Page 54 of Harnessed in Gold

“It’s incredible,” I breathe.

The full necklace dangling from Leo’s hand is large enough to cover a man’s chest. He lays it out on the corner of the bed so that we can see all the shells, and the beads and copper disks interspersed between them.

I ask, “How did you get it?”

“I borrowed it. From a member of the Yew clan. His ancestor was one of the leaders of the rebellion against Ember.”

I run a light finger over a ridged cockle shell, listening as he explains, “His name was Orion, Orion the Falcon. And we’re pretty sure he was the one who brought the weapon here to be hidden.”

“To the Roanoke Colony?”

“Yeah. He probably came by ley line—to the Great Dismal Swamp.”

Ugh, I hope he had some sort of mosquito repellent.

According to what Leo tells me next, the whole weapon search started when Brier requested Leo and his researcher-scholar buddies—officially called the saoithe—comb the archives for anything they could find on Ember Belladonna.

“Out of nowhere?” I arch a brow. “Seems a little suspicious.”

“To say the least. Brier said it was because he and the council wanted to learn from her mistakes, but a small number of us weren’t convinced.” He frowns as he adds, “Unfortunately, the rest of the saoithe still think he genuinely wants to help Nàdar.”

He goes on with his story, describing how alarmed and disturbed they were by what they found in the archives, because not only did Ember declare herself queen and reign with terror for nearly threeyears, it appeared she created some sort of super weaving ring that allowed her to control all of nature.

Hands on his hips, Leo exhales. “You know how our rings work, right? Rime said he told you.”

I nod. I could be snarky. I could say what we’re both thinking,Because you sure as hell weren’t going to tell me, but the regret coming off him is enough to keep my mouth shut.

He rubs the back of his neck before he perches on the bed catty-corner to me and continues bringing me up to speed. Since Leo and the other like-minded scholars were pretty damn sure the ring was the reason Brier suddenly wanted to know about Ember, they set out to figure out where it might be. When they discovered it had been given to a human to hide, Leo and Robin, the anthropologists who specialize in the Subworld, were put in charge of the search. They were the ones who figured out how to track down Henry Browne.

“We gathered as many names as we could of the fae who led the rebellion against Ember, and started hunting down their descendants, hoping maybe someone down the line had a journal or an artifact or some kind of information about where the weapon was taken.” With one finger, Leo pulls on the copper wire, stretching the necklace to its full length. “And we found this.”

“And it’s definitely not Nàdarian?”

He simply shakes his head. Guess they don’t like shell jewelry in his realm. Shame. I pet one of the copper disks, flicking the green flecks of verdigris off my fingertips.

“And it’s not English. Or European,” he adds. “A little googling was enough to confirm it was North American. And then we had the bones carbon dated.”

I gape at him. “Do they have that kind of technology in Nàdar?”

“No. Here, in the Subworld. At Oxford.”

Oxford again. His supposed year abroad.

With averted eyes, he explains how, after matching Ember’s dates to the Roanoke Colony, all the pieces started to fall into place. A wild,untouched land no fae and few humans knew existed. An Englishman named Henry Browne. A people familiar with the land, willing to guide and trade with friendly foreigners. “We think Orion befriended the Secotan who led him to the Roanoke settlers, either on the island or after they dispersed. And there he found Henry Browne, who most likely had the Sight, and charged him with hiding the weapon.”

“Was that who you think Avery saw? Browne and Orion?”

“There’s no way to know, but at least their dress confirmed the time period.”

I nod, busy taking in and analyzing all this information. “Okay, but why didn’t Orion just hide it himself? Or give it to the Secotan?”

Leo shrugs. “Probably because of the language barrier. He would’ve needed to impress upon whomever he gave it to the importance of hiding it.” He slides a few shells out of the divot in the mattress made by his thigh. “And we don’t really know why he didn’t hide it himself, but I imagine he would’ve felt safer not knowing where the ring was. If he handed it off to a human, then no Nàdarian would ever know its location.”

Although unfortunately, plenty of Nàdarians, even half a millennium later, could link enough clues to track it down.

“But why come all the way out here?” I press. “Why not just bury it there on Roanoke Island or throw it into the ocean or something?” It seems like the Mariana Trench would be the ultimate hiding spot. Completely inaccessible to anyone. Even most fish.

Leo doesn’t even try to hide his smile. I’m doing it again, asking a million questions, most of which have no concrete answers. But seriously, it doesn’t make sense. Why all this rigmarole just to get rid of the damn thing?