Page 106 of Harnessed in Gold

“If you want to teach me to drive—” Rime goads.

Leo slams his shoes on the floor and sits down with a huff. “You can’t wait ten minutes?”

“For what? For you to dig that hole you’re in even deeper?”

Leo glares up at him. “Stay out of it.”

Rime’s eyes flick to me. “Sorry, a ghrá, but it’s the truth. He shouldn’t be involved with you.”

It’s only then that I notice Topaz lazing in the recliner by the window, sipping coffee and reading a book. Her body language is clear: she’s staying out of this.

Leo stands. “Don’t blame Betts.”

“I’m not,” Rime retorts. “I’m apologizing to her for your stupidity.”

I swipe my keys off the dining-room table and push past both men to open the door. There I wait, the cold air stinging my burning cheeks, as Leo demands to know where Rime needs to go.

“To Marshall,” Rime says. “To see a guy about a gun.”

My stomach drops and I waver, fumbling for the doorknob like it’ll keep me upright. It’s Rime who grabs me. Have I gone white? Am I about to pass out? My ears ring over the sound of their arguing voices.

Leo responds, “We’ll talk about it after we take Betts home.”

Somehow, with their help, I make it down the stairs and into the front seat of Leo’s car. And by the end of the short, silent drive to campus, I can feel my extremities again.

I turn down both their offers to walk me to Newberry. “I’m fine,” I insist. “Go do what youhave to do.”

But I don’t want to know if you actually do it.

Unfortunately for me, on the first day of Brit Lit, a complete slacker claimed the seat next to mine. Every class he comes in late and leaves early, takes up more than half of our shared table with all his crap, and worst of all, never knows what’s going on. He’s forever leaning into me and whispering, “What did she just say?” with his fingers poised over his keyboard, ready to take notes—via me.

This afternoon, I’m exhausted, distracted, and so on edge that when he asks for the third time in fifteen minutes what page we’re on inTristan and Isolde, I lose my shit. I wrench a blank sheet out of my notebook, write46in huge, angry slashes, and shove the paper at him. “There!” I hiss, slamming my pen down. “Now, for fuck’s sake, leave me alone!”

He goes all victim on me, holding up his hands like he’s placating a lunatic. An embarrassing hush blankets the room.

“Everything alright, Ms. Peterson?” Dr. Bridges asks, one well-groomed eyebrow disappearing into her hairline. Of course she’s surprised by my outburst; I’ve been a model student. I’ve been a model everything.

Until the fae came into my life.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I say. “Sorry for interrupting.”

As class discussion resumes, I feel slacker dude’s eyes on the side of my face. I scowl at him without looking back, and believe it or not, he doesn’t ask me a single question for the rest of the class. Not that the lack of interruption helps me concentrate.Tristan and Isoldestrikes too close to home. Forbidden lovers who are so infatuated with one another that they lie, cheat, and steal to be together? No wonder they ended up dead.

After class, as I trek across campus, I ruminate on their stupidity, because that’s what it is: stupidity. Don’t get me wrong, the story is incredibly romantic, but some relationships are simply doomed fromthe start. Everything, and I mean everything, was stacked against them.

Are Leo and I destined for a similar fate?

In my mind, I replay last night in a series of vignettes: our arms bound together with jasmine, the heat in his eyes as he yanked me to the edge of the bed, his earnest promises?—

And Rime’s ‘disappointed parent’ face as he told me,Sorry, a ghrá, but he shouldn’t be involved with you.

Would Rime be so hell-bent on getting that stupid gun if he weren’t convinced Leo and I were going to screw things up somehow?

I can’t keep being a hindrance. No more wasting time.

I’m supposed to be looking for that tracery window, right?

So, look. Hard. Now.