Niall held her gaze. “Not without you.”
’Twas true. Just uttering the words restored Niall’s glum mood, just as the deed clearly delighted the lady.
“I knew it!” she cried and smiled for him again. Niall’s heart began to pound. “I’ll teach you to love me,” Viviane pledged as she leaned closer, a tempting smile playing over her full lips. She wrinkled her nose and shook her finger at him playfully. “And it has been said that I can be irresistible.”
Niall’s mouth went dry. Indeed, he believed her claim well enough and could think of several ways to succumb to her charms right here and now, though he fought to keep his expression impassive.
Viviane barely noticed his response, her cheerful manner restored. “This one is a dollar.” She fished out a copper hued coin and handed it to Niall, the brushing of their fingers in the transaction sending a tingle over his flesh. He frowned that she might not guess his response. “They call it a loonie, though I don’t know why.”
Niall turned the coin in his fingers. Viviane spoke with good sense - there was naught about it that resembled the moon. Its color was wrong, too brassy for even a harvest moon and there was a water bird of some kind upon its back.
“And this one is worth two of those,” she separated another from the pile and handed it to him. ’Twas distinctive in that it was wrought of two different metals, one encircling the other in a most skilled fashion. “They call it a toonie.”
Niall glanced up, puzzled, and she shrugged.
“I don’t know why.” She picked through the pile of smaller coins, laying them out in order. “These ones are worth fractions of the loonie or the dollar, whichever you want to call it.”
“Like shillings and pence.”
“Yes, but they divide the dollar into measures of a hundred called cents. So, this is a quarter of a dollar, and this is called a dime and is worth ten cents.”
“Ten to the dollar.”
“Um hmm. And the nickel is five cents and the penny is a single cent. Then there’s the paper money.” She unfurled vellum so brightly hued and embellished that it made Niall gasp. These pictures he could not so readily explain, though it was clear there was real talent in the making of them. The green one labeled ‘20’ even had a square upon it that gleamed like gold held one way, and with the shiny green of a beetle’s back the other.
He could not blame Viviane for calling this magic, though Niall hoped he could prove ’twas otherwise.
“They call it paper,” Viviane confided in an undertone. “Barb says it’s made of wood and they use this paper for everything, including books.”
Niall glanced up with surprise. “What of vellum and parchment?”
“Very expensive here.” Viviane shrugged. “Paper is cheaper.”
Niall arched a brow, the idea of goods being expensive having little to do with his idea of an otherworldly paradise. His pulse quickened, his certainty growing that he was right. “And whence does it come, this currency?”
“You work for it, just like in Cantlecroft, but get it at the bank.” She pointed to a building with a large blue sign and Niall marked its location.
“Moneychangers.”
Viviane nodded and Niall shook his head. They were everywhere, with their exorbitant interest rates and fees for services, worse than whores for cheating a man.
Their presence did not mesh with his expectation of paradise either. All the same, he would visit there later this day to have his own coin changed, though he would ensure the moneychangers did not cheat him. They were well known for such thievery, even in Cantlecroft, and Niall was even more convinced that this place was more like home than not.
“Barb pays me to be in the shop and help her clients. She even lets me read the books so I can suggest which ones people might like to read and oh, Niall, it’s so interesting! I never imagined that there were so many books in the world and so many stories being told, and so many marvelous kingdoms being described.”
“Though indeed -” she leaned closer and Niall echoed her gesture before he caught himself “- there is much that I do not understand.”
Viviane wrinkled her nose in a most fetching manner. “They must all be tales of this magical realm, or perhaps of other magical realms. ’Tis more than a little confusing, though I must confess, my interest is in the romantic deeds. That I can always understand!” Her eyes shone in a most beguiling manner as she talked and Niall had a hard time keeping his skepticism in place.
Aye, he could have simply watched the woman all the day long. No doubt that was her scheme - for ’twould keep him from learning all he needed to know.
Niall snorted. “I was not aware that any tales of paradise included the concept of labor for coin.”
Viviane sipped her drink. “Well, I don’t work very hard.”
“But you are not there this day.”
Viviane shrugged. “Then Barb won’t pay me.”
Niall was a practical man. Even this small meal had cost considerable measure of Viviane’s coin. They must eat thrice a day and oft more than this small feast. He could see the limitations of this system already, particularly as he was uncertain how long ’twould take to gain the knowledge he now desired, let alone what measure these moneychangers would give him in exchange for his own coin.
He and Viviane might spend a good bit of time in each other’s company. Niall’s heart skipped a beat at the prospect, though he knew ’twas just Viviane’s spell working its witchery upon him.
Nay, his sole desire was to win good apprenticeships for his nephews. And he must remain in the lady’s presence, ideally sharing her quarters, to ensure that she did not flee or use her charm to disappear.
’Twas only the thought of fulfilling his pledge that made his pulse quicken.
Niall scowled. “And your chamber? You pay for this with coin or labor?”
“Money. $200 per month.”
“And how much are you paid by this Barb?”
Viviane ran through the numbers for him, Niall calculating sums in his head as ever he had done. She explained her wage and her mode of payment, which meant she had to explain the odd manner of keeping hours in this place. He added and subtracted, and was somewhat reassured that they would not starve.
’Twas then that Viviane told him of the healthy tithe taken from her earnings.
“It’s a tax,” she explained. “From the government.”
“What government? I have seen neither king nor court!”
“Well, there isn’t actually one here…”
“Nay? And what do they do with your coin? I see no knights, no steeds, no armory. Is all this hidden away from the eye? What of the master of the market?” He poked at his over-small pastry. “Does no one police the measures?”
Viviane dropped her voice and leaned closer. “I haven’t seen any signs of anything like that,” she admitted. “And they say the money goes away to Ottawa, wherever that might be.”
“Distant kings, who take coin and grant naught in return! They are no better than thieves in the night!” Niall roared so loudly that others turned to look. He shook a finger at Viviane. “You should refuse to pay their tithes, for no one should pay a due without winning something in return.”
“You can’t do that. They take it from your pay before it’s given to you.”
Niall was appalled. “What manner of dishonesty runs amok in this land that none are trusted to pay their tithes and taxes?”
“It’s just the way they do things here.” Viviane shrugged. “You’ll have to get used to it.”
“I shall never become accustomed to having my purse raided.” Niall fixed her with a skeptical glance. “One would think that Avalon would be spared the drudgery of labor, coin and taxes. It has always seemed to me that those were the inventions of kings of men.”
Viviane looked surprised. “I never thought of it that way.”
“There is no other way to think of it,” Niall said sternly. “You had best return to your labor this da
y, for you will have need of the coin.”
Viviane straightened, that hurt flashing through her eyes once again. “I thought we would spend the day together.”
“I have matters to tend,” Niall said gruffly, staring at the table instead of into those wondrous eyes. Indeed, he did not dare risk too much of the lady’s companionship, for he knew already how she could make him forget his sworn word.
“I see,” Viviane said frostily. She put her cup firmly only the table, pushed to her feet and left, without a backward glance.
Niall watched her walk away through the rain and felt a nigh overwhelming sense of failure. It seemed he had done little to ease the fact that she was vexed with him. ’Twas a conundrum to not be able to lie to the lady, yet at the same time to seek her favor.
Niall sighed and sipped from his cup. Aye, he knew that confessing that he was the one dispatched to retrieve her would do little to improve Viviane’s current opinion of him.
But she was a witch. And she had enchanted him. And the guilt he felt was not only magically induced but kept him from fulfilling his duty.
When Niall thought of matters that way - without the distraction of a lady’s lovely face - all made good sense.
Even if it made his innards writhe to know that Viviane would be the one to suffer the price. Niall determinedly finished his pastry, being certain to consume every single crumb.
Sooner begun, sooner finished, he concluded and pushed to his feet with purpose. Niall’s lips tightened to a grim line.
First, the moneychangers.
*
Chapter Nine
Derek moseyed into the bank that Monday morning to do his weekly cash run and was surprised to find Viviane’s friend there. Niall seemed to be in the midst of an argument with the teller at the service counter, but Derek deliberately minded his business.
He’d better not mention this to Paula, he reasoned as he counted his bills again at the teller’s counter. She’d kill him for not eavesdropping on the details.
Derek had no sooner had that thought than there was no choice but to eavesdrop.
“You would cheat me!” Niall roared.
Everyone in the bank turned to look and the reedy man behind the counter turned red to the tips of his ears. He tried to apologize, but Niall gave him no choice.
In fact, the man in Derek’s clothes shook a finger at the clerk. “This ploy of taking my coin for appraisal is an old one, indeed. I know well enough that you have an accomplice who will trade the gold for some folly that deceives the eye yet holds no value. Nay! My coin remains in mine own hand until you offer the coin of the realm in exchange.”
The clerk looked a bit desperate. “But sir! I’m sorry, sir, but…”
“Maybe I can help,” Derek suggested, his smooth tone designed to even tempers and ease attention away from the exchange. He had practiced it to perfection, but was still delighted every time it worked.
As it did right now.
The clerk nearly fell on him in gratitude, just for the intervention. “It’s a procedural thing, sir, really. We can’t evaluate gold coins here, so we have to send them to the city…”
“To the city!” Niall snorted. “Even better - your accomplice is a foreigner. Do you think me witless enough to wait days for your response, while my coin travels farther and farther afield?”
“Sir! We issue a receipt…”
“A receipt for what? For theft of my coin? And will you grant me another equal coin in exchange?”
“Well, well,” the clerk’s gaze strayed agitatedly to the gold coin laying on the counter between them. “That would be hard to do, sir.”
“Aha! ’Tis a trick, I knew it well.” Niall stood back and folded his arms across his chest with the satisfaction of a man who had proven his point. “I would suggest,” he said silkily, “that you exchange this coin for the coin of your realm with all haste.”
The clerk’s mouth opened and closed, he appealed to Derek with a glance.
“May I?” At Niall’s nod, Derek picked up the coin for a closer look. It was gold, or at least it looked like gold to him. Derek had fingered more gold than most men, but still he couldn’t be sure without an appraisal.
But the interesting thing about the coin was that it appeared to be old. Really old. It sure wasn’t Canadian or American currency, although the date on it was a bit tough to read. It could say 1390, but Derek wasn’t sure.
Sure or not, his heart made a little pit-a-pat. 1390! He could be holding a numismatic treasure in his hands.
And if he was, Niall wasn’t going to get anywhere near its real value from a bank. Of course, there weren’t a lot of options on an island like this.
But Derek could solve that. He handed the coin back to Niall and smiled. “You’re right, they won’t give you nearly its value here.”
Niall fired a knowing glance to the clerk.
“Especially if it’s antique, as I think it is.”
Now Niall’s eyes narrowed and he studied Derek again. “Antiquity is long behind us.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know, but there are people who collect old coins. Like this one.”
Niall ran his thumb across the gold, his voice low and considering. If Derek didn’t know better, he’d think the guy was trying to drive a better price. “This coin is not so old as that.”
“Well, maybe not to some collectors.” Derek shoved his hands in his pockets and met the taller man’s gaze. “Look, we can go back to the boat and I’ll contact a collector I know. He’s a reputable man - if he wants the coin, he’ll pay a fair price for it.”
Niall nodded. “Referrals are of import in the business of changing money.”
“You better believe it.” Derek flashed a smile at the still-rattled clerk. “I live and die by my reputation every day.”
Niall’s gaze sharpened. “You are a moneychanger?”
“No, no. I’m a financial analyst.” At Niall’s puzzled look, Derek explained. “I’m an independent. I invest people’s money for them, manage their assets, ensure that they make an nice profit or secure their retirement funds.” He shrugged and grinned. “You could say that I’m a numbers guy. I do the math.”
“Ah!” Understanding dawned on the other man’s face. “I also do the math.” He tapped his temple. “’Tis my great gift.”
“You have a gift with numbers? You can do the math in your head?”
“Aye. I had a patron once who found this most useful and consigned me to the counting room.” Niall shrugged and almost smiled. “It saved him much vellum and spared him much cheating, though did little for my own studies.”
“I can imagine.” Derek studied the other man with new eyes. A numbers guy. That was the most interesting thing Derek had heard in quite a while. He was always looking for new talent, someone to follow in his shoes, and lately had been bending Paula’s ear about the sad state of the education system.
“Aye. Though as is the way with most gifts, ’tis honed to a keen edge only by diligent practice.”
Derek liked the sound of this better and better. A numbers guy who wasn’t afraid to work. Now, there was a novel proposition!
“Hey, look, we’ve got to talk. Why don’t you open an account here, just in case this all goes through? Horace is pretty fond of just transferring funds. Saves a lot of trouble.”
“Ah!” Niall’s opinion of the bank seemed much improved. “Is this facility associated with the Templars? They are great facilitators of the transfer of coin between realms.” He shook a finger at the bewildered clerk. “You should have told me this sooner.”
“I don’t think the Templars are involved here,” Derek acknowledged as the clerk dropped a form on the counter.
“Perhaps the Hospitaliers, then,” Niall acknowledged absently, gaze scanning the form. “Either are equally adept, though I profess a fondness for the Templars. ’Tis more manly, in my estimation, to wage battle against the infidel than to bind the wounds of the fallen.”
Fortunately, Derek
was spared from responding to that bit of oddness by Niall’s questioning of demands of the form.
He didn’t have a speck of I.D., which complicated things quite a bit. Derek refused to think too much about why, because then he would have had to think about Niall’s odd appearance and all of that was better left unexplored.
There was always a reasonable explanation, for anything worth explaining. The guy must have left it somewhere when he changed into his knight’s gear to stow away on the sailboat. Yeah, he was one of those anachronism types, the ones who dressed up in medieval gear and had fake battles, much like Viviane. Obviously that was how they knew each other.
Perfectly reasonable. Derek reminded himself that he liked people with a little bit more dimensionality, people with interests outside of their work, no matter how weird those interests were. Medieval dress-up might be strange, but it was harmless.
Come to think of it, Paula had made a couple of comments about how sexy Niall looked in his gear.
Sexy. Hmm.
Derek and the clerk exchanged a glance when Niall professed his lack of drivers’ license, in silent agreement that they not rile the bank’s new customer yet again. Derek suggested they use Viviane’s address as Niall’s, which seemed to only make sense. The clerk was visibly relieved by this suggestion and took over the task of filling in the form for Niall.
He waved off the lack of drivers’ license, saying he had only needed it for the address.
He was, though, not nearly so ready to concede the matter of a social insurance number. Damn government, with their fingers in every pie! Derek couldn’t see what the hell difference it made, since Niall hadn’t a dime to put in the account, but the clerk wasn’t backing down.
Niall looked more than willing to rumble. He easily outweighed the little guy and was clearly all out of patience for bank procedure.
Before he could question his impulse, Derek grabbed the pen and counter-signed for Niall, personally vouching for him as a respected bank customer. Effectively, it was his account, though he insisted on giving Niall signature on it. The clerk ceded on that, though unwillingly and only after checking Derek’s balance on his other accounts.
Time Travel Romances Boxed Set Page 83