Bride Of The Dragon (7 page)

“So that’s what you did on the very day you were to be engaged to me? Way to keep it classy, Pandora.”

“He’s
not
my boyfriend! If you know what tattoo is on his thigh, well then…then you must have been having sex with him!” Pandora said furiously to Kelly.

People around them were snickering behind their hands, and Pandora’s father looked as if he were about to explode.

“Are you serious?” Kelly scoffed. “I flew in from Seattle on the morning of the fair, checked into my hotel, and went straight to the fairgrounds. And I’ve never even been in the Tri-Valley area before. All of that’s easy to prove. So what’s more likely – that you were banging a local guy, or that I was?”

“She still broke into the trailer,” Pandora’s father said desperately to Principe Teague. “Breaking and entering is illegal. Arrest her.”

“All I did was bring her and her boyfriend more beer,” Kelly said. “They let me in.” Also true. Mostly. They had let her in.

“I need to talk to the people who own the trailer. That’s the fair committee,” Teague said unhappily, shaking his head. “I have to find out if they want to press charges. And do you want any more publicity about this than you’ve already gotten?” He glanced around at the crowd.

“Fine, take her side,” Pandora’s father muttered angrily.

Tears of rage and humiliation glistened in Pandora’s eyes. “I will get you for this,” she swore. “I will destroy you both.” And she and her family stormed off.

Principe Teague looked at Gabriel. “I suppose you think you’ve gotten away with something,” he said angrily. “Your luck won’t hold forever.”

And he walked away.

La Dolce Vita was a popular Italian restaurant in South Lyndvale. Gabriel and Kelly sat at a table at the back, but the eatery was packed, and a steady stream of people stopped by their table, offering their congratulations and asking when the wedding would be held. Apparently Gabriel and his family were well liked in the valley, even though they were criminals. Kelly wasn’t really surprised; they were the most charming bunch of thieves she’d ever met.

“Did you deliver all your drugs?” Kelly asked Gabriel, digging into her fettucine Alfredo.

“Yes, thanks, heroin sales are up but crack seems to be on the decline.” Gabriel ate an entire steak in half a dozen bites. Dragons were known for their huge appetites; they needed a lot of fuel for their flames.

“Are you going to tell me what was really in the bag?”

He ignored her and kept eating.

“So,” he said when he finally slowed down, “What did you mean about Marvin?”

“Well. He was in my class at the Gemological Institute for Empaths.”

“And?”

Kelly hesitated. She didn’t like bad-mouthing people, but the problem was, an incompetent gem empath could cause a lot of harm.

“It’s just…his powers are very, very weak. Barely enough to register. He was okay with the really powerful gems, but he couldn’t even detect the less powerful gems. And some of those gems could do a lot of harm in the wrong hands. He shouldn’t have gotten his certificate as a gem empath, but he was having an affair with one of his male, married professors, and that was the professor who tested our abilities.”

“So how did
your
abilities rank?”

Off the charts. Too high to measure.
“Pretty good,” she said modestly.

“You’re a lousy liar.”

She smiled sweetly. “Actually, I’m a pretty good liar. That’s why I manage to finagle my way into so many places that I shouldn’t be, and close so many cases.”

He smiled at her. “Then maybe it’s our deep psychic connection that allows me to tell when you’re trying to pull the wool over my eyes.”

She made a scoffing noise. “Or the voices in your head.”

“Anyway, back to Marvin,” Gabriel said. “He came with a glowing recommendation from his professor…I imagine that would be the guy he had the affair with.” He frowned. “So you’re saying that his skills are weak.”

“Yes. I wanted to see if he’d missed anything, so I looked closely at some of your pieces, and I already found a couple that need a closer look.” She named the gems that she’d handled, including the ones that healed and the ones that increased aggression.

“I’ll have those pulled from the floor immediately,” Gabriel said. “And I’ll see about finding a way to double-check our inventory.”

Like bringing in another empath? That would be the only way. “Just don’t tell me about it,” Kelly said. “I’m here to find one particular big red rock. Other than that, I don’t want to know about any other highly questionable activities you’re taking part in.”

Later that afternoon, back at the castle, Kelly went to her room to check her emails and update the agency on her progress – or lack thereof. Gabriel was off somewhere else, doing God knew what – he claimed he was in his office doing paperwork, but for all Kelly knew, he could be off boosting the Hope Diamond. That seemed more likely than the paperwork scenario.

The door to Kelly’s room swung open, and Evangeline strode in. She still had that sullen “woe is me” look stamped on her face. Kelly barely resisted the urge to say, “Careful, your face will freeze that way.” Instead, she shut her laptop, swiveled away from her desk, and said, “Hey, Evangeline, what’s up?”

“Why do you want to arrest my uncle? Is it because you think he stole the Dragonsblood?” Evangeline demanded.

“He told you that?” Kelly said, startled.

“Of course not,” Evangeline said, her tone bitter. “Nobody tells me anything around here. All they do is lie to me.”

“About what?”

Evangeline shrugged. “How would I even know, since they’re lying?”

“Yeah, I know how you feel.”

“‘I know you feel’”, Evangeline mimicked. “Everybody always says that.”

Now Kelly was starting to get annoyed. “Listen up,” she snapped. “I didn’t ask you to come in here with your pissy attitude. Yes, I said pissy,” she continued when Evangeline’s eyes widened in surprise. “My father was the president of an investment firm, and he was also a thief who stole millions from the firm, and when the police started investigating it, everybody lied to me about it for months. All these whispers and tiptoeing around, and my father had disappeared, and I had to find out by seeing it on the evening news when a warrant was issued for his arrest. My friends stopped being my friends and started putting bags of dog crap in my locker at school. So yes, I do know how you feel. But I didn’t go around taking out my problems on everybody else. Get over yourself.”

Evangeline’s eyes opened even wider, and Kelly shook her head, leaning back in her chair.

“Sorry,” she sighed. She shouldn’t be yelling at a teenager. Or swearing at her, although she was sure Evangeline heard far worse on whatever TV shows she watched and websites she visited.

“No, you’re right,” Evangeline said quietly. “I shouldn’t be mean to you. None of this is your fault. It’s Uncle Calder’s fault.”

“Calder?” Kelly said in surprise. “What did he do?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you.” She glanced at Kelly. “The Dragonsblood Ruby has powers. What does it do?”

“I wouldn’t be able to tell you that unless I handled it.”

“But it does have powers.” Evangeline was watching her carefully.

“It is rumored to be an extremely powerful jewel, but it’s never been examined by a professional empath,” she said. “The family who owns it purchased it for its beauty, not its abilities. I wouldn’t know if the rumors are true without touching it.”

The fact that Evangeline was asking her about it made Kelly think that it was somewhere on the premises.

“How can you tell when a jewel has powers? Just in general?” Evangeline asked. “Can you feel it, like it’s something that’s alive?”

As she spoke, she stroked her bracelet, which had round lozenges of rose quartz set in gold. It was a gem that was called the “mothering stone”; mothers imbued it with their love and gave it to their children so they would always feel that love.

Kelly tried to remember if she’d ever seen Evangeline’s mother. Was she dead? That might explain a lot of Evangeline’s attitude.

“Dragons aren’t able to be gem empaths, I’m afraid,” Kelly said. At least, she’d never heard of such a thing, and she was an expert in the field; she was pretty sure she’d know.

“But what does it feel like?” Evangeline persisted.

“Different gems have different powers and properties – just like different metals have different types of conductivity. Gems have their own energy. In their own way, they’re a kind of living being. I can communicate with some of them. Some of them, I can even tell them what to do.”

“How?”

Well, that particular knowledge wasn’t a secret; Evangeline could find that out herself online. “I hold the jewel close to me and I let my energy mingle with it. Once I understand the gem’s powers, I concentrate really hard and I visualize what I want the jewel to do.”

Evangeline shrugged, looking out the window into the distance. “Interesting,” she said finally, and then shrugged again and glanced back at Kelly. “Thanks,” she said flatly, and left the room. Kelly was left with an uneasy feeling about the conversation, and she debated telling Gabriel about it, but finally decided not to for the time being.

The door opened again, and this time it was Tabitha.

“We’re going shopping,” she announced. “I have an appointment for you to be fitted at Birdie’s Bridal Creations.”

Kelly stood up. What the heck – she’d play along with the insanity. And maybe she could get Tabitha to slip up and reveal where the ruby was.

“Who’s we?” she said. “Should I go get my sister?”

“That wet blanket?” Tabitha snorted. “Certainly not. Anyway, she’s busy trying to search the castle without us noticing, and making Winthrop’s hair go gray. That’s fine with me. Keeps her from ruining our fun.”

Kelly shrugged and followed Tabitha downstairs. Gabriel met them at the front door, looking thoroughly rattled. His hair was mussed and he was out of breath, as if he’d just run at top speed to intercept them.

“So, we’re going shopping?” he said, moving to block their exit.

“You’re not invited,” Tabitha informed him loftily.

“Mother.” He gave her a severe look, brows drawn together. “Of course I’m coming.”

“Oh no,” Kelly said, with a malicious smile. She was enjoying seeing the normally unflappable Gabriel looking thoroughly rattled for once. “I simply must take this opportunity to get to know my new mother-in-law better.”

Gabriel fixed his mother with a ferocious glare. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Tell you what,” Kelly said to Gabriel. “Tell me where the Dragonsblood is, and you can come with us.”

“Pretty sure he hid it in his underwear drawer. Didn’t you, darling?” His mother winked at him, and he stifled a laugh, which was quickly replaced with a scowl.

“You’re a natural comedienne, mother.” Gabriel threw his arm around her shoulders and marched her off, none too gently. He leaned in and whispered something in her ear, and his mother just shook her head and looked sweet and innocent.

Riiiight.

Then his mother shook her head, pulled away, and walked back over to Kelly.

“Ready?” she said brightly.

“See you later, dear. Don’t wait up!” Tabitha called out.

Gabriel paced around the lawn behind the castle and tried not to think about what his mother might be telling Kelly as they shopped.

He knew his mother’s mischievous streak – hell, he’d inherited it from her – but he also knew that she’d taken an instant liking to Kelly.

So, as he’d pointed out to his mother before she left, it would be a
really
bad idea if she recounted any anecdotes about him when he was a cute little dragonling – like, say, when he’d flown over the car of the human teacher who’d given him a failing grade in second grade math and maybe, possibly, pooped on the car. From a hundred feet in the air.

That kind of thing, he’d reminded his mother, would not be likely to endear him to Kelly.

His mother had just smiled wickedly and promised that she would say nothing but good things about him to his future bride. Then she’d winked at him. The bitch. He was ninety-nine percent sure that his mother was just making him nervous for the fun of it and she wouldn’t really do anything, but that other one percent…

“Not sure which one of them looks more miserable.” His father’s voice made him jump. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed his approach.

“What?” he asked, startled. “Who looks miserable?”

His father inclined his head.

Teresa was stalking along a garden pathway, talking angrily into her cell phone. Winthrop was following about ten feet behind her with a determined look on his face. When she slowed, he slowed. When she sped up, he sped up.

“That was a stroke of genius, assigning him to be the one to watch her,” Emerson observed. “Or truly inspired evil. Which was it?”

“Perhaps a little of both,” Gabriel said sourly. “He could quit, after all.”

“But he won’t.” Winthrop was bound by tradition. More than a century ago, in England, one of Gabriel’s ancestors had saved the life of Winthrop’s great-great grandfather. Ever since then, the oldest male Higginbotham – Winthrop’s last name – out of a sense of duty, had insisted on serving as a valet for Gabriel’s family until such time as they married. They were all like Winthrop – prim, proper, disapproving, a terrible fit for a family like the Kingsleys. And it seemed to be impossible to get rid of them.

Emerson glanced at his son. “Kelly seems like a decent sort. Do you think she’d help us, if…?”

Gabriel shook his head. “No. She’s got a very strong moral sense. If she knew, I’m not sure what she’d do, and it’s too great a risk.” His gaze involuntarily flicked towards the rear tower, and then he looked at his father, whose expression had gone wistful.

“It’s not your fault,” Gabriel said to his father for the thousandth time. “You couldn’t have known.”

His father managed a pained smile, but he avoided Gabriel’s gaze. Emerson tried to maintain a cheerful demeanor, but every year that went by without a solution to their dilemma, he grew glummer and glummer.

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.

It was Kelly.

“Gabriel, are you busy?” Her voice sounded hollow and echoey.

“Where are you?” he demanded. Had Principe Teague gone after her again? He’d had it with that officious son of a bitch. He’d sky-challenge him and fry him to a crisp if he so much as looked at Kelly the wrong way.

“I’m in the bathroom stall at the wedding dress shop.”

He felt a stab of annoyance. “Oh God, what did my mother do?”

“She pocketed several hair bows. I don’t even know why – they wouldn’t be worth that much,” Kelly said. “And when we were at the coffee shop, she slipped a coffee mug into her purse. I know you’ll find that hard to believe, but—”

“Kelly, I know,” he said. “That’s just something my mother does. I’m surprised you spotted it, actually. She’s pretty smooth.”
Lots of practice
.

Kelly actually gave a rueful chuckle. “Not like I’m an insurance investigator, so I’m always on the lookout for suspicious activity. And not like I’m watching your entire family’s every move with deep suspicion or anything.”

“Right,” he said with a sigh. “The bag of packages that I had the other day… When my mother comes home from shopping, I go through her bags, take everything that still has price tags on it, and I return it. If I miss anything, the shopkeepers call me and let me know. Everyone in town knows about it. It’s just, you know…her thing.”

“Oh, well. My mother’s thing is insulting everyone and pitting her daughters against each other, so who am I to judge?” Kelly said. “Sounds like you have the situation under control. I’ll see you back at the castle, then.”

Gabriel felt an odd knot of tension uncoil inside him, a knot he hadn’t even noticed was there. He and his family did their best to keep their eyes on Tabitha. The problem was, the entire family had grown up stealing. They’d practiced since they were young, and it was in their blood. Ten years ago, they’d been forced to give it up, except for the desperate search for the one kind of jewel that would undo the terrible thing they’d done. They no longer stole for profit; they only stole when they received word of a power jewel that they weren’t able to get their claws on legally.

For the most part, they’d been successful in turning their lives around – except for Tabitha. She was climbing the walls not being able to steal. Her minor shoplifting excursions were her way of blowing off steam.

“Let me guess. Kelly busted Tabitha shoplifting?” Emerson asked.

“Of course.”

“That’s my wife, all right,” Emerson chuckled fondly, shaking his head.

* * * * *

The next morning, Kelly took Teresa out back and they strode through the rose gardens, pretending not to look at the south tower. The tower was at the rear of the castle, tucked away almost out of sight. Winthrop stood fifty feet away from them so they could have a private conversation, but he was still watching them like a hawk. A morose, disapproving hawk.

After her wedding dress expedition, Kelly had locked herself away in her room to do internet research. She’d even managed to resist the temptation of spending another night with Gabriel, which meant she’d tossed and turned all night and woken up exhausted and cranky. She was determined not to give in to his charms again, though. The man should come with a warning label; too much time with him was habit-forming, and liable to cause withdrawal symptoms.

“How’d your wedding dress shopping go yesterday?” Teresa sneered.

Kelly raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “Lovely, thanks. It’s nice to be around a mother who isn’t insulting me, even if it’s not my own mother.”

Teresa snorted. “Traitor.”

“Shouldn’t you be back home in Seattle with Chiclet-Teeth? Vlad or Brad or whatever the hell his name is? I’m sure he misses you.”

“You know his name is Chad,” Teresa said huffily, “And yes, I should. But I’m not letting you stay here and hog all the glory.
I’m
going to be the one to find the Dragonsblood.”

Kelly shook her head. “Whatever. I really don’t care which one of us finds it. Anyway, I brought you out here for a reason, and believe me, it wasn’t the pleasure of your company. Look up at the south tower, but be subtle. Don’t let Winthrop see that you’re doing it. Do you notice anything odd?”

Teresa pretended to run her hands through her hair, tipping her head back as she did so. Then she glanced at Kelly, raising an eyebrow.

“There don’t seem to be any windows on the higher levels,” she said. “The other towers all have windows.”

Kelly nodded. “Exactly. And so far, I’ve noticed that Gabriel has been keeping me away from that tower. And it’s located at the back of the castle, kind of tucked away. If they’re keeping the Bloodstone on the grounds, I think it’s in there.”

Teresa grabbed her cell phone – Gabriel had replaced her phone right after he’d broken it, true to his word – and stalked off, quickly dialing, with a look of glee on her face.

Kelly knew who she was dialing, and why.

“Teresa, wait!” she called, and hurried after her.

Teresa flashed her a smirk. “Hello, mother,” she said into the cell phone. She was nothing if not predictable.

“I figured out that the jewel is probably in the south tower. It’s tucked away in the back and all the windows are blocked off,” she said triumphantly.

Kelly could hear their mother’s shrill, sharp voice. “That’s it? Kelly already figured that out and she told me about it an hour ago. But then, she always was the smarter of you two. Maybe someday you’ll be as good as her, but I doubt it.”

“Well, excuse me for trying to keep you updated,” Teresa said, her eyes filling with tears. “Maybe if Kelly wasn’t trying to work the case by herself and shutting me out, we’d have found the jewel by now.”

“You’ve never closed a single case by yourself. It’s a good thing you’ll be respectably married soon, so you won’t have to keep working in a career you’re obviously not suited to.”

“But…I wasn’t going to quit after I got married…” But Teresa was speaking to dead air; their mother had hung up on her.

“I tried to warn you,” Kelly said, feeling a stab of sympathy as Teresa angrily wiped away tears with the back of her hand.

“You are a disgusting butt-kisser and I hate you!” Teresa shrieked, and stormed off.

Winthrop trailed after her with a heavy sigh.

Teresa spun around to face him and stamped her foot, fists clenched. She looked like a toddler trapped in adult’s body.

“Do you know what it’s like having an employer who’s a complete nightmare and who never appreciates you?” Teresa wailed.

“Yes, in fact.” Winthrop nodded glumly.