the impossible becoming possible.
“No. Way,” I argue, veneration spilling out of every syllable.
Riggs holds them out, like he’s daring me to test their authenticity. So of course I extend my hand and grip the small antler between my pointer finger and thumb. I’m hit by the smell of wild flowers, the taste of clover, and the sound of a haunting cackle as the rush of running from a predator fills my veins. My bewildered gaze rises to meet Riggs’s, a knowing smirk lighting up his whole face, and I’m at a complete loss for words.
It’s real.
“How?” I ask on a reverent whisper.
“They’re extinct now, the last one we know about was caught when I was knee-high to a grasshopper. My mother gave these to me to remind me of what happens when we don’t treasure and protect the things around us.”
“Aw, man, now I can’t ask for them, knowing that they have such sentimental value,” I whine, and Riggs guffaws.
“The antler is a bit stabby, I could be talked into maybe parting with it,” he jokes, and my overzealous ass jumps all over that.
“Really? What would it take to talk you into it?” I blurt, like I’m nothing more than a Gollum staring at the one true ring.
Riggs studies me for a moment as though he’s actually considering parting with something so precious. I should probably feel bad, but I want the bone something fierce. I have no idea where this intense need is coming from; it’s not rational, but I need a jackalope antler in my life. I just had no idea that I did until now.
“Okay, Osteomancer, you can have my jackalope antler,” he declares with a mischievous glint in his bright amber eyes.
“What’s the catch?” I ask suspiciously even though my insides are celebrating gleefully.
He laughs again and gestures toward the arena. “If you can get Saxon off the stump.”
I turn just in time to see a lycan leap at the man standing on the hewn tree trunk—Saxon, I’m assuming—and the auburn-haired behemoth flips the advancing lycan over his head like the guy weighs nothing. From the loud thump that fills the enclosed area, and the vibration that moves through the ground when the lycan’s body hits, I can attest that the man weighs a whole hell of a lot.
Well, crap, there goes my precious.
16
Dust plumes around the man who was just thrown to the ground. The fine mist of dirt starts to slowly settle around the field as murmurs fill the air like bird song. I watch the plume disappear, and it takes with it my overeager hopes to become the proud new owner of a jackalope antler in the very near future. Riggs’s smile is cocky and pleased; he knows exactly what he’s just done. I want to sulk that’s not fair, as I’ve clearly been duped, but that kind of shit isn’t cute at any age, so I tamp it down.
His eyes twinkle mischievously, and I find that I really want to shove his underestimation down his throat. I want to make him eat his words. But as I stare out at the tree-sized man on the stump in the middle of the clearing, I’m at a loss for how to make that happen. Riggs chuckles deeply and pats me hard on the back, making me jerk forward and struggle to keep from tilting over from the contact.
“Come now, Leni, I didn’t think an Osteomancer accepted defeat so easily, especially not one from the Osseous line,” he teases, and titters sound off from the people around us.
My deep exhale is unamused, but as his words sink in, it dawns on me. I’m a witch. I have magic. I don’t have to muscle Goliath off the stump, I just need to flick my wrist and send his big ass bones flying.
Gah, I’m an idiot. How did I not even think about that until now?
A slow smile curls my lips, and confidence fills my gaze. “Fine, you’re on,” I chirp, and Riggs’s amused stare fills with surprise and then bleeds into suspicion. I step over the knee-high stone wall that separates the gathered crowd from the action before Riggs can change his mind about the terms.
“What are you doing?” Rogan growls as he reaches out to try and stop me, but this time I’m wise to his methods, and I scurry away, just getting out of reach before he can snatch one of my arms and stop me.
“Don’t worry, I got this,” I tell him over