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“Through Adina.”
“Exactly,” said Min. “Adina. There’s more to Midas Touch Partnerships than meets the eye. I sensed she was—different—the day she came in here. Her coat… and… and Gingerbread behaved very strangely around her.”
“In what way?”
“He loved her, Ethan. He actually went and sat on her lap. It took him a year to sit on mine after he came to live here, but he hopped onto her lap immediately, and I could barely get him off.”
“He liked me too,” Ethan protested.
“He rubbed around your ankles. That was nothing compared to how he responded to Adina.” Gingerbread was now curled up on her father’s chair. “Look at him. He would never have sat in Dad’s chair when he was alive.” She went over and tickled under his chin. “Gingerbread, what do you know?”
Gingerbread’s purr rumbled like a jet engine, but his eyes remained firmly closed.
Min sighed. “I think you are deliberately obfuscating, Ginge.”
“He can’t talk, Min, he’s a domestic cat, not a shifter,” Ethan pointed out.
At that, the tip of Gingerbread’s tail swished.
Min shook her head, pushed her glasses up her nose. Gingerbread knew exactly what was going on, even if he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—talk.
Which meant they needed to get the truth from someone who could.
CHAPTER 28
When they walked into Adina’s office, Min was flooded with memories of the last time she’d been here, sitting there so nervously, about to meet a dragon.
The dragon who was her fated mate.
That electric pulse that had shot through her when she’d locked eyes with Ethan. She’d known somewhere deep inside that this was who she was destined to be with.
And since reading Bartholomew’s book, it all made sense.
Because she was a person of the Westwinds. One of a clan who had harnessed the magical powers that allowed dragons and humans to mate, and dragons to shift.
But she still needed to know why this magic had activated now, between her and Ethan, in the Motham City of today, centuries later. And she was sure Adina had played some pivotal role in it all.
So here they sat, holding hands quietly. Tiffany, Adina’s receptionist, who today was wearing earrings like tiny fireflies and glitter streaked up her cheeks, told them Adina was expecting them.
Min and Ethan exchanged perplexed glances. They hadn’t booked an appointment.
A moment later, the little bird jumped out of the clock on the wall and merrily started chirping the hour. As it finished, it stopped for the briefest moment, preened its feathers and looked at them out of bright beady eyes.
“That thing’s alive,” Min hissed at him.
Ethan nodded. “I didn’t notice how strange this place was when we first came here. I was too busy looking at you.”
A second later, out swept Adina from her office. Her hair was piled high in a beehive, and she had a pair of pink winged spectacles on. Her dress was a shimmering deep rose color—much like her peacock coat; where did she get that material?—and fitted close to her shapely frame. It was extremely difficult to gauge her age, Min decided. She could be in her late forties… or she could be hundreds of years old.
And that, in itself, told you something.
“Minerva, Ethan, so lovely to see you. Come and tell me all about the past few weeks.”
When they were seated in her office, Ethan said, “It’s been a very interesting time. We’ve fallen in love. Got engaged. Min, show her.” He was blushing with pride. Min held up her hand with the emerald ring on it. “The airport deal fell through, but no matter, because Min will keep her bookshop. Which is really all that matters.”
Adina beamed. “So the arrangement between you was a resounding success? If you ignore what you thought was supposed to happen.”
“Absolutely,” said Ethan.
