Despite what he’d told his sisters, he hadn’t trashed the talismans; saving them had been a whim, and maybe that fancy would pay off. They were supposed to be protections from spells and malign spirits. He’d been assured they were real when he’d bought them, but he was a mundane—how could he tell? They might be real; and if they were, they’d help. Lord knew he needed all the help he could get.