River’s voice shook as if she were fighting to hold in the emotions she wore etched into her face, clear as day. “What happened today, that’s on me. And you were amazing. You saved my life, and I am grateful. I’m so grateful, and I’m so impressed by you. I hate that I put you in harm’s way, and I’ll never make that mistake again.”

The words were right, but beneath them was a silent undertone that made Easton’s eyes narrow. “But,” he pressed.

“But I am so angry with you.” Stepping up to him, River raised furious eyes. “You unclipped from the rope too, Easton. You could have fallen. You could have died.”

She was stunning on a bad day. On fire, she was all Easton could see, furious or not. And yes, a smarter man would have backed down, but he wasn’t a smarter man. No, Easton stood nose to nose with her, unwilling to be railroaded.

“Yeah.” A growl escaped his lips. “At least I unclipped for something worth dying for. You did it for a paycheck.”

River opened her mouth, then she clamped it shut. “I know, okay? I know it was wrong to go for the camera. But money is not what this climb is about for me.”

“You want to fight about this?” He stepped back, unwilling to tower over her when they were fighting. “Then we’ll have a nice big blowout down at camp. You can scream at me to your heart’s content. But until we get back down there, I’m still in charge of what’s happening here. Get your gear. We’re leaving.”

Guilt at pulling rank filled him, but the anger still won out. Easton half expected her to slap him or call him an ass. Instead, River’s face went calm, cold, unaffected. The actress face, a blank mask. Never had Easton minded her ability to cover her emotions until that moment, when she used the skill because of him.

“Lead the way,” she said calmly. But when he looked into her eyes, Easton wasn’t surprised to see that he’d hurt her.

What surprised him the most was that he felt the same damn way.

• • •

Easton wasn’t a mean person. Still, his words had cut her to the bone.

The absolute last thing River wanted to do was walk back into the Veil, but he was right. They couldn’t spend the night without cover, so back into the cauldron they returned. Anxiety kept her hand on the fixed line, and even though her brain knew she couldn’t see Easton behind her, River kept turning around to check on him. She was as worried about him getting through as she was the rest of them. Finally, they emerged out of the bottom of the ice canyon and limped to their campsite.