Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
I’m sure my face could be the poster boy for disbelief.
Kate nervously looks between us. “I’m only sharing this because I need your help. The pendant that was stolen is made of the same substance as this…”
I lift the ring from the table and turn it over in my fingers. The gold band is wide and ancient looking. The stone that is set deeply within the band is pale green. It’s a dozen shades lighter than Kate’s eyes.
The thing is translucent from some angles, opaque from others. Light seems to emanate from the inside. I’ve never seen anything like it. “What the hell is this?”
Simona comes around the table to look over my shoulder at it. “I don’t know, but I want one! It’s practically glowing.”
“There are only two that we know of. To say it’s rare is a massive understatement. It was mined on my native island.” She blows out a slow breath as she focuses in the half-distance. “And the truth hidden in this ring and the stolen pendant could rock the world.”
My heart pounds as I consider what this twist might mean in the unpredictable world of Kate. As I hold the ring in my palm, a slow warmth spreads through my hand. “Jesus, is this thing radiating heat?”
Kate touches the tip of her finger to the ring and pushes it around in my palm. “It is.”
Heat pulses off of it, filling my palm with warmth. “It’s got to be radioactive.”
“No, it’s not. My grandmother tested it years ago. Whatever it is, is completely unknown. Nan guarded the secret her whole life. And her father before that. He was wise enough to know that it is incredibly special. Otherworldly.”
Simona plucks the ring from my palm and returns to her seat with it in her hand. “Can I put it on?”
“Sure. It won’t hurt you. My grandmother wore if for years. And I’m proof that it won’t make your finger fall off.”
Scotch chews thoughtfully, then says. “Good to know. I like her fingers just like they are. What makes you think this is otherworldly?”
Kate glances at me. Those luminous green eyes of hers nearly rocking my foundation. Damn her. She has this way of melting the wall I’ve built.
I’m almost as perplexed about the effect that gaze has on me as I am about the damn rock in that ring.
Kate glances around. She makes a thinly veiled effort at eating as Scotch takes the ring for his own inspection. “I’m hesitant to say.”
As irritated as I feel with her, I understand her hesitance to trust three strangers with some kind of national secret.
But if her life is in danger, she’ll be much better served to fully inform us of all the facts.
“It’s up to you, Kate, or whoever you are.
You don’t have to tell us, but your secret is safe here.
I wouldn’t tell you that if it wasn’t. And to best help you, we need to know what’s happening. “
She ducks her head. “I think it’s best that I don’t say any more right now. The important thing is, really, that we get the pendant back before it truly gets in the wrong hands. And I make sure my Nan is okay.”
The answer doesn’t sit well with me. But Simona and Scotch seem nonplussed for the moment. They go about their business of eating and chatting about Agile. Although, if I know them, they are thinking about the gigantic WTF revelations just like I am.