Stars of Fortune (The Guardians Trilogy 1)

“He’s doing a card trick, but I don’t think it’s working out for him.”

“Such lack of faith and wonder.” Bran sighed. He ran a fingertip along the fanned cards. “Not here or there at all, it seems, because . . . Do you mind?” he said to Riley and took the hat from her head, turned it over. “Your Queen of Hearts is in Riley’s hat.”

Sasha’s eyes widened. “That’s not possible.”

“And yet it is.” He held up the queen between two fingers, turned his hand at the wrist, and held nothing.

“I’ve gotta say,” Riley commented as Sasha gaped. “That’s some of the best close-up magic I’ve seen. I also have to say I’ve done some magic of my own. We’ve got a place if we want it.”

“How did the card get in Riley’s hat when she wasn’t here?” Sasha demanded.

“But she is here, and she’s polished off my beer.”

“But . . .” Then with a laugh, Sasha held up her hands in surrender. “I want to see you do it again when— Did you say you found a place?”

“Yeah, and that earns me a beer of my own. But I’ll wait until we get there, take a look at it. It’s not far. Just outside of Sidari.”

“I saw Sidari on the map—west of here.”

“You got it. I had some luck.” Now Riley reached out, took a long sip of Sasha’s juice. “Friend of a friend of an uncle. It’s his villa, and he’s in the States on business for the next few weeks. His lucky day, too, as the couple who was caretaking the place had to leave just yesterday. Guy took a bad fall, broke his leg. So the friend of a friend of an uncle says we can use the place if we do the caretaking thing.”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Bran asked.

“Yard work, gardening, maintaining the pool—did I mention there’s a pool? There’s also a dog—so feed and water—and chickens.”

“Chickens?” Sasha repeated.

“Feed and water again, and help ourselves to the eggs. We take care, we stay for free until he gets back in about four weeks. Sounds like a hell of a deal to me.”

“We should certainly have a look.” Bran put his cards back in their case. “Ready for it?”

Nodding, Sasha got to her feet. “I think I could live with staying at a villa on the Ionian Sea. It’s just when things sound too good to be true . . .”

“There’s usually a catch.” Bran stood, took her hand. “Why don’t we go find the catch, see if we can live with whatever it might be.”

The road west was nearly straight, until it wasn’t. The

n it was a quick series of curves and loops Riley drove with the same careless speed.

Sasha saw clearly why Sidari was billed as the top resort area in the north. Its situation right on the bay, its spectacular views. Too many people was her first thought, far too many filling the streets, the beaches, the shops.

The noise of them made her head ache, stretched her nerves wire thin. But the jittery feeling didn’t pass, even when they’d left the town behind, turned onto a narrow road. She shifted her gaze to the sea again, trying to recapture that sensation of being in the moment.

She saw it, knew it, understood the feeling now. The promontory rose up from the sea, high and proud. She’d stood there with him, in the night wind of an oncoming storm. He had lightning in his hand, and she a terrible burning in her heart.

Her painting.

She hadn’t shown them, either of them, and yet the road had brought them here.

Dimly she heard Riley’s voice talking about coves and inlets, caves, both above and under water.

“It’s going to get bumpy,” Riley added. “House is up, on the cliff. Views ought to be killer.”

She didn’t look, not yet. She already knew what she’d see. Instead she concentrated on the wildflowers, blooming heroically along the side of what was now no more than a track, even blooming in the track itself.

The jeep banged and bumped, forced Riley to at last slow down, then stop when they came to a set of iron gates.

“I’ve got the passcode.” She leaned out, punched the code into a keypad. “He said he had a neighbor come by this morning to feed the dog, do the chicken deal, check on things. And claims the dog’s friendly.”