Heart Fortune (Celta) (14 page)

“Did you bring yours?” asked Raz softly, trying to draw the information from her.

Relationships were built on trust. She wanted them to trust her, so she had to give a little. “No. It’s . . . fragile.”

Del nodded. Shrugged. “All well and good, and this was a nice visit. But it didn’t help us much.” She stood again. “We still have problems, and if the majority of the crew get angry with us, we’ll be in a bad fix.”

“Final option is that we will have to subsidize their leaving,” Raz agreed.

They both looked at Glyssa. “We don’t want to shut this project down. Once we do, who knows how long it will take to get started up again?”

Del grunted. “Or Laev T’Hawthorn and Straif T’Blackthorn and the other FirstFamilies will swoop in and make it their own.”

Now
that
was a possibility Glyssa could see. “I don’t want that. This project is
yours
,” she said before she thought.

“Thanks,” Raz said drily.

Glyssa shrugged tightness from her shoulders. “Camellia deserves her share from Captain Hoku pursuant to Celtan salvage rights.”

“We agree,” Del said. “We’ve always agreed, even before her line of descent was proven in JudgementGrove. We are honorable.”

Glyssa nodded politely.

“This venture has cost us a lot in gilt, energy, Flair, time,” Raz said. “On a project like this, investigating the past, doing something never done before, superstition runs rampant.” He spread his hands. “We are isolated from Druida City and the other smaller cities and towns established on the west coast. Below us is an ancient relic that could hold
anything
. Great, unimaginable treasures of the past. Knowledge of our ancestors and ourselves beyond anything we have now.” His voice dropped. “Or terrible curses—bad air, sicknesses that still live on from the colonists, or have mutated from Earthan viri to a plague that could kill us all.”

Del snorted and broke the spell that had enveloped Glyssa at the actor’s words. “And we’ll have to deal with danger, and greed. That greed has escalated since we opened the hole down into the interior of the ship.” She squeezed her husband’s shoulder. “Which we haven’t yet planned for.”

“We’ll need dedicated guards. Men and women who actually hire out as those. We had that slated for next year. Time to move it up.”

Sighing, Del subsided back into the twoseat. “So we need to offer shares in the project.” She stared at Glyssa. “Current crew only. Deducted from their pay if they want. We’ll offer that soon.”

“Staff includes you, GrandMistrys Licorice. We did a little checking on you with
our
friends. You could make a bona fide gesture. Are you in or not?” Raz asked.

Her life wasn’t here. This was only her third day here. Her Family, and their investments, were always conservative, and her gilt was mixed with theirs.

The way the rumors were running around the area, the dissatisfaction of some of the staff could bring down the whole venture. She’d be foolish to put gilt into this. To tie herself and her funds to the Elecampanes instead of Laev T’Hawthorn.

But the thrill of adventure, curiosity, and the yearning for a fascinating project had her saying, “Count me in.”

Raz sprang to his feet, laughed, and hugged her tightly. He was a strong, charismatic man, no matter that he was older than she. A man she’d once had a tiny infatuation for, like most other girls in Druida City. She felt nothing but a low wash of affection for him . . . and excitement at the gamble she was taking.

Del stood, cocked her head, narrowed her eyes. “How much are we talking about from you?”

Since Glyssa had studied her finances before leaving, she named a fairly high figure, and gasped at Raz’s renewed hug.

Del’s eyes glinted as she grinned. “That should buy you some percentage points of the venture.” She tucked her thumbs in her trous pockets. “We’ll figure out what kind of bonus we can give you, too, in a choice of items recovered.”

Glyssa’s eyes went wide. Imagine having something from the starship
Lugh’s Spear
!

“I’d bet good gilt that Jace Bayrum will be one of the staff who’ll buy into the excavation,” Del said.

Glyssa believed so, too. Maybe she was more like her HeartMate than she thought.

She could imagine his scowl at being tied to a venture financially, the same venture as she.

He wouldn’t like it.

Too bad. She did. And she
loved
the excitement coursing through her. The dazzling hope of future discoveries.

“I can . . . I can write out a letter to transfer the funds to be taken to my bank by the next airship.”

“We’ll have a contract for you by then, one copy for us, one to be filed with the All Councils Clerk, one for you,” Raz said.

The practical specifics jolted her back a little. No way to keep this from her parents, her sister. They would strongly disapprove and look more askance at her field study than ever.

Laev T’Hawthorn would be disappointed. So would Camellia.

She’d have to explain herself to all of them and she didn’t know how.

Meanwhile Del D’Elecampane had grasped her arm in a show of unity, a bond of business, squeezed. Glyssa returned the pressure, but her airy thoughts had coalesced into a solid, heavy lump in her stomach.

What had she really done? How much trouble was she in now? With her Family since her money would be separated from theirs. With her friends, Laev and Camellia, who’d believed she was on their side if any struggle for control of the project manifested. With the expectations of the Elecampanes for the support she’d be expected to give them, subtly and openly.

With Jace who, if he subscribed to the project like she thought he might, wouldn’t want to be linked with her through business for as long as the excavation went on.

Trouble, for sure. How much, she didn’t know.

Fourteen

A
little stunned, a little nauseous at the huge commitment she’d just
made, Glyssa trudged back to her pavilion. Once the threshold air turned opaque and hardened behind her into a door, she settled herself. After a minute she slipped into the chair behind her desk and took up her writestick, focused on
work
.
That
she could control.

As she wrote, she marshaled her thoughts to record them on a sphere.

Glyssa finished her description of the day, being professionally cool with regard to the accusations against Jace—just relaying the facts. She spent a great amount of time on the description of the box retrieved from
Lugh’s Spear
. This included an exact tracing of the letters on the carton, and her conclusions, then finished her account.

Satisfied with her report, both written and viz, she decided to use the same procedure for Camellia’s project, a
story
, of her ancestor, the last Captain of
Lugh’s Spear
and the pilot who’d landed the ship. The only starship that had had casualties when landing, though all experts at the time had agreed it had been a miracle that no more than seven had been lost.

She researched and thought. Crafted a word, a phrase. Outlined the story.

Time passed and
the twinmoons rose. Their half-full, silvery light painted the empty path between the tents. She heard the murmur of voices, then singing. She could barely keep her eyes from closing.

Lepid!
she mind-called her FoxFam.

A distant yap came.
I am by the fire. You should come, too. It is very pleasant.
A pause.
Though some people do not sing very well.
I
sing better than they.

She laughed, then stood and stretched, set the page of her story atop the many sheets of papyrus she’d used to detail her report of the camp, the Elecampanes, the progress of her studies, as well as the investigations of others and the progress of the excavation. Put the longer outline for her story atop that.

I am going to bed now,
she sent to Lepid.

I will come in when people go away, and I check my caches and munch a little snack.
Wariness came through their link.

What is wrong?

I will find out if those cats or that other fox have found my caches and are eating from them.

Possessiveness and territoriality. She should have considered that. Other staff had Fams.
I will always provide food for you. You will never go hungry with me.

You are a good FamWoman,
Lepid said.

I hope so. And if your caches are not as you left them, please do not confront the cats or Shunuk fox. Let me handle that for you, too.
She tried to sound sweetly reasonable.

All right.
That seemed reluctant, but good enough for her as she slipped into her covers.
See you soon.

* * *

J
ace tossed and turned. Glyssa didn’t visit him that night in dreams,
either erotic or platonic. The irritation between them would keep her subconscious mind from drifting toward him for dream sex.

He hadn’t really expected her to come to him.

Had he?

But he didn’t sleep much, remembering the awful events of the day, his mind cataloguing them as if
he
was the librarian, not his phantom lover.

The morning had started out all right, with that walk with Zem and Lepid in the cool breaking dawn when most of the camp slept and the scents of nature ladened the air and he knew he strode through wilderness being tamed.

Then all his peace had been shattered as men had grabbed him and ’ported with him back to the opening of the ship. Accused him of theft! Of hurting the guards! Of being so greedy he needed something small and precious from the ship
now
and battered men to get it instead of waiting and sharing.

The day had deteriorated from there, the mortification of having Glyssa make excuses for him, his being banned from the communications and the excavation teams, being ignored at lunch.

And just before he’d joined Zem in the tent to sleep, he’d gone to the large circle around the central campfire . . . and been stuck on the outside of the circle instead of the first row. No one had smiled at him, invited him to scoot next to them. No woman had gestured for him to sit behind her and be her prop. No one had even met his eyes. That had all hurt.

His status in the camp had plummeted and, in fact, he couldn’t gauge it, didn’t know where he stood with the crew. He didn’t like that at all.

People he thought were friends apparently weren’t. Friendly rivals, like Andic, had turned sour toward him.

Tomorrow would be a tougher day as he adjusted his relationship with every single person in the camp. As he watched while others got to descend into
Lugh’s Spear
and recover the boxes, others work around the communications equipment.

He did know one thing. There wasn’t a curse on the camp, or a curse on him, but someone definitely wanted him framed.

He looked over at Zem who he’d set on a simple stand he’d made in the workshop, then Jace rolled over again on the too-thin bedsponge, feeling battered in mind and heart. In the dark, he tested the tiny link between him and Glyssa. Still there. His body ached for a woman. Ached for Glyssa. No!

But in the black heat of the tent with sweat beading on his aroused body, he admitted the truth. He ached for one woman only.

Terrible thing. If he gave in to his lust, she could lead him around by the balls, like his mother had done with his father.

He listened as people drifted back to their tents, mostly in couples, talking, a small laugh here and there but not the usual loud cheerful chatter . . . this “bad luck” business affected others, too.

He hadn’t felt so lonely in a long time.

* * *

G
lyssa didn’t sleep well. She’d gotten used to visiting Jace in her dreams.
So she moved restlessly, waking throughout the night. Weather blew in with gusts of wind, and she enjoyed feeling safe in her pavilion, hearing the sounds of the camp in a spattering rain so much that it took her mind off the disasters of the day . . . so she didn’t say the short rhyme that would soundproof her walls.

When Lepid zoomed through the door, deep in the night, after his nocturnal rambles, and hopped onto her bedsponge yipping a
FamWoman, good to see you! Good that you are up
, she welcomed him. She didn’t even mind when he shook himself off and scattered wet on her and the covers.

“Want to cuddle?” Before she’d finished the sentence, Lepid had crawled near her hip and curled up, fluffing his tail. He shivered.
Cold and wet out there.

Her hand went to his thick, coarse fur. “You are warm and safe here with me.” But it was a reminder that the official end of summer would come within a month and the camp would close for the winter in no more than two months. What would the Elecampanes do then?

Surely Glyssa’s story for Camellia would be done, as well as her field report. Her report was on schedule. Attracting Jace’s attention and getting him to be her lover wasn’t proving as easy as she’d anticipated.

She’d made a HeartGift for her HeartMate, of course, during her second Passage dreamquest at seventeen to free her Flair. And, by law, if she gave him his HeartGift and he kept it for a full eightday, she could claim him as her husband, bound to her alone for the rest of their lives.

She hadn’t thought she’d need to do that, and her HeartGift was so precious to her, and her pride so full that she’d win Jace without it, she hadn’t brought it with her. The origami hawkcel remained protected in her home bedroom safe. Foolish.

Lepid licked her hand, his tongue rough and damp, but love infusing his bond with her.
You are WISE FamWoman!

Glyssa snorted, she only wished that were true.

Wiggling into a more comfortable fox-circle, Lepid said,
And we have the BEST pavilion. No wind in here. No rain.

Which had Glyssa’s thoughts winging toward Jace again. She sniffed. If
he’d
been less foolish, he could be here with her, sleeping or making fabulous love. She hoped he froze his ass off.