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“That’s not all, Ash,” Avalon went on. “I have some more information, if you’re interested.”
I whipped my head back toward the intercom.
“About what?”
“Oh. I hear things,” the wizard snickered. “Little tidbits from here and there, as it were.”
“Avalon…”
“Oh, all right,” he grumbled. “You’re no fun.”
“I never claimed to be.”
“I’ve had some of my coven check into Barney Madison’s current dealings—you know, just for shits and giggles. An old man’s got to do something to keep himself entertained.”
“What did you find, Avalon?”
“It appears as though Barney is in the process of engineering a rather costly deal between himself and Gerrard Holmes… for a wife.”
My eyes met Rachel’s again. She had been right. Barney was going to marry her off.
“The lion oil tycoon?” my assistant asked, the frown on her face creasing her cheeks.
“One and the same.”
“He’s a bastard!” Rachel gasped. “He would have to buy a wife. No one would ever marry him willingly!”
My breaths escaped jaggedly.
“Briar is a plum catch for anyone who can afford her and the brood of children she can bear,” Avalon said, not helping my frantically beating heart.
“It’s for the best,” I said. “She’ll be able to raise her child and remain in the kind of life she deserves. It’s a win-win.”
“Oh, no,” Avalon countered. “She’s not keeping the one she’s with.”
“What? What does that mean?” I sputtered.
“Her child is promised to another family. Gerrard won’t want a ruined bride. Barney is keeping her pregnancy under wraps until the babe is born and then giving her to the lion.”
I jumped up from my place, heat staining my face crimson.
“He can’t!” I hissed. “I won’t allow it.”
“What are you doing, Ash?” Rachel cried out, alarm lacing her tone. “You can’t go there now.”
“The hell I can’t! Briar still legally belongs to me, remember? I can take her back.”
Rachel paled, upset by my word choice, but I didn’t care about decorum. I needed to save Briar before it was too late.
“But if you go now, Ash, it doesn’t change the state of the curse,” she reminded me softly.
“What curse?” Avalon asked, his voice growing louder, as if he had moved closer to the phone.
I reached over and disconnected the phone without saying goodbye to him, turning my full attention to Rachel now.
“I have to do something, Rachel. I can’t just leave her there to be torn away from her baby and sold off to Gerrard Holmes.”
“Then let me go and tell her the options,” Rachel suggested. “I’ll see if she might be open to the idea of taking you up on your offer of an apartment.”
