Heart Fortune (Celta)

by Robin D. Owens

  “Interesting woman,” Andic said. “I heard she’s connected to the FirstFamilies somehow. Friendship, I think.”

  Jace jerked. That hadn’t been true when he’d first met Glyssa at the middle-class social club, he was sure. Someone would have mentioned it. He didn’t care for nobles much, and like anyone with a bit of sense, would definitely avoid the highest of that lot.

  “Worth cultivating,” Andic said.

  “Hmm.” Now Funa sounded thoughtful.

  And Jace became all too aware of the quickened throb of his pulse, the sweet tang of desire on the back of his tongue that he wanted to satisfy by kissing Glyssa, running his mouth over her body.

  Unlike the other two, he didn’t want to get mixed up with Glyssa. At least that’s what his brain thought. His body was another matter. He let a sigh sift quietly out his nostrils. The odds of him being able to keep his hands off Glyssa Licorice were damn low. He wasn’t much on resisting temptation.

  Glyssa could feel Jace’s—and others’—gaze on her as she walked to the items stacked in a neat pile: the picnic hamper, Lepid’s basket, her large pursenal, and a giant duffle bag. The last was provided by Laev, her Family wouldn’t have had the coat of arms put on the thing. She wasn’t sure what all was in the bag. She touched the coat of arms, activating the anti-grav Flair spell. The duffle rose waist high.

  Lepid jumped from her shoulder to the bag. It didn’t even rock under his weight. She ran her finger under his collar. “This didn’t catch on anything when you were underground?”

  No. I found a secret way into the ship. I am a HERO.

  She tapped his nose. “You scared me. And we must sync your collar synced to the medical clinic here. Especially if you can’t be trusted to stay with me.”

  One of the owners of the project, Raz Cherry T’Elecampane, joined them, aiming a charming smile at them. “He’ll be fine.” Raz’s smile widened. “Especially since my lady has a FoxFam, Shunuck, who will help you keep an eye on him.”

  Lepid’s eyes rounded. Another FoxFam!

  “That’s right.” Raz rubbed Lepid’s head, tweaked his large ears. “My daughter and I have cat Fams. I assure you that they will also keep Lepid in line.” He met Glyssa’s eyes. “We’ve cleared an area near our pavilion to set up your own.”

  A pavilion! Did she have a pavilion? “Thank you.” How close was it to Jace’s? She still had to control her breath from the first sight of him, how he’d appeared more vivid than anyone else. Her heart still beat fast. Everything in her yearned for him . . . just to be in his company. But his eyes had been wary when they’d rested on her and she’d kept a mask on.

  Raz T’Elecampane stared at her, raised a brow. She yanked her attention back to him.

  He waved at the ship where his HeartMate stood with the pilot and some workers, uncrating the communications equipment.

  “You have any ideas how that stuff goes together or works?”

  “Oh!” Glyssa flushed. She bent down to her large pursenal and drew out a portfolio of papyrus along with a pack of recording spheres. “I’m sorry. Here are the specifications and the instructions.”

  Raz Elecampane gingerly took the objects, smiled her apology away. “I won’t be handling this. I’m the people person.”

  She believed that, the man’s charisma was palpable. He’d been a leading actor in Druida and at his own theater outside the city for years. She and her friends had taken turns with infatuations with him after seeing him perform when they were younger.

  “Del!” he called. “I have the data!”

  His HeartMate and wife looked up, strolled over with a long-legged stride that showed she’d walked the world. She nodded her curly and bright blond head to Glyssa, stuck out a hardened hand that Glyssa shook. “Greetyou, GrandMistrys Licorice. Good to have you here.” She cocked a brow at Raz. “My HeartMate has been agitating for a better detailed record of the project.” Del shrugged strong shoulders. “But I prefer to hire and pay excavators.”

  “Laev T’Hawthorn and Camellia D’Hawthorn are handling my salary,” Glyssa said.

  Del’s mouth tightened. Raz frowned.

  Del said, “We’ve tried to keep the FirstFamilies out of the project.” She arrowed a look at Glyssa. “Especially Laev T’Hawthorn, that one is a pistol.”

  Raz took his HeartMate’s arm. “We prefer to control the excavation of the ship,” Raz said smoothly. They began walking from the landing field to the tent city organized into rows with one large red and yellow pavilion.

  Glyssa nodded. “I can understand being wary of Laev. My best friend, Camellia Darjeeling, was sucked into his orbit a few months ago and suddenly here I am.”

  They laughed at that.

  “Not that I don’t have a burning curiosity.” She glanced at the huge outline on the ground, under which they believed Lugh’s Spear rested.

  “I’ve heard your curiosity is as hot as your hair,” Raz teased.

  He was one to talk, his own hair was auburn.

  I am red, too, Lepid said, looking at them. And I am a hero. I opened up a new room and a hallway.

  They all stared at him.

  “‘Fools rush in,’” Raz murmured as if quoting, though Glyssa didn’t recognize the words or the source.

  “What did you see down there, fox?” asked Del.

  BOXES! And a room! And a hallway!

  “Boxes,” Glyssa breathed, sharing a glance with Raz and Del.

  Del took work gloves from her belt and slapped them on her thigh. “I’d better order some security around the hole. And we’ll move the work there?” she asked her HeartMate.

  “Absolutely,” Raz said.

  Lepid gave one more yip, danced the few steps along the duffle, then curled up and dropped into sleep.

  “Young ones,” Del said indulgently. She aimed her gaze at the hole. “You said you’re friends with Camellia Darjeeling?” she asked Glyssa.

  “Since grovestudy days.”

  “Huh. Camellia Darjeeling, who’s now D’Hawthorn, helped us with the general blueprints,” Del said.

  “More.” Glyssa angled her pursenal. “Camellia has finally parted with copies of the last Captain’s, Netra Sunaya Hoku’s, journals.”

  Raz and Del came to a stop, both staring at Glyssa. “You have them in there?” Del asked.

  “Yes.”

  Del eyed her. “You might be worthwhile after all.”

  Raz bumped his HeartMate with his hip. “Helena D’Elecampane!”

  “Thank you,” Glyssa said. “I am humbled by your opinion. I will endeavor to live up to it.” She dug into her bag and handed over copies of the original journals for the Elecampanes. She had a set of her own.

  “Not much here,” Del grumbled.

  “The last Captain was awakened from the cryonics tubes to pilot the ship down. The journals provide great insights into the last days of the journey, the ship life—rather militaristic—and the previous Captain.” Glyssa cleared her throat. “And as your own ancestor, the original D’Cherry, stated in her own diaries, Hoku was fond of maps.”

  Del stared at the papyrus, then glanced back toward the communications equipment. Sighing, she gestured to Raz to take the journals. “You look through the journals. Get Maxima, our daughter,” she explained to Glyssa, gesturing to a small band of people in the distance, “in on it, too.” She scanned Glyssa. “Hmmm. How’d you like an assistant? Maxima is interested in history and stuff.”

  “Sounds good,” Glyssa lied.

  After a sharp nod, Del walked back to the airship.

  “We hadn’t anticipated that the communications equipment would be so large. Larger than the space we’d dedicated for it.” Raz shrugged. “Del will handle it.”

  “I’m sure,” Glyssa said, falling into the easy pace he set as they moved toward the largest personal pavilion—not quite as large as what she reasoned was the mess tent farther down the large main pathway. “Del seems eminently efficient.”

  “Yes, and she’s taken ove
r the technical side of things, though she does love her maps.”

  “Her maps and charts are prized by the librarians,” Glyssa offered.

  “She’ll never give up her cartographic career, though it is not as important to her—to us—as this project right now.” Raz lit with an inner fire that Glyssa thought was all sincerity, no actor’s show. “Imagine, uncovering the last starship! The wonders within, the knowledge we will discover about Earth and our ancestors.” He pulled his mind from whatever visions spun in that creative head of his and gave himself a shake, aimed another charismatic smile at her. “And most of our team believe as we do, are as fascinated by the project as we are. One of the factors we considered when hiring, for instance, Jace Bayrum.” Raz’s eyes twinkled. He was an observant people person, all right.

  They’d reached the Elecampane’s pavilion and Raz moved toward an open area a couple of meters away. “This is your spot. We’ll talk later,” he said with a quick grin that was even more charming because it seemed more sincere. “About Captain Hoku, your duties, the excavation, the communications equipment. Everything.”

  “Thank you for this opportunity,” Glyssa said. Weariness from her restless night before, the trip, the dazzling first sight of Jace, and the scare by Lepid began to weigh down on her.

  “You’re welcome,” Raz said. “I think we will all work well together.” He took her hand and bowed over it with the most grace she’d ever experienced, including Laev who’d been drilled in FirstFamilies etiquette. When Raz straightened, he said, “Jace Bayrum is one of us, a believer in our quest.” Raz paused. “However, I do not think Andic Sanicle or Funa Twinevine have that in common with us.”

  A delicate warning. Glyssa nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Midafternoon tea will be served in a few minutes, feel free to join us in the dining tent.” With a last wave, he loped to his pavilion and disappeared, leaving Glyssa staring at a large area of cleared ground.

  She stiffened her spine, not letting herself droop. The sun beat down on her, hot and affirming that she and her loved ones were alive—but also adding sticky sweat to her weariness. There weren’t as many trees as she’d expected . . . cleared for the excavation, a wide meadow turned into a camp, surrounded by green and cool forests. She’d seen that as they landed, the width of the wide land between Fish Story Lake and the Deep Blue Sea.

  With a touch on her duffle, she lowered it to the ground. Then she bent over and lifted Lepid, moving him to some cushy-looking ground cover she couldn’t identify. Not many Earthan-Celtan hybrids here, she didn’t think. Her own FamFox wriggled around a little, releasing a pleasant herbal tang into the air from his bedding, snuffled, but didn’t wake. Good.

  Eyeing the duffle, she figured out the opening mechanism was a simple slip-tab spell and ran her finger down the seam, saying a soft spellword. The bag yawned wide and showed a lot of unfamiliar items. Taking up a third of the area was a small no-time food storage unit. Glyssa stared. Her own personal no-time. She’d bet the last silver sliver of her salary that it was fully stocked. Amazing.

  She took out the top object, four round sticks about the length of her hand with a wrapping of gossamer material. Heavy Flair spells clung to the thing, but she had no idea what it was or what to do with it.

  More than the sun made her hot. She knew people were watching and the flush of embarrassment and irritation rose to her skin. Her cheeks must be red. She fought back tired, cranky, feeling-stupid tears.

  Her HeartMate wanted to pretend they were strangers.

  Six

  Jace accepted claps on his shoulder and congratulations at saving the fox—and intense looks of envy that he’d been down again into the ship. Then Del Elecampane crisply asked for volunteers and people left him for the new communications equipment or for their own business.

  His gaze went to Glyssa again and he saw Raz T’Elecampane walk away from her.

  Jace was torn. He wanted to see—and put his hands on—the new equipment. But he also wanted to spend a little time with—and put his hands on, a lot—Glyssa Licorice.

  And, yeah, he’d like to see what was in that duffle from Outside Outfitters, probably the latest in camping equipment. With his usual curiosity, he wondered what that looked like. Maybe he needed to know—a good rationalization.

  Emotions churned inside him, aided by the dump of adrenaline in chasing the fox down to the corridor of Lugh’s Spear, the discovery of the rooms, the near loss of the fox and the triumphant return. Maybe that’s why his pulse surged when he’d seen her.

  He wasn’t quite sure what he felt about her being here. Resentment that she’d shown up as if she were following him? Couldn’t be. She hadn’t appeared last year. Though he—they?—had been having those sex dreams.

  Eh, he didn’t want to think of his emotions, he’d figure them out later. His gaze was drawn to her, probably something that would happen often since her hair shone red and coppery in the sun.

  When she stared flushed and furious at the small package she held, shaking the compacted pavilion in her hands, he sauntered over. She sure did smell good.

  “Can I help?” he asked.

  She scowled at him, her prettily arched cinnamon brows wrenched down. Her lips flattened—they looked so much nicer when she smiled—before she said primly, “Yes, please.” She angled her head as if she suspected he was laughing at her.

  He kept his smug smile from showing and held out his hand.

  He must not have been as expressionless as he’d thought since she smacked the sticks and the thin gauze into his palm.

  “Not done much outside living?” he asked, unrolling the gauze from the Flaired set-up sticks. Such compact equipment. Nice.

  “No,” she said.

  “This is your pavilion.” He bent down and tapped one stick into the hard ground with an anchor spell.

  “That!”

  She sounded so disbelieving he glanced up at her with a smile. “You need to get out of your library more often, Red.”

  She sniffed, tapped her foot, then crouched down beside him. “Tell me how to help, and how it works.”

  “We’ve got curiosity in common,” he said, rising and unrolling the line of gauze to the next stick. A lot of gauze, a huge pavilion.

  “Yes.” She followed him, and smiled. The tension line between her brows released. Maybe she liked looking at him as much as he liked looking at her.

  “This is a Flaired pavilion, built mostly of magic.”

  “Hmmm.”

  “You noticed how much Flair it contained?”

  “Oh, yes, my hands tingled.”

  “I’d say the spell is funded for at least a year.”

  “A year!”

  He cocked a brow at her. “Someone wanted to make sure it didn’t fail. Good security spells, too, so you’ll be safe. Someone imbued it with a lot of power.” He took the next stick from her and tapped it down.

  “That would be GreatLord Laev T’Hawthorn,” she said. Jace scowled at the idea of another man doing so much for her—until he saw her staring at his backside.

  “GreatLord T’Hawthorn?” Jace prompted. This had to be her FirstFamily noble connection, and what a connection—with one of the richest men on the planet.

  “Um,” she said, then smiled shyly at him, palm out for the third stick. “Can I unroll it?”

  “Sure. You call him Laev?” Jace couldn’t let the mention of another man stand as it was.

  She began to unroll the gauze on the ground, stopped every few steps to make sure it was perfectly straight. Looked like the pavilion was a boring rectangle to Jace. He’d have gone for an octagon or something.

  “Laev is one of my best friend’s husband and HeartMate,” she said. She bent down to move a rock out of the way of the gauze. “Camellia Darjeeling.” Again Glyssa smiled. “More like a sister to me.”

  He finally recognized the name in connection with Glyssa. When he and Glyssa had spent that long weekend together, they hadn’t talked much. But s
he had mentioned her friends, like now. He’d forgotten their names.

  He recalled that he and Glyssa had just had sex and ate and slept a little and had sex again. No. Don’t think of that. Don’t think of this nice large pavilion that must include a private bedroom, or what kind of bedsponge she might have.

  She was taking twice the time to run the line of gauze than he had. Usually he’d get impatient, and was a bit surprised that he wasn’t. He enjoyed her company, just being with her, not quite soothing, but she didn’t irritate him with excessive energy, either. They seemed to match.

  She stopped. “Did we put the door on the south? I don’t like a south-facing door. I prefer an east-facing door. I like morning sunlight.”

  Jace grit his teeth as he stared at the lines they’d run. He knew enough about Flaired gauze to understand it had to be handled carefully. Even top-of-the-pyramid stuff, like this.

  “If you set the door to the east, you’ll face the Elecampane’s tent and not the main path through the camp,” he said.

  Her chin set stubbornly.

  He gestured to the gauze. “And working with that stuff, winding and unwinding, can get messy. One of the reasons the Elecampanes went with old-fashioned Flaired-canvas.”

  She pouted. “Oh.” But she didn’t go on unrolling the line, just looked at what they’d laid out.

  Jace suppressed the urge to walk away and let her deal with the setup on her own. “I don’t know about the latest in these sorts of pavilions, but I heard that the best have an option to determine windows as needed.”

  “Oh!” She brightened, sighed a little, then shook her head. “Laev bought all the gear. We Licorices do not believe in spending such gilt on our persons.”

  Her Family had been nobles since the second generation of colonists, they must have money, and they didn’t use it to make their lives more comfortable? Jace’s brows rose but he kept his mouth shut.

  Glyssa looked toward her duffle that must contain wonderful stuff. “There should be instructions in there on how to make windows.”

  “I can help you with that,” Jace said.

  She nodded and began her slow, picky, progress again. He heard shouts of satisfaction from the area set aside for the new communications instruments—what looked like a series of small, thin wire grids. “Rumors have it that we will be testing a new communications system.”