“What does this have to do with her earrings?” Asher asked, wondering how a guy in prison could hold such sway in the tech tycoon’s life.
Kluge sighed heavily as he stood up. “Those are the archetype. Jyost wants them back.”
“The archetype?”
“His proprietary tech.” Kluge shook his head. “I don’t know how he did it. He must have destroyed the documentation on his prototypes.” He glanced at Duchess. “Those earrings are the key to the Fidelity line.”
“You mean that abominable violation of privacy you tried to tout as engagement rings?” Duchess frowned. “You’ve been tracking me through the earrings?” She pulled them off on a curse.
“Jyost has. And I have no fucking clue how. It’s not like the guy has internet in solitary.”
“Let me see those.” Asher held out his hand.
The moment the diamonds connected with his palm, he let out a laugh.
Kluge narrowed his eyes. “What’s so funny?”
“You think this Jyost is bad now,” he chuckled, “you haven’t seen anything yet. I’d suggest you release him sooner rather than later.”
While dragons liked their solitude, being separated from their hoard was untenable. It’d be only a matter of time before the guy went mental.
Asher turned to Duchess, “We can’t keep these.”
“Yeah, no joke.” She crossed her arms with a frown. “Like I want embedded trackers in my life. You owe me new earrings, Kluge.”
“It’s Kluge” He said it like ‘clue-guh’ and Duchess’s smirk let Asher know she’d been purposely mispronouncing the name all this time. He chuckled at that. She really was something else. “And I’ve already agreed to get you new ones.”
“That won’t be necessary.” Asher informed him, pocketing the earrings. “Don’t worry, Duchess.” He took her hand, pulling her closer, grateful she didn’t pull away. “We’ll get you new ones.”
The smile she gave him lit him up inside. Maybe there was hope for them yet.
“Wait a minute.” Kluge frowned. “You just put them in your pocket. Those are mine.”
“No, those are Jyost’s.” Asher glared at Kluge, appreciating the way the man paled and backed into the wall. “You release him and tell him to come find me. I’ll keep these safe until his arrival.”
“You fucking asshole.” Kluge drew himself up to his full height, which was still several inches shorter than Asher. “You think you can—”
“I know I can,” Asher replied confidently. “And believe me when I tell you that if you come against either one of us,” He motioned between himself and Duchess, “You will regret it. You think you have things bad now…”
Kluge looked back and forth between them, opening and closing his mouth like a newly caught fish for a moment, before he finally frowned.
“You can’t be serious.”
“We are,” Asher said with finality. “Now, let’s call you a luggage cart so you and your friend can leave. We’re done here. I’ll know when you’ve released Jyost, and until he comes to pick up his earrings personally, you’re going to be on my shit list.”
Probably much longer, if he was honest.
By the time Kluge agreed to his terms and cleared the room, Asher was ready to climb out of his skin again. Sure, he was alone with Duchess like he’d wanted to be, but the silence between them felt like a death knell.
Asher rubbed his aching sternum, trying to think of the right words to say and coming up blank. He had so much to tell her, and yet, outsiders weren’t supposed to know most of it.
God, he didn’t want her to be an outsider.
They’d been so close, so connected before. But now, sitting here like this in her hotel room with him in one of the chairs and her on the foot of the bed, the distance between them felt vast and insurmountable.
A soft rustling broke the deep silence and Asher glanced over to see Duchess standing up, taking off his watch.
“Here.” she said softly, crossing the room to him with her hand out.
