Waylon scoffed. I would have to take the chance. I started with one of the boxes he’d used to hem in his relaxation area, ripping off the tape and rifling through. Paperwork for accounts, connected to a business I’d never heard of before in my life. All in the common tongue, so no spell. The next box was more of the same, yellowed and moth-eaten pages partially disintegrating when I touched them no matter how careful I was.
When I moved farther away from him and opened a third box, a spider stared up at me from the mess of items, an intricate web constructed inside. I swallowed my scream and closed the box, listening to Waylon snicker. He was such a little shit.
The fourth box was also full of items, but luckily no spider. Pulling out everything piece by piece, I sorted through it. An old set of kitchen spoons. Some pieces of metal with an indeterminable purpose. A jeweled and rusted knife that I carefully placed away from the pixie. I didn’t want him getting any ideas. At the bottom of the box, a soft black velvet case in immaculate condition was screaming to be picked up. It looked like it held jewellery.
There was a tiny lock holding the case closed, but I made quick work of it with a spell and it clicked open. When I peeled the top up, gaze fixed on the interior and praying to the goddess there were no spiders, I couldn’t stifle my gasp.
Waylon was by my side in an instant, peering around me and into the box. His jaw dropped along with mine. “Those are some goddamn jewels.”
He was right. Sitting perfectly in the box was a golden necklace, the condition as pristine as if it had been cleaned every day. Hanging from the gold chain was a secondary chain, draped with tiny diamonds shining so brightly they had to be real. The main attraction of the necklace was the teardrop shaped diamond charm hanging from the centre. Beside the necklace were teardrop earrings that matched the charm, and two double-strand bracelets to wear on each wrist.
The beauty and the sheer value of the jewellery set wasn’t what had me shocked, though.
This set was identical to the jewellery my great-grandmother wore in every picture we had of her. My parents had always sighed about it being one of a kind, but somehow lost to time since no one in the family had it anymore. There was no way this was a coincidence, which meant the discovery of the jewellery had to be a clue.
Waylon picked up the necklace, and I didn’t stop him, observing it from every angle as he turned to hold it up to the light. No numbers were etched into the chains or anything ridiculous. I already didn’t like Uncle Felix much, but I didn’t think I could ever have changed my opinion of him again if he’d defaced a priceless family heirloom. The black casing was also empty of any kind of clue, as were the earrings and bracelets.
I examined every other item in the same box while Waylon tried to get a rise out of me, tugging and pulling at the chain. Why should it bother me when everything would be in unsoiled again in a few hours? There was no reason to be upset at him getting his skin’s oils on jewellery so valuable it should be in a museum…
When he made to put the pendant in his mouth, my hand snapped out and grabbed it. A chastisement was on my lips, but a faint shot of magic rendered me silent. Waylon must not have felt anything, because he was still smirking at me, his fingers holding the necklace like he was a petulant toddler.
I hadn’t thought the set was magical, but when I grazed the knuckles of my other hand along the other pieces of jewellery, I felt the buzz again. They’d been spelled. Maybe the clue to breaking the seal was figuring out how?
My chance to pursue that line of thinking promptly ended when the skin of my ankle pinched painfully, Waylon’s grinning face morphing into an expression of concern when I wobbled and tipped to the side.
Concern, my ass.
Goddamn spider bite.
Chapter 21
Ispentmynextfew cycles trying to find a meaning behind the placement of the jewellery set, but I found absolutely nothing. This was becoming a theme. Red herrings. Clues that weren’t clues. If I got out of here, I was reading more murder mystery novels from now on. Maybe if I learned the common twists, I’d anticipate the next move a little better.
The magic attached to the jewellery wasn’t bringing up anything either. Since it had been in storage for so long, the magical signature was weak. I had no way of knowing if the spell had originally been a protection spell, a long-lasting cleaning charm, or anything in between. I was betting on some kind of protection, since Waylon hadn’t gotten shocked when he touched it. Only I had.
Back in the library, I read every book I could find on bespelled jewels, but found nothing of interest. Not even when I delved into Dex Moran’s book on the matter. Apparently, they were only fanatical about ‘creatures’ and not other fields of study.
I was unsure of where to take my search from here, but by all accounts a spell on how to remove a seal would be in a book. The library was a safe bet.
A time-consuming bet, though. I’d still only looked through a third of the books on the shelves, which grew in size every time I had to look at them. My level of distraction didn’t help either. I’d done too many naughty things with the men in this library, and it was bothering me they didn’t remember. The naughty things or me.
Mainly, I was sad they didn’t remember me in general, which was pathetic. I’d known the deal from the start and had used their lack of memory to my advantage plenty of times. Nothing had changed in our situation except my feelings.
Lost in thought, I ran right into a huge, warm body as I was leaving the library to head downstairs for some lunch. Kirin’s hands reached out to steady me, and I tilted my head back to look into his eyes.
Fuck, he was wearing the glasses. They always reminded me of his submissive side and got my blood pumping.
“Where are you off to in such a rush?” he asked teasingly.
“I’ve got a date with a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal.”
“You’re lucky Felix told you where to find his secret stash. It took us forever to find it.”
I fought back my eye roll. If Felix had told me where his special food was, I would have considered myself lucky too. At least it didn’t take me more than a month to figure out. I imagined my uncle had been sneaking around for years before they realized he had unsanctioned food here.
“Find what you were looking for in the library?” he asked, both of us turning to head downstairs.
Kirin must have been upstairs for a reason, but talking to me clearly interested him more. I wasn’t surprised. This wasKirin.Flirtatious as all hell.
