for a long time after

ew yellow light on the paneling. Somewhere below, a door closed. Somewhere farther off, a wolf laughed at something and t

the cedar and snow, the breathing, the way I had held his hand and let him kiss me in fro

ck down t

hing but black and the reflection of my own pale face. My boots were by the door where I had left t

ng so

pulled back, but she had taken off her jacket, and I could see the shape of her arms,

ething in the

e drive at four in the afternoon with snow

"Then I forgot something on the

. She took a sip from the mug.

re was no threat in her face, and that was somehow worse. A wolf who threate

n the iron latc

Silas said from th

ot turn

Lake Placid since Tuesday. He signs his messages with a small circle, the way a boy dra

I heard her set the m

is twenty-four years old, and she is in the Ashfall infirmary, in the east ward, in the fourth bed from the

he door and walk out into the snow and be three miles gone before

is in Rennick's keeping. He has told you it will be released when

o of th

e came out rough. "How

ful to meet. He wrote that a young broker from Ashfall might be willing to help me with a problem. He wrote that you were the best in the territor

ight," she said. "Before you walked in. He to

not do we

ead. "You tried to leave. A broker who stayed would

ench again. There w

ll make an example of me, is that it? You will call the Council and tell the

N

oked

Silas said. "Rennick was good enough to send me one w

gh and a laugh. She set the mug down harder than

elling

. You did not tell me you

gain, and there was something in his

ray of small orange sparks onto the hearthstone. Nobody

to hire me

agree to anything. I am not offering you a wage. I am offering you a way to keep your sister alive

omewhere in my che

you want

t you to finish what you started. I want the pack to believe in the bond. I want Rennick to believe you are still worki

pened it herself and let in a wedge of cold air that smelled of

me through this territory did not leave it. He went into the mine, and he did not

closed be

stened to her boots crunc

t to sleep. Tomorrow the elders will want to meet my

ing around, "Do not try to run in the night. If you do, I will have to expla