“With my money. It’s mine now. Come here.” Gavin crooked his finger.
My feet rebelled, boots whispering of the danger in that deadly crook of his finger. The laces promised certain death.
But the rest of my body betrayed me.
I edged toward him. Gavin hooked his thumb into my belt and hauled me even closer.
A yelp caught in my throat, but it burned away before I made a sound. I held perfectly still as he wrapped my harness around my waist. His fingers brushed my hip, firm but efficient, adjusting the straps with single-minded precision.
He smelledgood.Clean skin mixed with the faint scent of something woodsy. And he wasclose.Leaning over me, inspecting every buckle, every inch of the leather.
“It’s brand new,” I murmured.
“Doesn’t mean it’s infallible.”
“No. I suppose not. There isn’t much in this life that is one hundred percent reliable.”
Gavin’s fingers tightened around the last buckle, tugging the strap securely. I tipped my head back, our faces inches apart. His breath ghosted over my cheek.
A steely glint hardened in his eyes. “Yeah. Very few things are.” His fingers flexed around my harness. “But sometimes you get lucky.”
There was lead in the air. Or something heavier that filled my lungs and made it hard to breathe. I cleared it from my throat, only to sound hoarse when I spoke.
“Do you want me to check your gear?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “No. You’d probably loosen it.”
My lips formed into a surly snarl. “Hmm… I guess we’ll never know.” I pressed the flat of my hand against his chest and pushed, giving myself some space. “Now that you mention it… Maybe I should checkyourwork.”
A low sound rumbled in Gavin’s throat as he turned on his heel to finish preparing for the climb.
I flashed a victorious smirk at his back.
The queen of avoidance had expanded her territory into the Land of Snark, and she planned to stay awhile.
***
Three hours later, and I officially regretted stealing the seeds. My muscles burned, already beyond exhausted from the exertion, and thanks to the magical vine pulling us up at an unnatural pace, the ground had nearly vanished. Below us was nothing more than a hazy stretch of color, and my stomach pitched violently every time I looked down. Which, despite my better judgment, was every few minutes.
Gavin climbed beneath me, effortlessly matching my pace. He didn’t seem half as tired, and I hated that for him. It was his fault I’d had no sleep.
The only thing working in my favor was that the vine was easier to climb than I’d expected. There were plenty of handholds, sturdy branches, and enough places to pause to catch my breath.
I sucked down a stream of water from my flask and wiped the sweat from my brow. The harness kept me securely in place, not a single wobble, thanks to Gavin’s meticulous inspection. Now definitely wasn’t the time to test its return policy.
“Is it too late to hire a rogue bunch of treasure hunters to search for the shard?” I joked, keeping my eyes fixed on the vine stalk in front of me and not the hundreds of feet of thin air below. “How much money do you have left?”
Gavin let out a sound that was half grunt, half laugh. “Not as much as I had yesterday, thanks to you. Besides, wearethe rogue bunch of treasure hunters.”
“Pity that. I’m starting to reevaluate some of mychoices.” I pushed myself toward a higher branch, leaves tickling against the side of my face.
“Only a few?” Gavin glanced up at me, his eyes glinting with teasing amusement.
“Yes, well, we aren’t all built like predatory beasts. Some of us have delicate bone structures.”
Gavin huffed a quiet laugh. “There’s nothing delicate about you.”
We kept climbing, pushing ourselves past our limits. The ground had long since vanished, replaced by an endless stretch of white. A thick, swirling mist wrapped around my body, cool against my overheated skin. Time dragged, marked only by water breaks and a few breathless exchanges of conversation.
