Heart Fortune (Celta) (5 page)

Five

T
he fox flipped his tail
.
Catch me if you can! I looove hiding places, and this smells WONDERFUL. Smells all through the camp!

Which might be why the Elecampane Fams—two cats and a fox—had taken one sniff and never returned. Obviously “wonderful” was in the nose of the sniffer.

Another twitch of the tail and the fox disappeared into the hole. Jace struggled with temptation for a few seconds. Drew up memory to visualize what he’d seen down there the last time. A small clear area with a metal wall in front, a loose rockslide to his left. Solid wall of rock and debris to his right and behind him, though the top of another wall could be seen. At the end, when they’d opened it up and pulled him out, he’d seen sky.

With a last prayer to the Lady and Lord and a final test to his personal spellshields—he didn’t think the fox had any—Jace walked down the beam. No trembling under his weight, a good sign.

When he reached the hole, he sat and scooted downward. “I’m coming.” He kept his voice low, not wanting anything to trigger another landslide.

He was answered by a series of high, excited yips from the fox below. People shouted, words and maybe his name, but nothing he heard clearly. He slid into the hole, the leather of his trous caused him to pick up speed and he nearly lost his balance. “Coming down!” he said just before he tipped off the beam.

He landed with bent knees in the gloom at the bottom of the hole. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dimness, he saw no sign of the fox.

Scrabbling sounded to his left. “Are you there . . . Lepid?” That was the name Glyssa had screamed.

Rock fell from above, striking him on his left shoulder. He jumped to the side, coughed, put his arms over his face, caught a glimpse of a fox butt wriggling through a hole at the top of the rock.

“Whee!” The fox’s noise accompanied rock sliding on the other side of the left pile. Jace eyed the top where a rectangle of black showed. He could squeeze through it . . . if sufficiently foolhardy.

I see. I SEE, man!

Wiping his arm across his mouth even though he’d try telepathy, Jace pushed a mental comment to the fox.
What do you see?
He heard scratching and clicking that made him think of dancing paws, then a dash away. . . .

I see storage boxes, I see a hallway. I see more rocks. I see HOLES.

Envy whipped through Jace. “Come back here at once!” He scrambled for a threat. “Or I’ll ensure you have no treats for a month, a
long
time.”

He sensed the fox pausing, ears cocked.
Treats? I will get treats?

Did that mean he hadn’t? Uh-oh.

Jace’s shoulders tensed.
I promise. Come back now so you can tell all that you have seen to everyone!

So I can tell all that I have seen to everyone!
The fox gave a cheerful chirrup.

Paw sounds running back. Leaps on the other side of the rock– pile.

Rockslide! Yelps of pain!

Jace plunged forward into the scree, taking bruising hits against his body, muscling through, snatching the fox just before a big chunk of metal hit red fur. Jace hunched over, turning his head for breath, while the sound of the fall echoed.

The small, young fox shivered in his arms.
You are fast!

“Thanks.” He coughed at the renewed dust in the air, straightened and pivoted back to see the pile was now no more than three-quarters of a meter high. The rest of the rockfall had spread out into a room that held several round-cornered storage boxlike objects. A shelf with several smaller boxes had netting pulled over it and sealed against the wall. He wanted to run and open a box or two and see what was inside.

Not his place, and man, he wished it were. Wished he had enough gilt to convince the Elecampanes to take him on as a partner. Then he’d . . . Stupid.
Stup!
He didn’t have the means, he was just a worker.

When the dust diminished he noted a corridor leading off the room, a tilted and crumpled sheet of metal bisecting it, some boulders, but also dark space.

He gritted his teeth. People were shouting down at him.

“I’m fine,” he yelled up. “We’re both fine!”

It took fortitude he didn’t know he had to turn away from the beckoning adventure, back to the girder going up. The clear area around his feet was less, since rock had fallen there, too. He scuffed a foot to send some pebbles back toward the piles, making the spot less treacherous for the next feet coming down.

He didn’t know who’d be the next down, but . . .

“Are you sure you’re all right?” boomed Raz Cherry T’Elecampane.

“Yes. Coming up!”

The fox whined low in his throat, then wriggled and looked up at Jace.

I found a secret way! I am a hero!

Jace smiled. He understood that bright and shiny feeling.

The hole above was bigger now, he could easily see the deep blue sky and high, scarflike white clouds. He kicked at the beam which had fallen to a lower angle, but it seemed to rest solidly against rock. The girder didn’t move. Steadying his grasp on the fox, he began walking up. His work boots gripped the metal through the dust, didn’t slip or slide. He kept a good hold on the wriggling fox.

This has been very fun!
Lepid said.

As people began to see them, they cheered. He strode faster, grinning. He’d beaten the odds again. He’d cheated death again.

He was a hero again.

Just the way he liked it.

“Thank you so much!” a woman gushed—Glyssa. Her voice tweaked his nerve endings as she broke away from Raz T’Elecampane holding her back in the circle of people watching. Jace didn’t like seeing the man’s hands on her.

No mistaking her carroty hair tightly controlled in a braid around her head. He
would not
remember the springy abundance of that hair slipping across his body.

She flushed when she saw him, glanced aside, brushed at the severely cut tunic and trous suit of dust brown.

The fox licked Jace under his chin. He enjoyed it, the weight of the animal, too.

I like you, too,
Lepid said.

All right, the FoxFamiliar could read his mind or sense his emotions. He tightened his inner shields.

Lepid whined in disappointment.
I can’t hear you as much, now.

“You don’t need to.”

And Glyssa was there, pale again and breathing hard with fear, followed by Funa Twinevine who eyed him narrowly.

“Thank you so much.” Glyssa looked up into his eyes and he knew she hadn’t forgotten their sex fling, either. She glanced aside. “GentleSir.”

His muscles relaxed slightly, glad she was playing this cool. He wasn’t ready to acknowledge their past small affair. If she was here for a while, they’d have to relate out of bed.

The FoxFam hopped back into her arms and licked her. Jace’s gaze fixed on her moist skin, remembered the taste of that. More than her skin.

“You’re welcome, GentleLady,” he said.

She stuck out her hand as the young fox climbed up her chest and settled around her shoulders. “Glyssa Licorice,” she said, “and my Fam is Lepid.”

He took her fingers . . . cool and smooth, and he accepted the sizzle of desire that went straight to his groin as he kept his face stuck in a casual smile. He found himself bowing over her hand, something he hadn’t done since he’d met GrandLady Del D’Elecampane. Some women’s presence simply demanded that. The innate elegance of Glyssa had always called to him.

A snort came from Funa. Andic walked up to stand next to Jace. He released Glyssa’s fingers as he straightened and let Andic shoulder him aside.

“Andic Sanicle,” the man said, taking her hand and also bowing. “And surely you belong to the PublicLibrary Licorices, the GrandHouse?”

She smiled at Andic. “Surely I do. I’m here to help with the recording of these historic events.”

Another huff from Funa at the statement and Glyssa withdrew her hand from Andic, pivoted to Funa. “And here for my field trip and research to qualify for my FirstLevel Librarianship status.”

“Huh.” Funa crossed her arms.

“Hey, Glyssa,” shouted the pilot from long meters away. “Come get your stuff.”

“Excuse me, please.” Glyssa nodded to them and turned, hurrying back toward the airship and a new, huge two-meter-long duffle bag of licorice red that would take Flair to move. With the coat of arms of the PublicLibrary.

Jace watched the sway of her body as she walked, supple, energetic, just like she’d been in bed.

The fox on her shoulders looked back at him, barked, and loosened his jaw in a smile, tongue out to taste the air.

“As for you . . .” She lifted the fox and as her path angled away Jace saw her making a grumpy face at the kit. “You be more careful, and can you
please
mind what I say?”

Lepid gave a sharp bark, though Jace couldn’t think the FoxFam had agreed.

“Interesting woman,” Andic said. “I heard she’s connected to the FirstFamilies somehow. Friendship, I think.”

Jace jerked. That hadn’t been true when he’d first met Glyssa at the middle-class social club, he was sure. Someone would have mentioned it. He didn’t care for nobles much, and like anyone with a bit of sense, would definitely avoid the highest of that lot.

“Worth cultivating,” Andic said.

“Hmm.” Now Funa sounded thoughtful.

And Jace became all too aware of the quickened throb of his pulse, the sweet tang of desire on the back of his tongue that he wanted to satisfy by kissing Glyssa, running his mouth over her body.

Unlike the other two, he didn’t want to get mixed up with Glyssa. At least that’s what his brain thought. His body was another matter. He let a sigh sift quietly out his nostrils. The odds of him being able to keep his hands off Glyssa Licorice were damn low. He wasn’t much on resisting temptation.

Glyssa could feel Jace’s—and others’—gaze on her as she walked to the items stacked in a neat pile: the picnic hamper, Lepid’s basket, her large pursenal, and a giant duffle bag. The last was provided by Laev, her Family wouldn’t have had the coat of arms put on the thing. She wasn’t sure what all was in the bag. She touched the coat of arms, activating the anti-grav Flair spell. The duffle rose waist high.

Lepid jumped from her shoulder to the bag. It didn’t even rock under his weight. She ran her finger under his collar. “This didn’t catch on anything when you were underground?”

No. I found a secret way into the ship. I am a HERO.

She tapped his nose. “You scared me. And we must sync your collar synced to the medical clinic here. Especially if you can’t be trusted to stay with me.”

One of the owners of the project, Raz Cherry T’Elecampane, joined them, aiming a charming smile at them. “He’ll be fine.” Raz’s smile widened. “Especially since my lady has a FoxFam, Shunuck, who will help you keep an eye on him.”

Lepid’s eyes rounded.
Another FoxFam!

“That’s right.” Raz rubbed Lepid’s head, tweaked his large ears. “My daughter and I have cat Fams. I assure you that they will also keep Lepid in line.” He met Glyssa’s eyes. “We’ve cleared an area near our pavilion to set up your own.”

A pavilion! Did she have a pavilion? “Thank you.” How close was it to Jace’s? She still had to control her breath from the first sight of him, how he’d appeared more vivid than anyone else. Her heart still beat fast. Everything in her
yearned
for him . . . just to be in his company. But his eyes had been wary when they’d rested on her and she’d kept a mask on.

Raz T’Elecampane stared at her, raised a brow. She yanked her attention back to him.

He waved at the ship where his HeartMate stood with the pilot and some workers, uncrating the communications equipment.

“You have any ideas how that stuff goes together or works?”

“Oh!” Glyssa flushed. She bent down to her large pursenal and drew out a portfolio of papyrus along with a pack of recording spheres. “I’m sorry. Here are the specifications and the instructions.”

Raz Elecampane gingerly took the objects, smiled her apology away. “I won’t be handling this. I’m the people person.”

She believed that, the man’s charisma was palpable. He’d been a leading actor in Druida and at his own theater outside the city for years. She and her friends had taken turns with infatuations with him after seeing him perform when they were younger.

“Del!” he called. “I have the data!”

His HeartMate and wife looked up, strolled over with a long-legged stride that showed she’d walked the world. She nodded her curly and bright blond head to Glyssa, stuck out a hardened hand that Glyssa shook. “Greetyou, GrandMistrys Licorice. Good to have you here.” She cocked a brow at Raz. “My HeartMate has been agitating for a better detailed record of the project.” Del shrugged strong shoulders. “But I prefer to hire and pay excavators.”

“Laev T’Hawthorn and Camellia D’Hawthorn are handling my salary,” Glyssa said.

Del’s mouth tightened. Raz frowned.

Del said, “We’ve tried to keep the FirstFamilies out of the project.” She arrowed a look at Glyssa. “Especially Laev T’Hawthorn, that one is a pistol.”

Raz took his HeartMate’s arm. “We prefer to control the excavation of the ship,” Raz said smoothly. They began walking from the landing field to the tent city organized into rows with one large red and yellow pavilion.