air grew noticeably sharper. Two plainclothes officers stood in the middle of the street directly in front of the building, one of them on the phone. The other glanced at us as we drew nearer, and I recognized him. Harry Preston, a wolf shifter who worked for Sgott. His pale yellow eyes scanned me briefly, then he cast a nod my way and returned his attention to Sgott.

“Bec’s on the phone to Kaitlyn. Apparently she’s holed up in the basement and, given the increasing vagueness of her replies, is not doing too good. We’ve tried breaking in through the windows, but barely even scratched the ice. It’s rock solid.”

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