Page 6 of Smoke

“He’s a suspicious man. That’s just who he is. Probably because he always has a scheme up his sleeve. He assumes everybody else thinks the way he does. Paranoia.”

“He sounds like a lot of fun,” Miles snickered.

“Oh, sure. You’d be best friends.” I tried to imagine George sitting around the game room, watching football or playing arcade games. It was almost too ridiculous to picture.

“What happens if he doesn’t believe you?”

“He will. In time. He knows how close Jasmine and I were—are,” I corrected. How was it that I was already thinking about her in past tense? That was for the best, I guessed, since I had to pretend she was gone forever.

Then again, she was gone forever. Gone from my life.

“So he’ll know you wouldn’t give up unless all hope was really lost,” Cash mused.

“I’m counting on it, anyway.”

“What about Bradley?”

“Oh, him?” I laughed. “He’s a joke. I’m sure he didn’t want to be bound to my sister any more than she wanted to be to him. He does what the advisors tell him to do.”

“Who is he that your sister was promised in marriage to him, anyway?” Miles asked.

“It’s a long story. His father and our father were best friends. His father made a lot of money doing all sorts of things—the fae don’t care about human money as a rule, or we’re not supposed to. We’re not supposed to care about anything humans think is important. But Bradley’s father did, and he ended up making a lot of money for the clan. I guess I should thank him—it was because of his shrewd investments that I’m able to live without worrying about supporting myself. Papa left us all of his money when he died, and there’s more than I could ever manage to spend.”

“What about your clan? I heard your home is pretty insane,” Cash pointed out. “The guys said it was like a castle.”

“I think that was what the designers had in mind when they dreamed it up,” I grinned. “Jasmine and I used to pretend it was a castle when we were little. We used to explore it, and the grounds around it, and we’d make up all kinds of stories. It’s the sort of place that inspires the imagination—especially a little girl’s imagination.”

“You had to have a lot of money to put something like that together.”

“Not when you have magic,” I smiled. “There was a lot more magic in the clan back then, centuries ago. It’s sort of… dimmed… as time has gone on. Just like there’s a lot less magic in the entire world than there was in the old days.”

“Oh, believe me, we know all about that,” Miles grinned, and Cash snorted in agreement.

I had forgotten for a second there that they were over a thousand years old. They would know all about the way magic had slowly drained from the world as humanity became more scientific and industry-driven.

“The clan is well off, though,” I explained. “I don’t know much about the specifics because, you know, I’m just a girl.” I rolled my eyes in disgust when I thought about how George hated when we asked questions. “But there are vaults at our bank, someplace far away—I’ve never known where—filled with gold.”

“How do you know they’re filled with gold if you’ve never seen them?”

“How do you know you’re guarding a treasure if you’ve never seen it?” I countered. The two of them went stiff. “Yes. I know about the treasure.”

“How do you know?” Cash asked in a low, dangerous voice, eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. “Because neither of you told me I was wrong just now, when I guessed.”

They were silent for a beat.

“What?” Miles laughed.

“I guessed. I mean, why would six dragons take turns guarding the mouth of a cave for a thousand years if there wasn’t a treasure somewhere inside? And I only guessed that you never saw the treasure, too. It’s pretty easy to fool you guys sometimes.”

“Well, may not be as smart as Smoke,” Cash chuckled. The mention of his name sent a pang to my heart.

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody about it. I know how important it is for you to keep it a secret—and I wouldn’t want to make life more difficult for Jasmine, either.”

I tried to imagine what it would be like to spend my entire life guarding a treasure I was never allowed to enjoy. I guessed that would be the kind of life that didn’t allow much introspection. If a person thought too much about the unfairness of it, they might never get out of bed in the morning. Or ever again.

“We appreciate that. I only hope we’re not delivering you back to something that’s gonna make you miserable.”

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