“Isn’t it time you overcame your dislike of the Tigers and those Grays.”
“I’m well aware that you know they aren’t the real names of their godawful teams, Rory.”
She studied her nails. “What gave it away?”
“That I’ve seen you watch football with Hunter,” I sniped.
“Remember I told you that Rachel gave me a lead on one of the Anjou rubies? They finally found a necklace on the Sinners’ compound?—”
“What?!”
For close to two decades, we’d been seeking a set of rubies intrinsically tied to our bloodline—the once-royal house of Anjou-Valentini had possessed a treasure so grand that it came with a curse of its own.
“When the Valentini queen drips in the blood of the earth, only then will the family’s star continue to rise.”
Of the six items—earbobs, a tiara, a necklace, matching wrist cuffs, a ring, and an anklet—we were missing the necklace and bracelets.
Since Luc’s ascension, we’d uncovered the bulk of the pieces. Waging war against the Italian mafia might have forged us, but we remained superstitious and none of us wanted to mess with a curse—that meant finding the remaining items was a priority.
Even for my ever-practical sister.
You could take the kids out of Sicily, but you couldn’t take Sicily out of the kids…
“She sent me a picture.” Rory hesitated. “I believe they’re part of the set.”
I took note of her unease. Some of that discomfort was part of the joys of being pregnant, but… “What aren’t you telling us, and why would I want to leave the city at such a pivotal moment?”
“Because those rubies are our goddamn safety net. I hate being tied to this damn curse. I want them in our safe. I want the rubies to be ours again, as they rightfully should be. Especially when we’re about to wade into a war with the Albanians and whoever is backing them!”
“What’s wrong with the rubies?” Luc queried. “There must be something. You’re being cagey and you’re never cagey.”
Rory harrumphed. “The settings are the same, but I don’t think it’s our necklace. I think it’s formed from the links of the cuffs…”
“So they might not be our rubies at all!”
“No, Stan, but I’m telling you, goddammit. The settings are the same. See?” She tapped her phone screen a few times, then shoved it at Luc, who tilted it so I could see the picture too.
My heart sank. “Fuck.”
“It doesn’t matter, does it?” Luc asked, for once sounding almost desperate. And I got it. I felt desperate too. “The rubies are what matters. Not the setting.”
Aurora grabbed her phone. “There’s no way of knowing until our world implodes.”
“Reassuring.” I stole her cell and zoomed in on the settings.
“Is it better for them to be in the wind?” She pulled a fan out of nowhere and used it to cool down. “We’ll need to regroup after the Summit, and then you can go to Ohio and collect them. The Sinners have kept them safe for us?—”
“How long have you known that they located the necklace?”
“Years.”
Her simple answer had us both gaping at her.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Luc, because Stan lived in his lab, you were repopulating Manhattan with Jen, and I havetwobrotherhoods to manage? When did we have time for a jaunt to Ohio?!” She wafted the fan harder. “I’ve had to reprioritize the situation thanks to those Albanian idiots!”
“You should have told us!”
