by Ashlyn Chase
How the four of them were transported to a raft. How Chloe had accused the little bastards of attempted murder and secured a seaworthy vessel for them. And at last, how any treasure that wasn’t gold coin had been tossed aboard—else the leprechauns could be accused of stealing too.
Conlan listened patiently to the whole thing, until Rory got to the part where they had to sell some of the items in Iceland to survive.
His posture stiffened. “So you sold off our priceless inheritance for lodging, food, and some spendin’ money?”
Rory sighed. “It was necessary. If it helps matters, we held on to what we could.”
“So, where is the rest? In Iceland?”
“Buried deep in a cave.”
Conlan shot to his feet. “How can you be sure it’s still there? What if it’s been discovered? Or washed away by the tide? You said the cave was within sight of the ocean, didn’t you?”
“I did, but it was high tide and dry when we arrived.”
Conlan spat on the ground next to him. “Damn leprechauns.” After a long pause, he finally said, “I’m not sure what I’d have done in the same situation. But I do understand one difference… I have brothers. You had to protect two sisters. Although one of ’em can take care of herself and then some.”
The cousins smiled at each other, since Chloe had just demonstrated the truth of that statement.
“Still, she is me sister and deserves me care and protection.”
Conlan nodded. “I’m fairly sure we can work this out,” he said.
Rory almost sighed in relief, but it was too soon for that. “What did you have in mind?”
“Me brothers and I will go to Iceland and fetch what’s left of the treasure. That way, we’ll be sure nothin’ else is taken, if discovered.”
Rory opened his mouth to protest, but Conlan raised his hand. “Let me finish, Cousin.”
Conlan had given him a chance to tell his whole story, so Rory had to afford him the same respect.
He nodded. “Continue.”
Conlan took his time phrasing what he wanted to say. “You know what’s there. We don’t, and as you witnessed, me brother Aiden isn’t the most trusting soul. Now I propose we bring back the remainder, without retribution for what was lost, and then we divide the remainder equally.”
Rory had to admit to himself that what Conlan proposed might be the only way to end the family feud. Even though he expected that the loss of some items might cause hard feelings.
“Can you guarantee your hotheaded brother will accept the compromise—if I agree to it?”
“You know as well as I do that you can only do so much to control another—but I’ll try to ease his temper.”
“Mayhaps if you remind him you could’ve wound up with nuthin’…”
Conlan scowled. “Sharin’ what belongs to all of us has been too long comin’, and you know it well.”
Rory wanted to say he knew no such thing, but he was afraid a statement like that would escalate the tension and what little peace they were forging would fall apart. Instead, he rose and brushed off his pants. “Let’s go. It’s time to break the news to your brother.”
Chapter 15
Amber sat on her bed, pouting. She really did feel as if she were a child being punished. She’d called out to Bliss and Brandee at least half a dozen times with no answer.
She hoped she hadn’t lost her powers forever. She was just getting used to them and had to admit that air travel without a plane was pretty darn cool. She also enjoyed her new job. Never had her efforts been so satisfying. It was tough to fail, sure, but to succeed as she had… There was nothing like it.
“Oh hell,” she muttered. As much as she wanted to avoid her assigned mentor, she had to talk to someone.
“Euterpe?” she called out.
The muse appeared in front of her. “It’s about time. I wondered how long you were going to suffer before you reached out to me.”
Amber hung her head. “I’m sorry. Have I blown it completely?”
“Oh, you messed up good, but I think you can repair the damage and get back into Gaia’s good graces.”
“How?”
Euterpe sat next to her and took her hand. “You’ve already made a start by asking for my guidance.”
That’s encouraging. She hoped the rest of what she had to do was that simple, but she doubted it.
“First, you must look inside yourself and see where you erred. Then admit what you did wrong and apologize. Wholeheartedly.”
Amber gulped. She wasn’t sure who she had to apologize to, but she had a sinking feeling Euterpe meant to the Goddess of All herself.
“Okaaay…”
“Next, you must promise never to repeat your mistake. You’re new and still learning. I can ask for leniency on that basis this time, but…”
She didn’t have to finish the thought. Amber knew she couldn’t claim ignorance much longer. “I really do feel bad about boasting and showing off. It’s up to Mother Nature to reveal herself to those she chooses. I guess my ego got the better of me.”
Euterpe smiled. “That’s the insight you need. Now you can take responsibility for your actions. How about I leave you alone to think…”
Amber grabbed her hand. “No. Please don’t leave yet.”
Euterpe tipped her head. “What else do you need from me?”
“I don’t know. Reassurance? Will Gaia turn me into a baby and make me start over?”
Euterpe’s brows shot up, then she laughed. “Of course not. What gave you that idea?”
“She did. She even did it for a few seconds to show me that she could.”
Euterpe giggled. “That’s a new one. She usually threatens punishments that would hurt. Look, she needs you, and you’re part of the family. You know too much.” Euterpe winked.
“Not if I go back to being a zygote in some poor woman’s uterus.”
“I see what you mean. Hmmm… I’ve never known her to carry out her threats. Of course, that doesn’t mean she won’t if you keep pissing her off.”
Amber started to bite her nails.
“Oh, relax.” Euterpe wrapped her arm around Amber’s shoulder. “Just do as I advised and you’ll be fine. The only reason she’d carry out a threat like that is if you defy her and become a total liability. I don’t think you’d do that.”
“Absolutely not.” Then Amber thought about how easily she’d broken a cardinal rule. “At least, not on purpose.”
“I think you’ve learned your lesson. Let me talk to her.” Euterpe stood and this time Amber let her go.
* * *
Rory was fortunate that the peace between himself, his siblings, and his cousins seemed like it would hold. At least long enough to get the remaining family treasures out of Iceland and divide them.
Now he had to meet with the leprechauns and be sure this whole thing wouldn’t happen again. Early in the morning, while everyone else slept, he wandered over the bright-green expanse toward the cliffs.
“Fagan? Lucky?” he called. After waiting an overly long time, he tried again. “Clancy?”
“Ahem.”
A throat cleared behind him and Rory whirled around.
Clancy stood there with his arms crossed. “You called me, dragon?”
“I did.” Rory didn’t know what to do with his hands. If they were on his hips, he’d appear hostile, and that was the last impression he wanted to give. He ended up tucking them into his pockets. “I’d like to speak with all of you.”
“I don’t know if the others will come, but here I be. What do you want?”
“I want you to know I wish to make peace with you. All of you. If we’d taken your gold, I’d have given it back. I wish I knew what happened to it, but I don’t. I hope you know that by now.”
Clancy stared at him. His lips pr
essed together in a thin, stubborn line. At last, he relaxed a bit. “I suppose the accusation was a bit hasty. We never did find any evidence against you.”
“To be sure, because there was none.”
Clancy scratched his head. “I wish I knew what happened to me gold. I’ve been collectin’ it me whole life.”
“I hate to mention this, but Shamus seemed to be pointin’ fingers and accusin’ us more loudly than the rest of you. Could he have taken it and used us to divert attention from hisself?”
Clancy’s brows rose. “Me own brother?”
Rory waited while Clancy mulled that over.
When he didn’t speak for too long, Rory asked, “I always wondered… Are you really brothers? Not that you don’t look similar enough.”
Clancy shook his head. “It’s a term of familiarity rather than family. There be precious few of us in existence and no women I know of, so I doubt there’ll be more.”
“I see. So you’ve come together as a band of brothers would. But without the blood ties, can you be sure the loyalty is there?”
The little man gazed off toward the ocean and remained silent.
Rory shrugged. “’Tis just a thought.”
Clancy nodded but didn’t offer a hint as to which way his mind was leaning.
Rory glanced back toward the cottage, and when he faced the cliff again, Fagan and Lucky stood there too.
“We didn’t want to accuse our brother without evidence,” Fagan said. Fagan again was the only one wearing brown, to show his status as king of the leprechauns. “But we’ve noticed the behavior you mentioned, Rory.”
“Yet you had no problem accusin’ us dragons without evidence.”
They simply shrugged. At last, Fagan said, “It’s our opinion that no matter how painful it be, we need to investigate our own.”
“Has he returned from Boston yet?” Rory asked.
“Not yet.” Fagan kicked the sod. “We’ll have to go fetch him before he hides. He knows somethin’ is amiss.”
“Do you think your mate, Amber, can give us a lift?” Lucky asked.
Rory frowned. “I doubt it. She said she’s in some kind of trouble and can’t leave our apartment right now.”
“Your apartment? So you may be goin’ back?”
Rory let a slow smile spread across his face. “I’d like to bring her here, but if Boston is where she’s meant to be, I will try to keep a foot in each place.”
Lucky smiled. “I’d do the same. She’s a jewel, all right.”
Rory reminded himself of the amber stone his grandmother had given him upon his birth. She’d said he’d know his true love if the color of her eyes matched the stone. Unfortunately, his stone had been lost when he was too young to remember it.
His sisters had smartly hidden theirs away. He’d played with his as if it were a toy.
Amber’s eyes were green with flecks of gold and would have been a match—if the stone was green. He wished he could remember. He’d never risk losing her by playing with her affections like her pilot ex-boyfriend had. “She is indeed.”
“You must be anxious to get back to her,” Fagan said.
“As anxious as we are to get to Shamus,” Clancy added.
“I am,” Rory said.
Fagan smiled slyly. “You know, even with magic it’s hard to cross an ocean.”
Rory tipped his head, wondering why the leprechaun leader looked coy.
“But it isn’t impossible,” Lucky said. “If we all know the exact spot where we’re goin’, we might be able manage it.”
“With all our magic combined,” Clancy said.
“Might?” Rory asked.
Fagan shrugged. “We’ve never tried it with a passenger, but if we drop you in the ocean, we’ll fish you out and try again.”
“Drop me?” He pointed to himself. “You think you can transport me to Boston?”
“Mayhaps,” Fagan said.
“I’m quite heavy.”
“It shouldn’t matter to magic what size you are,” Lucky said.
’Tisn’t very reassuring. Still, he was tempted to let them try. “What about Finn? Since he knows what you are, could you bring him back with you?”
“Mayhaps,” Fagan said.
Knowing how much Finn and Shannon loved and needed each other, he had to consider the offer.
“What do you think, Rory? You’re the elder dragon and prince of the area. Are you ready to take a chance?” Lucky asked.
“I need to talk to me sisters and cousins. If all will be well here…I’ll fly by plane.”
* * *
“You’ll find your crystal ball in the Arish sisters’ apartment,” Chad told Morgaine as the residents from the third floor met in the hall. “And your bread is under their couch cushions,” he said to Gwyneth.
“Bread?” Gwyneth asked. “Why would they want that? Besides, it would be squished flat by now.”
Morgaine chuckled. “I think he means cash, Gwyneth. They called it ‘bread’ in the sixties… The money from your swear jar.” She couldn’t stand the irony anymore and laughed out loud.
“Oh hush. I know it’s funny to y’all, but there’s somethin’ more important not to lose sight of. There’s a thief among us!”
Morgaine wasn’t reacting because Chad had already told her he knew where her precious crystal ball was. He couldn’t stand watching her mope and suffer anymore. Besides, the Arish chicks weren’t even around. It was like hoping for a good catfight with only one cat.
“You have the key to their place, right?” Gwyneth asked the managers.
“Yeah. But they’re not home, and it feels wrong to invade their privacy,” Sly said.
Morgaine opened the door to her own place. “I don’t have a problem with it if Chad’s right and my crystal ball is in there. I want it before it can be hidden again.” She grabbed the skeleton key off a peg in their coat closet.
“Who took it?” Gwyneth asked.
“It was one of the leprechauns, but I never caught his name.”
“We’ll deal with him later,” Morgaine said. “First I want my crystal ball, and then we’ll ward our apartment against intruders—supernatural ones included.”
“Sounds good to me,” Gwyneth said.
They all marched down the stairs, and Morgaine slid the key in the lock. Chad hadn’t prepared them for the fact that a young man was sleeping on the couch. They all startled when he sat up.
“Who are you?”
“Shannon’s…”—he blinked and hesitated—“friend. Is she with you?”
“No,” Sly said.
“Chloe?” he asked and tried to peer around the trio in the doorway.
“We’re the managers. We need you to stand up so we can look under the couch cushions.” Sly advanced into the apartment.
Finn rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Whatever for?” He appeared annoyed now.
“We think there’s money under ’em,” Gwyneth said.
“Is that what managers do now?” Finn asked. “Look for money under the residents’ cushions while they’re away? Are you lookin’ for some kind of tip? Here’s a tip for you. Don’t touch a thing until one o’ the lasses is with you. Otherwise, you’ll have to deal with me.”
Gwyneth sighed. “Just lift the cushions. My money was stolen, and we have reason to believe it’s under your butt.”
Finn rose. “I doubt that highly, and just to prove it…” He flipped over the cushion revealing several dollar bills and a sticky note that read “Gwyneth’s swear jar.”
“Holy mother,” Finn mumbled. “Why would they do such a thing?”
“We don’t think it was them,” Morgaine said.
“It was the lep—” Gwyneth began, then slapped a hand over her own mouth. “I mean…it was the lepers.”
Fi
nn’s eyes rounded.
“Yeah. There’s lepers round these parts, so y’all better scoot home.”
Morgaine and Sly shook their heads as if giving up on Gwyneth’s ability to filter.
Gwyneth shrugged. “What?”
“Damn,” Finn said. “I thought you were goin’ to say it was the leprechauns. Now that I would believe.”
All three of the residents stared at each other with open mouths.
Sly cocked his head. “Leprechauns?”
“Sure’n you believe in leprechauns. They’ve been visitin’ your fair city all week.”
“How…” Morgaine paused. “You know what? I don’t care how you know about them. I just need to find my crystal ball. It’s in here somewhere.” She looked at the ceiling. “Do you know exactly where it is?”
“Who are you talkin’ to?” Finn asked.
“The ghost,” Gwyneth answered before anyone could stop her.
“Spirits?” Finn cried. “The place is haunted?”
“He spends most of his time upstairs,” Gwyneth said, trying to reassure Finn, but that clearly wasn’t helping much.
Finn stared at the spot Morgaine was focusing on, so Chad stepped aside. Sure enough, Finn’s eyes didn’t follow, so the kid couldn’t see him. But now that he knows I’m here and looks scared out of his wits, I can have a little fun with him.
“Chad…” Morgaine said in a warning tone. “I know what you’re thinking. Leave the young man alone.”
“Aww…you never let me have any fun…not that you can stop me either.”
She huffed. “Please, just tell me where my crystal ball is.”
“It’s in an empty shoe box. Top shelf. Bedroom closet.”
“Thank you.”
As Morgaine marched to the bedroom, Finn followed, careful to skirt the spot where he thought the ghost was. It was all Chad could do not to blow a good chill down the human’s neck.
* * *
Amber’s phone rang. She was surprised to hear Rory’s low voice when she answered, although she was happy to hear from him.