Jember sighed and hung his head, resting his elbow on his knee to rub his forehead, while I held my breath. After a moment he sat up again. “It can’t be cleansed like other Manifestations, only removed and barred from its host, then released to find another one. So, you know what you do?”

“What?”

“You leave it the hell alone.”

I groaned in frustration. “Why did I ever think you would help me?”

“I am helping you. You want to live? Get out now. Leave the castle to rot. When the family dies the Evil Eye will go off to find another greedy victim to infect. End of story.”

“You ruin my career prospects and then think you can—?”

“Ruin? I did you a favor.”

“If you don’t tell me how to cleanse it, I’ll read every scroll I can get my hands on. I’ll find another debtera to ask. Either way, I’m going back to that house to finish the job.”

“Andromeda, wait.”

I’d already turned, already stormed toward the door, but his voice halted me. I spun on my heel to look at him. I shouldn’t have cared about what he had to say. I should’ve kept going without looking back.

Jember was scooting off the bed, and I went to him without questioning myself and dragged his leg out from under the bed. The wood was rough and a little chipped, the leather straps and pads worn. The metal end was still sturdy, just a little scratched, but if the wood gave it wouldn’t be of much use. I held his leg out to him by the peg end. I should’ve left him and let him do it. He’d been doing it for weeks without me.

“You going back just to spite me?” he asked, taking his leg from me. “Because I know you’re smarter than this.”

“I’m going back to save someone’s life.”

“This is not going to end how you want it to,” he said, strapping his leg on. “I can attest to that.”

“Then help me. The two of us together can fix this.”

Jember chuckled bitterly. “You’ve always been unrealistically optimistic. You certainly didn’t get that from me.” He took off his amulet and held it out to me. “You want to act like an idiot and go against a hyena? You’ll need better protection.”

Neck pain might be an issue if I wore his heavy chain for too long. But this was the same amulet he’d used to face the Evil Eye before. This was the only help he would offer me, and it was all I needed. I could deal with a little aching.

I hesitated before reaching for it. He held it out of my grasp, his eyebrows raised.