Bride Of The Dragon by Georgette St. Clair Page A

couple that need a closer look.” She named the gems that she’d handled, including the ones that healed and the ones that increased aggression.
    “I’ll have those pulled from the floor immediately,” Gabriel said. “And I’ll see about finding a way to double-check our inventory.”
    Like bringing in another empath? That would be the only way. “Just don’t tell me about it,” Kelly said. “I’m here to find one particular big red rock. Other than that, I don’t want to know about any other highly questionable activities you’re taking part in.”
    Later that afternoon, back at the castle, Kelly went to her room to check her emails and update the agency on her progress – or lack thereof. Gabriel was off somewhere else, doing God knew what – he claimed he was in his office doing paperwork, but for all Kelly knew, he could be off boosting the Hope Diamond. That seemed more likely than the paperwork scenario.
    The door to Kelly’s room swung open, and Evangeline strode in. She still had that sullen “woe is me” look stamped on her face. Kelly barely resisted the urge to say, “Careful, your face will freeze that way.” Instead, she shut her laptop, swiveled away from her desk, and said, “Hey, Evangeline, what’s up?”
    “Why do you want to arrest my uncle? Is it because you think he stole the Dragonsblood?” Evangeline demanded.
    “He told you that?” Kelly said, startled.
    “Of course not,” Evangeline said, her tone bitter. “Nobody tells me anything around here. All they do is lie to me.”
    “About what?”
    Evangeline shrugged. “How would I even know, since they’re lying?”
    “Yeah, I know how you feel.”
    “‘I know you feel’”, Evangeline mimicked. “Everybody always says that.”
    Now Kelly was starting to get annoyed. “Listen up,” she snapped. “I didn’t ask you to come in here with your pissy attitude. Yes, I said pissy,” she continued when Evangeline’s eyes widened in surprise. “My father was the president of an investment firm, and he was also a thief who stole millions from the firm, and when the police started investigating it, everybody lied to me about it for months. All these whispers and tiptoeing around, and my father had disappeared, and I had to find out by seeing it on the evening news when a warrant was issued for his arrest. My friends stopped being my friends and started putting bags of dog crap in my locker at school. So yes, I do know how you feel. But I didn’t go around taking out my problems on everybody else. Get over yourself.”
    Evangeline’s eyes opened even wider, and Kelly shook her head, leaning back in her chair.
    “Sorry,” she sighed. She shouldn’t be yelling at a teenager. Or swearing at her, although she was sure Evangeline heard far worse on whatever TV shows she watched and websites she visited.
    “No, you’re right,” Evangeline said quietly. “I shouldn’t be mean to you. None of this is your fault. It’s Uncle Calder’s fault.”
    “Calder?” Kelly said in surprise. “What did he do?”
    “I’m not allowed to tell you.” She glanced at Kelly. “The Dragonsblood Ruby has powers. What does it do?”
    “I wouldn’t be able to tell you that unless I handled it.”
    “But it does have powers.” Evangeline was watching her carefully.
    “It is rumored to be an extremely powerful jewel, but it’s never been examined by a professional empath,” she said. “The family who owns it purchased it for its beauty, not its abilities. I wouldn’t know if the rumors are true without touching it.”
    The fact that Evangeline was asking her about it made Kelly think that it was somewhere on the premises.
    “How can you tell when a jewel has powers? Just in general?” Evangeline asked. “Can you feel it, like it’s something that’s alive?”
    As she spoke, she stroked her bracelet, which had round lozenges of rose quartz set in gold. It was a gem that was called the “mothering stone”; mothers imbued it