Page 103 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“Is that so? And just how would you do that?”

He reached into his pocket and took out a tiny velvet pouch. He opened the little bag and tipped the contents into his palm.

Ravenna looked at the ring, which gleamed in the moonlight. It was a band of gold set with elegantly cut fire amber—tuned fire amber. The stone glowed with power.

“I bought this that same day,” Ethan said. “Tuned it myself. It’s a signature frequency.Yoursignature. No one else can use it. Just you.”

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

She shivered a little when he slipped it onto her finger.

“I love you, Ethan.”

He tightened his arms around her and pulled her close. When his mouth came down on hers, she abandoned herself to the radiance of the garden and the joy of love.

Fireworks danced in the night.

Chapter Fifty-Two

“I can’t begin to tell you how grateful I am for your capable assistance, Ms.Palantine.” Walter Willoughby surveyed the office that, until a short time ago, had belonged to Taggert Spooner. “I admit I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility. I still don’t understand why the board of directors asked me to step into Spooner’s shoes.”

Melody Palantine gave him a reassuring smile. “Obviously they selected you to take the helm of Spooner Technologies because they are sure you are the best person to guide the company through the difficult weeks and months ahead.”

He grimaced. “Either that or they set me up to take the fall if the company goes under.”

That was the truth, Melody thought. She was, however, more than a little surprised that Willoughby sensed what had actually gone on at the last board meeting. Until his sudden promotion into the C-suite, he had been an obscure mid-level manager in charge of Shipping & Receiving.

“Trust me, Mr.Willoughby, you will save Spooner Tech,” Melody said. “We have work to do, but together we will navigate the troubled waters the company is facing.”

Well, strictly speaking, she would steer Spooner Tech through the FBPI investigation and the public relations disaster that the arrest of the company’s president and CEO had created.

Willoughby was right to be bewildered by his sudden rise up the corporate ladder. What he didn’t know was that she was the one who had used her computer skills and her talent for manipulation to convince the board that he was the best person for the job.

It had been a complicated project begun several weeks earlier when she had picked up on Taggert Spooner’s growing paranoia and instability. Mystified by the change in his personality, she had tracked him to the Vortex lab one night and watched, shocked, as he subjected himself to the radiation of the machine.

When the personality changes set in, she was not entirely surprised. She had dug deep into the history of Vortex. Thanks to a certain Old World journal, she was sure she knew what was happening to him.

And thanks to Spooner’s increasing recklessness, she learned of his plans to meet with the prospector in Illusion Town. She knew a golden amber opportunity when she saw one. She made sure the appropriate rumors reached Arcane and the Guild Council.

The operation had been a success, delivering results that were even more spectacular than she had imagined. Not only had Spooner been arrested, he was apparently quite ill and deteriorating rapidly.

The next step had been to make sure the board installed the right individual in the head office, someone who would be overwhelmed by the responsibility and turn to her for guidance and advice. Willoughby was perfect for her purposes.

“Don’t worry, sir,” she said. “I am here to support you in any way I can. With you at the helm, this company will move forward into a brighterand more profitable future. I would suggest that we start by changing the name of the firm. People have short attention spans. A new brand will help ensure that clients and the investment world soon forget Taggert Spooner and the humiliation he brought down on this company.”

Willoughby looked at her with a pathetic mix of relief and gratitude. “That is an absolutely brilliant idea, Ms.Palantine.”

“I’ll draw up a list of possibilities immediately,” she said. “Once we make our selection, I will coordinate with marketing and publicity.”

She went briskly out the door, entered her office, and sat down at her desk. A grand sense of certainty swept through her. After a moment she took out her secret phone and pulled up the images of her notorious ancestor.

She was going to succeed where Vincent Lee Vance had failed.

You have a destiny.

For all intents and purposes, she was now in charge of Spooner Tech, a company that boasted some of the most advanced research-and-development labs on Harmony. Even more importantly, she had the top secret documents relating to the Vortex project. The FBPI would discover enough data to make them destroy the lab, but they would not find the machine. She had made certain it was safely concealed in the Underworld.

Under her leadership, research would continue. Vortex was the key to power, the means by which she would fulfill her destiny.

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