Shit. So I’d given myself away. “How? That tomb was completely untouched when I found it. The entrance was hidden in a cliff face. No one has been there in millennia.”
“I knew it was there, I just haven’t entered it. It’s an ancient holy place. I like to leave things as I find them. Unlike some people.”
Guilt stabbed me over the warrior goddess.
“I’m fixing her tomorrow when I return the chalice”—I still had to find someone with the magic to actually help me do that—“but how’d you even know I was there? Or that it was me?”
“After I felt the magic that destroyed the warrior column, I went down there. Most of the enchantments were deactivated, but I knew only the best treasure hunter could get past them. That’s you.”
“Were they your enchantments? Was the demon your guard?” I knew he’d said he’d never been in there, but I couldn’t keep myself from asking.
“Demon?”
The surprise on his face looked genuine.
My shoulders relaxed slightly. It felt like he was telling the truth, though I wasn’t one hundred percent sure. It still scared the crap out of me that he might know what the demon had known. I was dead if he knew my secret, and so were Del and Nix.
“There was a demon guarding the tomb. I sent it back to its hell,” I said.
“That’s strange. I’ve never sensed a demon there before.”
“Well he was there. It was common for the ancients to hire them to guard tombs, since they don’t die like normal supernaturals do. And I’m returning the chalice, so no harm, no foul.”
His head cocked to the side. “Is that how it works? Because I don’t think so. If you do a job for me, however, we’ll consider it even.”
I chewed on my lip. “What kind of job?”
“Can we go in and talk about this?” He looked around the tiny landing, and I realized that I was still standing on the stairs below him.
“Uh, no,” I blurted, then winced. I really didn’t want him in my place. It wasn’t fit for visitors. It was never fit for visitors.
“Then let’s go for a drink somewhere and I’ll explain.”
Under normal circumstances, I might have considered it. But nothing about our encounter had been normal. And what he might know still freaked me out. I didn’t think he knew what the demon had known—that was an old demon. Though Aidan was the Origin, he wasn’t old, maybe late twenties.
“Just give me an idea of what the job is.”
“I’m looking for the Scroll of Truth.”
Recognition slammed into me and my heart raced, but I had no idea why. I’d never heard that name before, not that I remembered.
But then, my brain still started to melt when I tried to remember the first fifteen years of my life. Or at least, that was what it felt like. But that name sounded so familiar. I strained, trying to pull any details out of my mind that I could. Anything. Why did it sound so familiar?
Piercing pain shot through my head. I retreated.
“What is it?” I asked, trying to play it cool, act like I didn’t really care.
“A compendium of knowledge about the strongest Magica and shifters.”
Oh hell. I could see why he would want something like that. He was one of the most powerful magical beings out there. Powerful beings didn’t like their secrets exposed, not if they could help it.
Problem was, I was also a powerful being, even if I didn’t use that power.
I needed to think about this, but I couldn’t focus around him. His power, and face, and body—the whole package—distracted me.
“Okay, I’ll have a drink with you. So we can talk about this. But let me shower first.” More than getting clean, I needed a second to myself. “There’s a place a few doors down the street, a bar called The Flying Wizard. Why don’t you meet me there?”
I’d have preferred to go to Potions & Pastilles where I could at least get something to eat, but I didn’t want him around Nix, or my two friends who ran P & P, Connor and Claire.
He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll see you there.”
His body almost brushed mine as he passed. I held my breath, swearing that the air between us actually sparked, then let myself into my apartment. I leaned against the door and let my head drop back against the wood.
Holy cow, it was a lot to absorb. I sucked in some calming breaths, but the sight of my boring little apartment did nothing to put me at ease.
I pushed off the door and crossed the living room to my bedroom, where I pressed my hand against an empty spot along the back wall. I bounced on my heels as I waited for the spell to ignite. It took only a second, but soon a door appeared. I pushed it open and entered my trove.
Calm immediately enveloped me. My heart slowed and my mind cleared as I looked around at the neat shelves full of weapons, boots, and leather jackets.
Treasure meant different things to different people. Right now, to me, it meant those three things. When I woke in that field with Nix and Del ten years ago, treasure was food and shelter. We followed our senses toward what we wanted most. It was how we survived, though it wasn’t easy.
While a huge part of me didn’t want to believe that I was a FireSoul, I had a hidden lair in my house that was filled with treasure. I lived on the whole top floor of an old factory, easily four thousand square feet. My apartment took up about a tenth of that. My trove took up the rest.
Like Smaug crouching on his piles of gold, I hoarded my valuables. Del and Nix had their own troves. We knew it was kinda weird and very dragon-like, but we couldn’t help ourselves. I was perpetually broke because of my compulsion to fill this place up. I didn’t like to steal anymore, not if I could help it.