Thorns (22 page)

“That was easier than I expected,” he murmured. He pulled away another board, and another.

Beneath them was a hole, and a canvas cloth. I ripped it aside, and then I froze.

A shallow pit had been dug in the dirt. The cloth had covered it. In the pit was the indention of a square.

But the device itself was missing.

“Where is it?” I gasped, tossing the canvas aside and digging into the dirt with my fingers. “Did he bury it deeper? Is this some sort of trick to deter us?”

Adam stared at the empty place, stunned. “It’s gone.”

We’d come all this way. We’d figured everything out. Where was it?

I jumped to my feet and dashed outside, my heart pounding and my breathing labored as I scanned the trees. Maybe my father had moved it to a new burial place. Maybe he’d hidden it behind the shed. Maybe he’d decided the floor was too obvious, or…

I lurched to a standstill as my eyes dropped to the ground. The path we’d followed through the forest was frozen dirt, but snow surrounded the edges of the shed.

And pressed into the pristine white of the snow…

A fresh footprint.

The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I spun for the shed. “Adam!”

He appeared in the doorway, and our gazes caught. I pointed at the print. I could barely speak the words.

“Someone has been here before us. They took it.”

Adam swept the area with his gaze. He was all cold rigidity and clipped words as he turned back to me. “There’re no footprints in the snow. They took the path, so we can’t track them that way.”

“Do you think the Blackcoats took it?”

“Who else?” he said, his eyes spitting anger. He looked at the path, and at me. “This footprint is fresh—made less than an hour ago, I’d say.”

We needed to move quickly, then.

“Go,” I said. “You’re faster than I am. Head for the village, and I’ll check the forest. They could be anywhere. But they probably haven’t gotten far. Few know these woods or these paths well, but you and I do.”

He nodded. “And we’ll be faster if we split up. We’ll meet up at the farmhouse in a few hours?”

“Yes,” I said.

He took off at a run. I caught my breath and then followed, my cloak like a sail in the wind.

Snow had begun to trickle down between the treetops. A white mist enveloped the woods, turning everything gray and blue. My breath streamed from my lips and my cheeks froze as I ran.

My foot caught a root, and I stumbled. I slid off the path and landed on my knees in the underbrush. I froze at what I saw.

Footprints, veering from the path and into a snowy clearing. I saw them plainly. Adam’s footprints? But no, these were smaller. They headed west, toward the lake and east of the village.

“Adam!” I screamed, hoping to call him back.

My voice was muffled by trees, the snow. Nothing responded. He was already gone.

I didn’t have much time. I made the decision.

I followed the tracks.

~

My mind spun as I ran. The boards had been too easy to pull up. The thief had laid them back in place without hammering them back down. I should have immediately suspected something was amiss, but we’d been high on success. We hadn’t been thinking.

Because deep down, I knew exactly who had taken the PLD, and my heart was heavy as a rock in my chest.

My lungs burned and my legs ached as I ran through the snow. I wished we’d taken the horses, but it was too late for that now. Tree branches lashed at my face and snagged my cloak, but I wrenched free and kept running.

The sunlight faded. The shadows darkened as clouds rolled across the sky. More flakes trickled down through the trees, dusting my face. The wind bit at my nose and numbed my fingers. I ran and ran and ran.

Finally, the gloom of the Frost gave way to the glow of light, and I broke through the tree line. Ahead, a vast lake of clouded ice stretched toward a far shore lined with pines. To the right, a tendril of white smoke from the village blacksmith curled to the sky. I was at the lake, and less than a mile from Iceliss.

The wind whipped my hair into my eyes and made them water as I scanned the shoreline. Nothing moved against the backdrop. The ice reached out over the dark water like a cloudy cataract over the iris of a black eye, and beyond the ice the river rushed past, foaming against the rocks in its path as it sped toward the falls far beyond.

I cupped both hands over my mouth and inhaled deeply, preparing to shout.

A movement at the edge of the forest farther away caught my eye.

Three figures stood at the edge of the lake. The smallest broke away and struggled through the snow toward the trees, her head bent against the wind.

I went still as a pang of certainty pierced my heart. “Ivy!”

She jerked at the sound of my voice, looking around wildly, and then her gaze settled on me. She fled into the forest.

The other figures turned.

One straightened and pinned me with a glare.

Leon.

Then I recognized the other with a jolt of shock.

Everiss.

I was torn. Ivy or the PLD? I looked after my sister, but she’d already vanished in the direction of the farm.

Everiss cradled a small case in her arms. The rusted metal cylinder gleamed in the pale light, and I sucked in a breath as I realized what it was.

The PLD.

“That’s mine,” I said sharply, stepping closer and stretching out one hand. “Give it back.”

Leon laughed, a harsh bark in the stillness. “Finders keepers,” he said, giving me a nasty smile.

“Give it to me,” I repeated.

Everiss shot a glance at Leon. He shook his head, still smiling. “Maybe you shouldn’t have burned your bridges. You scorned our offer, and now I’m scorning yours.”

“I need it.”

“Too bad,” he drawled.

“You don’t even know what it is,” I said, desperate now.

“Neither do you.”

“Please,” I said, trying a new tack. “This is important. It’s going to help us defeat them. You want that, too.”

“The Farther nobleman wants this device,” he interrupted. “And he promised to free our friends if we brought it to him.”

I sucked in a frantic breath. Korr. If they gave him the PLD, it was all over. “Are you insane? Farthers don’t play fair. They’ll take the device and punish your friends anyway!”

“Go home, Lia Weaver,” he said, his brow furrowing. “You’ve lost.”

I looked at Everiss, but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. I turned back to Leon. He smirked, triumphant.

“No,” I growled. I grabbed for the case in Everiss’s arms.

A knife appeared in Leon’s hand. I skidded to a stop as Everiss gasped.

That was when I heard the gunshot.

THE SOUND OF the gunshot rolled across the lake and reverberated through me. I threw myself into the snow. Leon staggered back as blood blossomed across his shirt, and he sank to his knees. Everiss screamed his name.

From the tree line, a figure emerged carrying a pistol.

Korr
.

I couldn’t move. My legs were ice, my lungs empty of air. But Everiss wasn’t so afflicted. She ran, her cloak fluttering behind her like a stream of black smoke as she fled for the lake. And I watched, spellbound, as Korr lifted his arm and fired again.

“No!” I screamed.

The second sound of the gunshot shattered the silence. Everiss dropped like a bag of rocks, and the PLD flew out of her arms. It skittered across the ice and into the river.

Everiss staggered up again and stumbled into the water as red streamed down her arm. Korr rushed past me, and I thought he was going to shoot her again, but then I realized he was going for the PLD.

The case whirled as it hit the current, and rushed out of sight around the frothing curve that led to the falls. My whole being ached as I watched it disappear.

Everiss reached the other side of the water. She pulled herself out and disappeared into the woods. Korr stared for a long time at the place where the PLD had been, and then he turned and strode toward me.

My gaze slipped to the gun in his hand. Should I run? He’d already seen my face. He would only send soldiers to the house. What should I do?

Korr reached my side. He crouched down and peeled off a glove. When he felt for Leon’s pulse with cold, clinical precision, my stomach lurched, but still I willed myself to look.

All the color had bled from Leon’s cheeks. The snow around him was stained red. Was he dead?

Korr stood and pulled his glove back on. His eyes flicked to mine.

I couldn’t stop my legs from trembling, but I didn’t cower or flinch away. I would face my death with dignity.

My chest ached, and the backs of my eyes burned as I searched the far shore for any sign of Everiss. But she had vanished.

“This is a very unfortunate turn of events for both of us,” Korr said. His tone was perfectly controlled, but an edge sharpened the words. He was angry, perhaps lethally so. He’d already killed one person and signed the death warrant of the other. Everiss would not last long wounded, wet, and wandering the Frost wilderness.

Dimly I became aware of footsteps, voices shouting. Farther soldiers burst from the woods, scanning the scene. The soldiers guarding the Cage must have heard the gunshots.

“Blackcoats,” Korr said by way of explanation. “One got away.” He pointed at Leon. “This one’s dead.”

Two of the soldiers picked up Leon’s body as casually as if he were a sack of potatoes. The other grabbed my arm. “Shall I escort her to a detention cell, Sir?”

I couldn’t breathe.

This was it
.

“No,” Korr said.

I blinked. Surely I’d heard him wrong.

“She isn’t with the Blackcoats,” Korr said crisply. “She was just looking for her sister. Let her go.”

The soldier released me and stepped back. I stared at Korr. The wind caught his hair and threw it into his eyes, hiding them from me. Around us, the soldiers stomped and muttered. They took Leon’s body and headed back for the village.

I didn’t know what to say.

Korr’s hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. He turned it over, and the bracelet glimmered in the light. I couldn’t speak.

“You helped my brother,” he said quietly. “Now I’ve helped you. We’re even. Expect no other kindness from me.”

His brother. Gabe. I was numb. I was frozen. I felt nothing as I absorbed the words, nothing except the knowledge that my speculation had been true…and the knowledge that it changed everything.

He was not what I’d thought he was.

“Go,” Korr said sharply.

I nodded and stumbled back. He made no move to stop me. I backed toward the woods, and finally, I turned and ran.

~

I reached the farm just as the snow began to fall in earnest. White poured from the sky like a flurry of feathers, cascading over the farmhouse and blanketing the roof of the barn. I stumbled on the step and almost fell. My hands shook as I opened the door.

Jonn clawed up from his chair and took a staggering step toward me. “Lia,” he gasped. “Are you—? I thought—”

I rushed to the fire and began stripping off my wet mittens and cloak. The fire was too hot, and my skin stung as it thawed. “I’m all right. Is Ivy here?”

“She’s upstairs. She wouldn’t tell me anything when she came home.”

I lifted my aching fingers to cover my face. “She stole the PLD and took it to the Blackcoats. She must have heard us talking and slipped out this morning when we thought she was asleep. I confronted them, demanded it back, and then Korr showed up with Farther soldiers.” I took one shuddering breath and let it out. “Leon is dead. Everiss too, I think.”

Jonn went very still. He didn’t ask for clarification, but his eyes begged me.

I told him the rest in halting sentences.

A rap at the door made my stomach jump. I rose, my heart hammering. Had soldiers come for me? Had Korr gone back on his promise?

It was Adam. He swept inside before I even reached the door to open it, his face a storm of emotion and his shoulders taut as he called out. “Has Lia—?”

He stopped, stared at me. “
Oh
.” He reached out one hand but didn’t touch me, as if he feared I would break. Then he grabbed me in a tight hug. “I thought you were injured, or worse,” he whispered against my hair.

“I’m all right,” I said, but my words were wooden. The weight of our failure lay heavy on my chest. I didn’t want to have to tell him that the PLD was lost forever.

He pulled back, rubbing a hand over his eyes as if he couldn’t trust them to stay dry. “I heard the gunshots from the village.” His gaze searched mine.

My stomach sank. I might as well get this over with. I looked over my shoulder at Jonn, seeking some shred of support from him as I imparted the news, but he was staring out the window. I turned back to Adam.

“Something terrible happened,” I began.

“Quick,” Jonn interrupted, urgently motioning to us both. “Help her!”

He’d dropped his crutches and was clutching the windowsill with both hands. I ran to his side. “Jonn?”

But my brother gestured wildly at the door. Adam crossed the room in two strides and wrenched it open. Snowflakes swirled in. I hurried to his side.

A cloaked figure staggered across the yard, falling to its knees a few feet from the porch. The snow almost completely obscured the face as it lifted, but there was no mistaking the curly hair fluttering in the wind.

“Everiss,” I breathed.

She tried to speak and couldn’t. Her lips were blue, her mittens missing. Her eyelids fluttered as she looked at me, and then her head sagged forward. The falling snow began to cover her shoulders and hair.

Adam stepped forward and scooped her up in his arms. She made a soft moan of pain, like a baby. Her frozen fingers clutched at his shirt, and he cradled her gently as he brought her inside and laid her by the hearth.

Jonn hobbled to her side and slumped to his knees. “Everiss?”

I ran for blankets. When I returned, Adam was peeling her wet cloak from her body.

“Please, don’t let me die,” she whimpered. Her eyes darted from my face to Jonn’s.