I nod as he pulls on a pair of gloves from a box under his desk. Then he removes the egg reverently and stands.
He walks to a nearby table against the wall with a few machines that look like something you’d find during an eye exam. He sets it up there and powers on the device.
A bright-blue light flares—maybe some sort of laser microscope?—and I hear a faint whir as this powerful magnifying glass clicks, hovering over it.
Fairfax steps out the side door to the lab and returns a second later with a skinny, clean-shaven young man.
“Miss Blackthorn, this is Steven, my most trusted senior technician and also my son.” He turns to him. “Steven, we have a potential godsend on our hands. The legendary Hera Egg.”
“The Hera— Dad, for real?” Steven blinks in disbelief before his eyes swivel to the egg. “Man, let me see.”
Beside me, I feel Holden bristle, watching their every movement like an eagle.
Dad’s doubts and venom come back to me as they mutter back and forth, examining the egg under that monster of a microscope for what feels like an hour.
What if this is some weird, sick game?
What if it’s a forgery?
But no, Gramps wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t.
He might be eccentric and a little heavy-handed, but he never gave my cousins false hope or left them empty-handed. There was always a method to his inheritance madness.
I’m sure it’s the same for me.
I’m so up in my head I’m startled when Holden’s big hand takes mine. I swallow a gasp and glance over.
His brown eyes blaze.
It’s easy to forget he’s a master at reading body language. He must see the agony on my face, the fear, the doubt, and he’s decided to do something about it.
He squeezes my hand fiercely, silently, as if to say,Nile, hold the line. I’m here, and you’ve fucking got this.
I shiver.
Meanwhile, the father-son duo powers on, inspecting the object in total detail.
“May we take it back to the lab for a quick scan, ma’am? We have a machine, very similar to an MRI. We’ll be able to see the entire structure.” Steven waits patiently.
“Sure. Go right ahead.” I nod.
Smiling, he puts the egg in a fabric-lined box and carries it to the lab with his father. They’re back about five minutes later.
I swallow thickly.
God, what if itisa hoax?
I’ll never live it down.
Not a hoax by Gramps, not deliberately. But if it turns out he’s been sitting on a scam all these years, I swear…
Ugh, I’ll also have to figure something out. Even the generous trust he left behind will run through my fingers like water in a few years with Boston rent.
My heart clenches at the thought.
Across the table, Fairfax murmurs sharply to his son in a way that makes me nervous.
I can’t take much more. Another five minutes and I’m going to barf.
