Chapter Five
She heard footsteps pounding towards her, and then Gabriel swung the door open.
“Oh, were you looking for this?” he called out. He was holding up the truthstone – and he’d put on a glove so it wouldn’t touch his skin. That sneaky bastard.
“Give me that!” she yelled, reaching for it.
He held it up over her head. It was a big, beautiful chunk of brown crystal that glittered with gold flecks. Quite distinctive looking. And apparently Gabriel had recognized it for what it was, damn the luck.
She jumped and tried to get it, but he was a good ten inches taller than her.
“I don’t think dragonkind wants to see this kind of stone in the hands of a human,” he said, with a maddeningly smug smile. “And isn’t it technically illegal to for you to use this stone without a court order?”
She flushed self-consciously at that. “It’s a gray area,” she muttered. If she’d forced him to admit what he’d done with the Dragonsblood Ruby, her quasi-legal use of the truthstone would have been overlooked.
“Hmm,” he mused. “For someone who sees things as so black and white, you’re suddenly okay with a gray area?”
“I was doing it for the greater good,” she said defiantly.
“That’s a slippery slope, babe.” Then he looked her over thoughtfully. “Interesting that you’re able to use a truthstone, though. Not everybody could.”
“Interesting that you know what one is. They’re quite rare.” She narrowed her eyes at him.
“Yes, well, given that my family are dragons and we’re in the jewelry business, we make it a practice to study any gems that might have power over our species. And you’re trying to change the subject. You have powers.”
She shrugged. No point in denying it now. “Yes, I do have powers,” she said. “I’m a gem empath.” That meant she could sense those special jewels that had latent powers, and manipulate and amplify them.
In an odd twist of fate, only humans – some very few, special humans – had the ability to sense and manipulate those gems that were imbued with mystic powers. And only dragons were affected by power gems. Kelly believed that it was a balance of nature kind of thing – dragons were already so incredibly powerful, maybe nature had tipped the scales back in humans’ favor a little bit.
“Well, that explains a lot,” Gabriel said. “Good to know. Want a job working for my family? We could use a good gem empath.”
“No, it’s illegal for a gem empath to work for dragons, and you know it. I want my truthstone back. Give it to me or else.”
“Or else?” He quirked one perfect brow and waited for her threat.
She glared at him and tried to look intimidating, which was hard to do to a man who was almost a foot taller than her and who could turn into a giant fire-breathing beast. “Or I’ll turn you in for stealing it.”
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow. “Even though you were going to use it for illegal purposes?”
Damn it. He had her there.
“I’ll just go put this somewhere safe while you freshen up and change; I think the festival organizers need their Fair Maiden costume back.”
“Did you know about this all along?” she asked. “Those ladies who grabbed me and dragged me to the stage…I saw them up here at the party. They work for you, don’t they? You know everyone in the valley…the hotel must have notified you when I checked in this morning. You set up that person to steal my purse, didn’t you?”
“Moi?”
“Hey, he tried to punch my sister!” Kelly said furiously. She glared at Gabriel, fists clenched. She wasn’t above socking a dragon right in his perfect kisser. “She may be a snarky, annoying bitch – okay, she definitely is – but punching her is going way too far!”
“If I had employed someone to mug you, I might also have encouraged him to throw a fake punch at your sister in order to start a fight and ensure that the centurions took them both into custody. But this is all pure speculation.”
“How did you even know I’d be coming to town?”
He smiled and blinked his eyes at her, giving a fake impression of wide-eyed innocence. “Who, me?”
“Stop that,” she said, wincing. “That is not a good look for you.”
“Nonsense,” he said with a wink. “Everything’s a good look for me.” And he strolled out of the room.
