Thousands (Dollar 4)

I had an indescribable need to find Elder and sail away on the Phantom.

The salty waves of the sea had infected me just as they’d infected him. The steady firmness of soil beneath my feet was no longer comforting. I wanted the constant ebb and flow and freedom found from the movable sea.

“He loves you, you know.”

I slammed to a stop, scarcely breathing.

“I think you know that, but I doubt it’s because he’s told you.”

Turning slowly, I faced him with wide eyes. “How do you know he loves me? Did he talk to you about me?” How else could this stranger know the inner thoughts of the man I’d fallen for?

Jethro shook his head with a languid elegance. “He spoke, yes, but not in the verbal sense.” Moving closer, he stopped a couple of feet away, giving me the sense of privacy while creating an intimate space between us. “I made a promise a long time ago not to eavesdrop on people. It’s bad for me and the person who catches my interest. However, I also can’t stand by and not tell the truth when neither party is doing so.”

His lips quirked almost in apology. “Prest loves you as much as I love my wife. He’s wracked with it, tormented by it, so fucking twisted with it, he’s drowning in guilt for something he’s done.” He cocked his head. “I have no right to ask…but what has he done?”

I bristled, standing up for Elder while this man believed he could be capable of harm. “He’s done nothing.”

“Someone has done something.” He scanned me head to toe. “You speak, too. Fairly loudly, I might add.”

I crossed my arms. “I’ve hardly said anything to you.”

He merely smirked and looked at the diamond as he balanced it over his knuckles before capturing it in his palm. “If he wasn’t the one who hurt you, who did?”

My heart stood still, poised like a deer ready to bound into the safety of bushes. “Why do you think anyone has hurt me?”

His gaze hardened. “Are you saying they didn’t?”

“I’m not in the habit of lying—even if you think I am. Nor am I in the habit of telling such things to strangers.”

He nodded respectfully. “And I’m not in the usual habit of prying into people’s privacy. My apologies.”

I huffed, unwilling to forgive him and this crazy conversation.

Clearing his throat, he held out the diamond. “Please…take this.”

I uncrossed my arms, letting them fall by my side. “What?”

“Please,” he urged. “Take it.”

My hand came up, accepting the gem before I could argue. I expected it to be warm from his touch, but it was just as cool as the others glittering on the table unloved. He’d given it to me but why? Perhaps it was to borrow, to hold, to put it back with its brothers and sisters.

I turned toward a trestle, ready to drop the gemstone onto a tray.

He shook his head. “Don’t. It’s for you.”

“For me?” My mouth hung wide. “You’re giving me a diamond?”

“The diamond is for him. The gift is for you.”

My head ached trying to keep up with him. “What…what do you mean?”

“I mean the task he set you.”

My veins turned to solid ice. “How do you know about that?” My skin broke out in goosebumps, matching the ice in my blood. Was this man telepathic? There was no other explanation for his knowing about Elder’s sinful request of a robbery.

What is going on here?

He stepped back, placing his hands into his pockets. “I overhead him in the corridor. He told you to steal a diamond.”

My cheeks flared with heat. “Oh, my God, of course.” My insides gushed with relief for a rational explanation. “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t going to…I swear. I was about to leave when you—” I dropped the diamond onto the closest tray, opening my hands wide in evidence of returning what wasn’t mine. “There, see…it’s back where it belongs.”

Footsteps sounded behind Jethro. He didn’t turn to see our visitor, but his entire body relaxed, his mouth became less taut, his shoulders less tense. “Hello, Nila. I was just having a conversation with our guest here.”

His wife glided into the room with her swan and raven dress. She could’ve been on a catwalk with how stunning and modelesque she appeared. I had no doubt she’d designed the dress she wore, just as she’d designed mine. She was a magician with cloth and organza. “Jethro, I thought we agreed you wouldn’t terrify anyone.”

He chuckled as she slotted herself into him and kissed his cheek.

“Not terrifying. Merely tormenting.” He tilted his chin at me. “Ms. Pimlico here won’t take the diamond I gave her.”

“Ah yes, the one Mr. Prest told her to steal.”

“You heard that, too?” I asked, mortified.

Nila nodded. “Hard not to when a man’s voice carries as much pain as yours does.”