Bride Of The Dragon

by Georgette St. Clair

  “Oh, well. My mother’s thing is insulting everyone and pitting her daughters against each other, so who am I to judge?” Kelly said. “Sounds like you have the situation under control. I’ll see you back at the castle, then.”

  Gabriel felt an odd knot of tension uncoil inside him, a knot he hadn’t even noticed was there. He and his family did their best to keep their eyes on Tabitha. The problem was, the entire family had grown up stealing. They’d practiced since they were young, and it was in their blood. Ten years ago, they’d been forced to give it up, except for the desperate search for the one kind of jewel that would undo the terrible thing they’d done. They no longer stole for profit; they only stole when they received word of a power jewel that they weren’t able to get their claws on legally.

  For the most part, they’d been successful in turning their lives around – except for Tabitha. She was climbing the walls not being able to steal. Her minor shoplifting excursions were her way of blowing off steam.

  “Let me guess. Kelly busted Tabitha shoplifting?” Emerson asked.

  “Of course.”

  “That’s my wife, all right,” Emerson chuckled fondly, shaking his head.

  * * * * *

  The next morning, Kelly took Teresa out back and they strode through the rose gardens, pretending not to look at the south tower. The tower was at the rear of the castle, tucked away almost out of sight. Winthrop stood fifty feet away from them so they could have a private conversation, but he was still watching them like a hawk. A morose, disapproving hawk.

  After her wedding dress expedition, Kelly had locked herself away in her room to do internet research. She’d even managed to resist the temptation of spending another night with Gabriel, which meant she’d tossed and turned all night and woken up exhausted and cranky. She was determined not to give in to his charms again, though. The man should come with a warning label; too much time with him was habit-forming, and liable to cause withdrawal symptoms.

  “How’d your wedding dress shopping go yesterday?” Teresa sneered.

  Kelly raised an eyebrow in annoyance. “Lovely, thanks. It’s nice to be around a mother who isn’t insulting me, even if it’s not my own mother.”

  Teresa snorted. “Traitor.”

  “Shouldn’t you be back home in Seattle with Chiclet-Teeth? Vlad or Brad or whatever the hell his name is? I’m sure he misses you.”

  “You know his name is Chad,” Teresa said huffily, “And yes, I should. But I’m not letting you stay here and hog all the glory. I’m going to be the one to find the Dragonsblood.”

  Kelly shook her head. “Whatever. I really don’t care which one of us finds it. Anyway, I brought you out here for a reason, and believe me, it wasn’t the pleasure of your company. Look up at the south tower, but be subtle. Don’t let Winthrop see that you’re doing it. Do you notice anything odd?”

  Teresa pretended to run her hands through her hair, tipping her head back as she did so. Then she glanced at Kelly, raising an eyebrow.

  “There don’t seem to be any windows on the higher levels,” she said. “The other towers all have windows.”

  Kelly nodded. “Exactly. And so far, I’ve noticed that Gabriel has been keeping me away from that tower. And it’s located at the back of the castle, kind of tucked away. If they’re keeping the Bloodstone on the grounds, I think it’s in there.”

  Teresa grabbed her cell phone – Gabriel had replaced her phone right after he’d broken it, true to his word – and stalked off, quickly dialing, with a look of glee on her face.

  Kelly knew who she was dialing, and why.

  “Teresa, wait!” she called, and hurried after her.

  Teresa flashed her a smirk. “Hello, mother,” she said into the cell phone. She was nothing if not predictable.

  “I figured out that the jewel is probably in the south tower. It’s tucked away in the back and all the windows are blocked off,” she said triumphantly.

  Kelly could hear their mother’s shrill, sharp voice. “That’s it? Kelly already figured that out and she told me about it an hour ago. But then, she always was the smarter of you two. Maybe someday you’ll be as good as her, but I doubt it.”

  “Well, excuse me for trying to keep you updated,” Teresa said, her eyes filling with tears. “Maybe if Kelly wasn’t trying to work the case by herself and shutting me out, we’d have found the jewel by now.”

  “You’ve never closed a single case by yourself. It’s a good thing you’ll be respectably married soon, so you won’t have to keep working in a career you’re obviously not suited to.”

  “But…I wasn’t going to quit after I got married…” But Teresa was speaking to dead air; their mother had hung up on her.

  “I tried to warn you,” Kelly said, feeling a stab of sympathy as Teresa angrily wiped away tears with the back of her hand.

  “You are a disgusting butt-kisser and I hate you!” Teresa shrieked, and stormed off.

  Winthrop trailed after her with a heavy sigh.

  Teresa spun around to face him and stamped her foot, fists clenched. She looked like a toddler trapped in adult’s body.

  “Do you know what it’s like having an employer who’s a complete nightmare and who never appreciates you?” Teresa wailed.

  “Yes, in fact.” Winthrop nodded glumly.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next day at the jewelry store, Gabriel found himself pacing the floor irritably as a gem empath named Christopher surveyed their inventory in one of the back rooms. They’d had to bribe him an enormous amount just to sneak in for the day, and he’d refused to stay beyond that. Too risky; he’d lose his license and face prison if he were caught.

  Christopher’s extortionate rates weren’t the reason that he was irritable, though. It was his fiancée, who was still stubbornly pretending that she wasn’t meant to be with him.

  Kelly had refused his thoroughly charming attempts at seduction the night before. It simply defied common sense. She wanted him, he wanted her, he was damn good at sex; why was she letting a silly thing like principles get in the way of a night of screaming, back-clawing pleasure?

  Humans. He just didn’t understand them.

  “Excuse me.” Marvin stalked up to him and gestured at the closed door where Christopher was looking over their inventory.

  “You have a problem?” Gabriel snapped. He was not in the mood right now.

  Marvin glared at him. “There’s an empath here. Why is he here?”

  “That’s not your concern.”

  “I’d say it is my concern.” Marvin’s eyes flashed with fury. “You only called him in after Kelly Henderson visited the store.”

  “Yes, that’s true.”

  “She’s been bad-mouthing me.”

  “Why, what could she possibly have to say about you? Is there anything you forgot to tell us when you applied for work here?”

  Marvin went pale.

  “You’ve seen proof of my abilities,” he whined. “I’ve identified numerous power gems for you.”

  “Several,” Gabriel corrected him. “You’ve identified several.”

  Marvin’s tone turned wheedling. “It’s not like you can get rid of me. You need me to find you healing gems.”

  Well, they needed someone for that purpose. They’d never told Marvin why they had a particular interest in healing gems, and it wasn’t his business. But they did need someone to identify any gems that might have healing powers. So far, none of them had worked, and it had turned out that the Dragonsblood’s powers did not involve healing.

  And time was running out.

  Which made it more crucial than ever that they found the kind of gem they were looking for. They’d almost had the right kind of gem, and then… Damn Calder. Self-righteous bastard.

  “Yes, we need healing gems – and there are apparently several in the store that you’ve missed. Who knows what else you may have missed, if that’s true?” Gabriel felt anger flowing through him at the thought. Had the solution to thei
r problem already slipped through their fingers because they’d misplaced their trust in Marvin?

  Marvin gave him an offended look. “If you don’t trust me, then there’s no reason for me to continue working here. I’m handing in my resignation effective immediately.”

  “So you’re quitting before the auditor gets a chance to tell us what he’s found.” Gabriel fixed Marvin with a hard, angry gaze.

  Marvin turned and stalked out of the store, and let the door slam behind him.

  * * * * *

  Back in her room, Kelly logged on to her laptop. She was curious about Gabriel’s snide comment about the Rossi family, so she started searching for information about them. She knew that they’d owned the Dragonsblood since the early 1940s, and that her family’s firm had insured it, but she hadn’t bothered to do much research into the family themselves other than to run a criminal background check to ensure that they’d never been accused or convicted of any felonies, especially insurance scams.

  A regular Google, Bing and Yahoo search turned up nothing. They didn’t have social media accounts, and they didn’t own any businesses that she could find. Not surprising; they were an obscure, independently wealthy family. Not every rich person lived their life in public like reality TV stars.

  She turned to a news archive database that she had access to. To her surprise and dismay, she saw that the Rossis had collaborated with the fascists in World War II and had been accused of stealing the belongings of political prisoners. Unfortunately, the Rossis had only stolen from people whose entire families had been wiped out, so there had been no one left to reclaim their looted goods or press charges against the Rossi family after the war was over.

  They’d been poor before the war, and then after the war they’d been rich – with stolen paintings, jewels, antiques and money.

  Well, now she just felt gross. She was trying to get a jewel back for a bunch of slimebags – or their descendants, granted, but still. They were living off looted and pillaged wealth that should never have been theirs. Treasured family heirloom, my ass, she thought. It had been somebody’s treasured family heirloom, and now they were dead.

  Glumly, she closed her laptop, and spent the rest of the afternoon casually wandering through the areas of the castle where she was allowed to go and concentrating on mentally scanning for power gems until her head hurt so badly she wanted to cry. She found a few when she wheedled an excuse to visit Tabitha’s room, and Tabitha cheerfully showed off some of her jewelry collection. Her collection was enormous, and the power jewels that she owned were very mild. There were garnets that would make a dragon shifter mildly sleepy, and there was some ebony that could cause nausea.

  Kelly finally gave up and went to take some more aspirin. If this case didn’t give her an ulcer and a permanent migraine, nothing would. She’d never had to spend this much time using her powers before; it was getting to the point where as soon as she started scanning, her head started throbbing right away. She was going to have to take a break from it.

  She was probably wasting her time searching the entire castle anyway. She was pretty sure that the ruby was in the south tower, but until she could get close to it, she figured she might as well eliminate all the other possibilities.

  Teresa had gone off to sulk; when Kelly checked on her, she was sitting outside in the rose garden berating Winthrop about how terrible the Kingsleys were, and he was gloomily agreeing.

  When Teresa finally finished with her tantrum, Kelly called her over.

  “Did you get anything useful from him?” she asked.

  Teresa scowled at her in annoyance. “What are you talking about?”

  “He’s complaining about the Kingsleys. Did he give you any useful information?”

  “They have no respect for tradition; Tabitha actually wants to wear cream to the wedding, which is far too close to white; they drink cocktails before noon; they use appallingly bad language—”

  Kelly waved her hand impatiently to cut off the verbal torrent. “No. Did you get any useful information about their history as jewel thieves? Anything about the Dragonsblood?”

  “Of course not. Why would he tell me anything like that?”

  “Did you even try? You’re the one who’s desperate to wrap this up and get home to her fiancé.”

  “No, I did not try. There wouldn’t have been any point. He’s too loyal to them.” But Teresa looked guilty as she said that.

  “You mean you were too busy enjoying the excuse to sit there and complain to someone who doesn’t get up and walk away when you go off on your tirades,” Kelly said irritably. “Because he can’t. Because it’s his job to sit there and keep an eye on you. So stop abusing him.” She turned around and stalked off.

  Going several days without sex with Gabriel was making her surprisingly itchy and irritable.

  “For your information, Winthrop actually agrees with everything I say!” Teresa yelled after her. Always had to have the last word.

  Fine, Kelly thought wearily, it wasn’t worth arguing with Teresa about this. She was starting to get another headache without even using her powers.

  Chapter Thirteen

  That night, the whole family went out to dinner at a North Lyndvale restaurant called the North Pole. North Lyndvale featured restaurants and entertainment that was ice-themed, since the ice dragons lived there. There were skating rinks that were open year round, there were ice dragon ice-hockey teams, and there was a snow park where children could go and make snow forts and throw snowballs at each other.

  The North Pole featured an ice-sculpture dinner show, in which ice dragon sculptors on a stage created gorgeous crystal structures and juggled ice bubbles and tossed ice spears at each other. The stage had a North Pole theme, with icicles dripping from the ceiling. The ice dragons were in human form, wearing white-and-blue spandex costumes with sparkly scales on them.

  Emerson had gotten permission from his probation officer to leave the castle grounds for the evening, as long as he was home before 10 p.m.

  “Tabitha,” Kelly said, as they looked over the menu.

  “Yes, dear?”

  “Some of the silverware seems to have accidentally fallen into your purse.”

  “I’m sure it didn’t,” Tabitha said, blinking innocently.

  Kelly looked up from the menu with an expression of polite disbelief. “Put it back, so Gabriel doesn’t have to waste his time coming back here with the silverware tomorrow,” she said, and kept staring at Tabitha until she finally reached into her purse with a martyred sigh and put the silverware back on the table.

  Gabriel had his hand over his mouth and was laughing so hard that tears filled his eyes and leaked down his cheeks. Emerson was making strangling noises and hiding behind his menu, but his shoulders were shaking with merriment.

  “And what do you think is so funny?” Tabitha asked Gabriel furiously. “You’re not too old for me to whip your tail, young man.” And then she shot out a small jet of flame and burned Emerson’s menu right out of his hands. Emerson didn’t try to hide it; he threw back his head and roared with laughter.

  “Oh, mother. I haven’t seen anyone hand you your butt in ages. This is even better than the dinner show.”

  “Rotten filthy pig swill!” Tabitha cursed, and her eyes turned bright red.

  Gabriel and Kelly both looked up and stared at her, surprised by the vehemence in her voice. “Well, that’s a little strong,” Gabriel said mildly.

  “Not you, although it certainly applies. Them. What on earth are they doing here?” Tabitha said, glancing towards the front of the stage. The Maplethorpes were there, glaring daggers at the Kingsley family.

  Gabriel shrugged. “Who cares?” he said. “Maybe Pandora’s looking for a new victim. I mean fiancé.”

  Pandora ignored her food and stared at Kelly without blinking, a ferocious scowl puckering her small, pretty face.

  “Wow, I can literally feel the hatred rays burning my flesh,” Kelly said, sipping on a glass of
red wine. “It’s kind of nice. The air’s a little chilly in here.”

  Dinner arrived a short time later. The dragons all had steak, and Kelly had pasta. Pandora and her family kept glaring steadily at them as they tucked into their dinner.

  “Would it be a bad idea to say, ‘Careful or your face will freeze like that’?” Gabriel grinned and shoved a hunk of steak into his mouth. “Get it? Because we’re in ice dragon territory?”

  “Your comedy routine needs work,” Kelly mused. “You should stick to jewel thieving. I mean jewelry sales.”

  Evangeline took a few bites, looking sullen and annoyed. “This is kid stuff. This is stupid,” she complained, glaring at the ice dragons on the stage. “My friends are outside at the park across the street. Why can’t I go hang out with them?”

  “You’re speaking to your schoolmates again?” Gabriel asked her. Kelly remembered how the girls had snubbed Evangeline on the day of the fair.

  “Who cares? I’m bored.” She narrowed her eyes.

  “If you’re going to have that attitude, please, do leave,” Tabitha said with annoyance.

  Evangeline took on a wounded look. “Great. My own family doesn’t even want me. What a surprise,” she said. She stood up with a dramatic flourish. “Nobody wants me. When I turn eighteen, I’m going to go be a hermit and live in the desert by myself.”

  “Don’t forget to write,” Gabriel said.

  Evangeline responded by kicking him in the shin and stalking out of the restaurant.

  Gabriel glanced at Kelly. “I’m hoping we have boys,” he said to her.

  “I’m hoping you seek professional help,” she informed him. “But dinner is delicious, thanks.”

  “I like her,” Tabitha observed drily. “It’s exhausting being the only one in the family who abuses you. I definitely needed reinforcements.” Apparently she’d already forgiven Kelly for the silverware incident.