Page 57 of Another Man’s Treasure

She scoffs up at him, completely ignoring the concerned bunch of his dark brows. “This isn’t Raiders of the Lost Ark, dude; it’s a green witch lair.”

He crosses his enormous arms. “I don’t know what that means.”

“Well,” I say with a laugh, “keep an eye out for giant rolling balls, and if she says run, just run.” Realizing I just told a male with no legs to run, I blanch.

Kohdiy frowns at me. “Got it. Big balls mean get out fast.”

Is he making a joke? Or is that sarcastic? I have no idea.

“Well,” Willa chirps, “shall we see what lies behind this door?” She looks at Wild and me. “Sorry, boys, I really thought maybe we’d have to manhandle it open. But now that you’re here, you want in on this adventure, don’t you?”

“Hells yeah,” I snort, pushing out of Wilder’s tight grip to join her. He’s right behind me, halting at my back as we stand looking into the darkness. “Adventure, here we come!”

Wilder

Initially, I was dismayed at Willa’s interruption of my apology to Oz, not that anything has ever stopped her from interrupting me during a conversation before. But I have to admit this situation grows more intriguing by the minute.

And now Oz stands in the doorway looking as excited as Willa to enter the dark room beyond. She doesn’t bother to wait for any of us, clicking her flashlight on and disappearing into…well, I can’t even assume it’s a room. We literally have no idea. I’m about to shout to her to be careful when the ophiotaurii lurches forward and grabs the back of her shirt with a deep hiss.

“There could be a cliff there, Willa,” he says with a low growl. “I’m quickly learning your penchant for rushing headfirst into things, but⁠—”

She appears out of the darkness, spinning to flash him a big smile. “Didn’t bother you when we met, Kohdiy. You can let go; there’s a light switch right here.”

He growls again, lifting the tip of his tail and shaking it.

Gods, he’s part rattler. Even among ophiotaurii, that’s uncommon, from what I’ve heard. I did a little research on the reclusive monsters before coming here because the Sandovals’ estate borders their territory in the north. When I met Emmer Sandoval the first time, he mentioned having had run-ins with the Gulch’s clan a few times in the past.

Border disputes, he’d called them. At the time, I hadn’t thought much of it because I knew the Pine Gulch clan keeps mostly to the mountains. Now that I’m seeing how fucking big Kohdiy is, I’m having second thoughts. Last thing I want to do is tussle with a male this size…not to mention more than one of them.

Something to catch up with Emmer Sandoval about as soon as I’m back home.

Willa flips a switch, and a light flickers on above her head. It blinks off and on three or four times before holding steady, casting faint light on her. Just behind her, the edge of a rug is the only thing in view. She turns and walks toward it, and as she moves, more lights come on from above and the floor.

Kohdiy slithers through the door, ducking to get inside. Oz reaches for my hand with a soft smile. “Coming, husbeast?”

I thread my fingers through his, noting the chill of his skin and the way his thicker fingers curve around mine. Fingers he wrapped around my length last night.

That’s all overshadowed as the full room comes into view. It’s cavernous, probably a hundred yards long with a ceiling forty or so feet above us. The lights that flickered on? They’re long chandeliers that look like raindrops dripping in chunky rows from the ceiling. To our right, a white desk covered in cobwebs and dust runs the entire length of the room. Above it are boxes, some opened, all dusty, just sitting there.

On the left-hand side is a library from floor to ceiling. And in the middle, there’s a huge seating area with a big square table.

“There’s an ophiotaurii bench,” Kohdiy says, winding toward the seating area. “Why?” He looks at Willa, brows furrowed. “Why would he have this?”

“How’s it work?” Oz asks that question, joining Kohdiy to stare at the intricately carved chair. It’s got a tall, thin back and a broad seat with multilayered tiers like a cake stand.

Kohdiy drops carefully into the chair, holding his arms as he bunches his coils around the base of the chair and into each tier until his rattle rests in a little carved-out nook in the front.

“Ah,” Oz says with a tinkling laugh. “I suppose I should have been able to figure this out.”

Kohdiy slides off the chair, crossing his arms. “This chair is uncommon among our clan. We have one, and no one has sat in it for, eesh, nearly two hundred years. It’s meant for communing with important visitors.”

Willa strokes the burled back of the chair before looking up at him. “Then I think we can assume that’s what it was doing here, and Sipan Varian is full of even more secrets than we initially thought.” She spins in place, staring around the room. “I tend to get a little obsessive with things, so I’m gonna be here for, like, a couple of days at least. You guys should go if you want, or if you want to stick around and do some investigating, that’s cool.”

That said, she turns into the room and heads for the long, skinny work area along the right-hand side, not paying us any mind.

Kohdiy looks down at me. “Was she serious about being down here for days?”

I huff out a laugh. “Yeah, and then she’ll show up at your house like, hey, let’s go get dinner. Then she’ll look in your face and tell you everything about your childhood. It’s all just…Willa. She’s always been this way, so very, unapologetically Willa.”