It didn’t mean I had to like it. “Fuck,”I snarled, and she flinched. Probably because of the smoke rising from my nostrils.
I reined in my dragon, with difficulty. “Do you object to Ollie Shaw bearing witness?”
June looked past me at Ollie, taking her time to survey him. She nodded, finally. “I accept Ollie Shaw as witness to our meeting.”
A petty part of me wanted to bar her from the house, to have this meeting in the gardens, but that wasn’t how the head of a family should act. What Ishouldhave done was instantly expel them both so I wouldn’t have to put up with this.
“Dining room,” I said, standing back to let her in, and she followed Ollie into the big, gloomy room.
I sat on the opposite side of the table from her, and after hovering for a moment, Ollie pulled out a chair at the foot of the table. Neither on one side nor the other.
“Well?” I barked. It was all I could do to remain civil.
She spread her hands in supplication. “I’ve come to apologise on Chris’s behalf. And my own,” she added quickly. “I’d like to explain, if you’ll allow me.”
“You have an explanation that will justify him attacking Ollie?”
Her face paled and she stared at Ollie. “I didn’t know. Were you hurt?”
“He was. So make it quick.”
“It was Chris’s treasure. He’d lost some of it, and it made him—it unbalanced him.”
“Oh,” Ollie said, very softly.
“Yet he’s balanced enough now to send you to plead for him?”
She shook her head. “Will you let me start at the beginning?”
“You have five minutes.”
She took off her fancy gold watch and placed it on the table before her, allowing her to monitor the time easily. Drawing a breath, she looked me in the eyes. “Chris lost his job four months ago. For somestupidreason, he couldn’t tell me, so he kept pretending he was going to work every day and let me blather on about booking our next holiday.” Her tongue flicked out, nervously moistening her lips. “You don’t need to tell me what that says about me, not noticing. But the thing is, he felt he couldn’t tell me, and he still had to pay the bills, and so…” She took a deep, shuddering breath. “He sold part of his treasure.”
The words fell into silence where they seemed to echo forever. Nodragon could voluntarily relinquish even part of their treasure. Not if they wanted to stay sane.
“He sold his treasure rather than tell you he’d lost his job?” She must think I was born yesterday.
She nodded, close to tears. “He—he thought that I’d leave him if he couldn’t give me the big house and the holidays and the clothes. Stupididiot.I knew something was badly wrong with him the minute he did it, but he wouldn’t tell mewhat.He spoke to the Berstow dragon, hoping to learn he was the real head of the family so he’d be able to collect tithes from everyone to pay the bills and buy back his treasure. Of course, that didn’t happen, but when she told him about the rumours that the bible had valuable secrets, he thought if he could get hold of it, he could sell them.”
“Again, I come back to the question why his reason has suddenly been restored to him.” She sounded sincere, but I’d been burned by her before and there were holes in her story.
“Because when we came back from the hospital, I made him tell me everything. Not that he remembers much about that night, other than the rage that consumed him when he thought you were standing between him and getting his treasure back.” She glanced at Ollie again. “He certainly doesn’t remember—” She paused and corrected herself. “He didn’t tell me that he’d attacked Ollie. Once I knew about his treasure, I sold my car and some handbags and got his gold coins back from the dealer he’d sold them to, at twice the price he received. He’s almost himself again now, but he’s so ashamed.”
“You know, if this is supposed to be an apology, I haven’t yet heard the word sorry. And I question why it’s you here rather than him.”
She spoke directly to Ollie. “I took advantage of you to get into the library and search for the bible, as he asked. I’m sorry. Ishouldn’t have done that, but he was desperate and it seemed so harmless. I didn’t understand what I was doing.”
Ollie’s indecision was written all over his face, his generous spirit urging him to forgive her but warring with the knowledge of what her husband had done.
“You understood that you were barred from here, yet you came anyway, timing your visit for when everyone knew I was elsewhere,” I pointed out. “You knewexactlywhat you were doing.”
“True.” She moistened her lips again. “Ididknow what I was doing was wrong. I’m sorry, Ollie, Archer.”
I sat back in my chair, considering her. “Why are you rather than your husband in front of me now?”
“He thought you wouldn’t see him, even if he asked for counsel. And he’s in too much pain.”
“What’s wrong with him?” I didn’t think I’d inflicted much damage, though I remembered how awkwardly he’d run to his car.
