Page 70 of Cold Sacrifice

“Ooh, what’s going to happen?” Gracie Dawn whispered, which was not a whisper at all.

Max took her arm. “Let’s go to work,” he told her. “We don’t want to accidentally get hit with any wayward magic.”

She laughed as she went with him to the door. “But that could be fun.”

“By the way, Kait,” Max said, before he stepped through the doorway, “the item you sent for Joe was delivered.”

“Good,” I murmured.

“The office will remain Richard’s anchor,” Trinity said, getting right to work. “We are not destroying the original binding, just attempting to create a way around it that will only work as long as he’s connected to you.”

She took a small, shallow dish from the items she’d spread out across the desk. “I need a scraping of dust,” she said. “You can get it on the tip of your blade from the windowsill.” And she turned to Zach to hand him the dish. “Please.”

He moved away from the wall and took the dish, then pulled his blade and went to do as she’d asked.

“While he’s fetching the dust,” she told me, “I’ll need a drop of blood from you.”

I gave her my hand and she pricked my index fingertip. As the blood began to well, Zach returned with the dust. She got two droplets of my blood to fall into the dish before the wound closed up.

“You can do it again if you need more,” I said.

“This is enough,” she said. “Honestly, Kait, with your power, a fraction of what I took would have been enough.”

“Then why take more than you needed?” Richard asked.

“Now,” Trinity said, “the blood will identify you as the living person Richard will be tethered to. Hold out your hand, Kait. Richard, place your palm atop hers.”

He did, immediately, and I felt the coldness of him like a small chunk of ice melting into my palm. Trinity dipped her fingertip into the blood and dust mixture, then drew a line around my wrist, lifting her finger slightly to include the ghost’s wrist, as though she could feel him there.

Maybe she could.

I felt the circle of blood and dust tighten around my arm like a thin bracelet before it sank deeper. There was a moment of pain that maybe Richard felt, as well, because I saw the slightest flinch around his eyes at the same moment I felt the pain.

“The dust connects the spell to the office,” Trinity murmured. “The blood connects the spell to Kait. Richard’s touch secures him into the connections.” She raised her vivid green stare to mine. “Give him your terms before I complete the spell. He must accept them before I continue.”

I took a breath and looked at Richard. “I will give you access to the living world beyond this building. You may not draw strength or power from me or use the connection to enter my body.” I’d heard horror stories of such things happening, and I wasn’t taking any chances. “You will cause no harm to humans unless it is done in defense of another human and then only as a last resort. You understand that I can sever this connection at any time and return you to the office if you commit unacceptable acts while in the living world.”

He nodded, sober and intense. “I understand and I agree to the terms.”

“He accepts,” I told Trinity.

She took her small blade and drew a circle around our joined hands but didn’t draw blood. She began murmuring words that blended together, almost in a quiet, gentle song, and I physically felt the connection tighten.

And then she went quiet, and the tightness faded. But I could feel it there if I focused on it, and that was how I would sever the connection if I needed to. I could snap it apart, and Richard would find himself immediately back in the office, locked out of the world of the living once again.

I couldn’t watch him all the time, and I knew there was a chance that he’d cause trouble when I wasn’t looking. But the connection linked us, and I would feel it if something went wrong.

At least I believed I would.

“You are tethered,” Trinity said. “The easy part is done. Now you have to find a way to get him through.”

“I’ve done it before,” I told her. “I can get him out.”

“I love your confidence,” Richard said. “Let’s do this, Kait. As payment, I will help you with the necromancer.”

I raised my eyebrows. “As payment, Richard, you will help me with a lot of things.”

His laugh was full of joy. “I will do that.”