“Okay then.” I take another steadying breath and pick up the first envelope, pulling open the flap and dumping the contents into my hand.
It’s some kind of oval-shaped jewel, amber shot through with veins of violet. It warms in my palm, giving off a faint glow that seems to be pulsing in time with my heartbeat.
“It’s a fae protection amulet,” Draegan says reverently. “Very rare, very powerful.”
“Why would my father keep something like this hidden from me?”
“I’m not one to defend the man who tried to sell you off to a demon, but… Perhaps you’re not the one he was keeping it from. I don’t think he would’ve gone to the trouble of hiding the key behind your photo if he didn’t want you to eventually find this.”
I close my fingers around it. “It feels like my own heartbeat.”
“That’s the magic. It’s connected with you, which means it was meant for you.”
“There’s no letter or anything…” I sigh. “It’s beautiful, but none of this makes any sense.”
“Try the other one. Maybe the two things go together somehow.”
I set the jewel on the table and check the other envelope—just a tiny piece of plastic about the size of a postage stamp.
“An SSD card,” Draegan says, plucking it from my palm for a closer look. “Any idea what’s on it?”
“No clue.” I check the envelope again, and the other one, and the metal box too, but this is all we’ve got. A fae amulet and a mysterious SSD card. There’s no note, no indication of what the amulet is for or what the card contains. Bank account numbers? A will? The answers to the baffling mysteries of the life and times of Westlyn Avery?
“Does any of this look familiar?” Draegan asks, his hand curling protectively around the back of my neck. “The jewel… Have you ever seen it in photos? Or maybe he mentioned it in passing?”
“Nope. I’ve never seen it before. I feel like I would remember it if I had.” I pick it up again, and the moment my fingers make contact, it restarts that slow, steady pulse. “Maybe it was my mother’s?”
“That’s possible, but unlikely. Protection amulets can be passed down, but only as collector’s items. The magic inside them is keyed to one person, and one person only. It can’t be changed or reset. If you’re feeling its magic, your mother wouldn’t have been able to.”
“You’re saying someone made this for me? A fae?”
“Or someone commissioned a fae to make it for you, yes. But it’s definitely fae-crafted.”
I take the SSD card back from him, holding it in my other hand. “This onedoesn’thave a heartbeat.”
Draegan laughs. “I didn’t think so. But it may have some answers.”
“Assuming it’s not password protected? Maybe. But if it is, I’m afraid we’re out of luck. I barely knew my father—there’s no way I can crack his password.”
“Fortunately for us, we know someone who can.” He gives me one more reassuring squeeze, and then we’re off, sneaking back out of the empty bank with our loot stashed in Draegan’s briefcase, his hand on my lower back, his eyes scanning every corner and every shadow for danger, just like always.
We get to the car without incident, where he promptly locks us in and zooms us out of the city.
He asks me if I’m cold, and turns on the heat when I nod.
He asks me if I’d like to pick the music, so I do.
He asks me if I’m feeling okay about what we found in the box, and reassures me that if anyone can figure out what’s on that little card, Rook can.
But an hour into the drive back upstate, he still hasn’t asked me about what happened between us in his office.
Not even to say it can’t happen again, if that’s how he feels.
It’s like he just wants to pretend it never even happened at all.
I steal another glance at him across the dark space of the car, his profile striking in the glow of a passing streetlight. Strong, masculine jaw with just a hint of dark stubble. Black hair touched with gray, handsome and distinguished. Full, lush lips—lips I know from experienceexcelat delivering hot kisses and the kind of filthy whispers that make my toes curl.
He’s wearing the glamour, but I can still picture the gargoyle beneath—the dark gray skin. The thick horns peeking out of that dark hair.
