Gameboard of the Gods (Age of X, #1)(125)

Tessa found an open jewelry box on the dresser and couldn’t resist the curiosity of looking through it. “Wow.” She lifted a bracelet encrusted in sapphires that still glittered. “Mae left so much behind.”

“You see any engagement rings in there?” he asked. He smiled at Tessa’s startled look. “Never mind.”

“They’re awfully mean to her, though. I guess I’d abandon a lot to get out of here too.” She swapped the bracelet for a pearl choker. “Did she leave in a hurry?”

“How would I know?” he asked lightly.

Tessa glanced away from her treasures, giving him a wry look. “How could you not know? You used to watch her with this look…it was hungry. Like you were going to die if you didn’t get inside her head.”

“Used to?” he asked.

She shrugged and returned to the jewelry box. “You’re still alive. I figured you must know everything now.”

Justin laughed in spite of himself. “You know, if I’d realized back in Panama that you’d—” He stopped speaking when he saw her next find. “What is that?”

Tessa lifted a silver necklace with a large pendant hanging on it. The pendant consisted of elaborate silver knot work shaped into a bird. “It’s pretty,” she said. “Looks like a raven.”

It’s a crow! exclaimed Horatio indignantly. Can’t she tell the difference? Some prodigy.

Crows are stupid, said Magnus. I hate crows.

“It’s a crow,” Justin told Tessa, stepping closer.

“Same knot work they’ve got all over the house.”

“No…it’s a very slightly different style.” He frowned. “I’ve seen this before. Where have I seen this before?”

Tessa obviously didn’t know. She started to put it back, but he took it from her, trying to dredge up an image from the files of his mind. Suddenly, his breath caught. He took out his ego and pulled up the video that still continued to baffle the RUNA’s best technical minds. The display was smaller than a true screen, so it was more difficult to make out the details as he watched the red-haired Erinian woman take off her jewelry for the night. But there it was—he was certain of it. The necklace she removed was the right size and shape, and he knew if he looked at a larger screen, he’d see a replica of the one Tessa had found.

“It’s Celtic knot work, not Norse,” he murmured.

“Why would Mae have Celtic jewelry?”

“Why would Mae have this at all?” he asked. His mind was reeling, and for all his cleverness, he couldn’t find a way to make this work into any of his theories. It tore them open.

Mae entered just then, her angry expression suggesting her parting conversation with Claudia hadn’t gone well. “Are you guys ready to go?”

Justin held up the necklace, still stunned. “Where did you get this?”

“I don’t know. Half that jewelry’s been around forever. Heirlooms and stuff.” She did a double take, picking up on his state of shock. “Why?”

“The Erinian woman in the video had one just like this.”

“What? I don’t remember that.”

“Well, I do, and I just replayed it to check. Why would you both have this?”

Mae shook her head, nowhere near as blown away as he was. “I don’t know. Because it was mass-produced by some designer that castals like? Coincidences like that happen all the time.”

“But it’s Celtic! Why would you have Celtic jewelry?”

“Because sometimes we visit other castes. My mother has Celtic friends. It’s probably from one of them.” She was starting to get irate. “What are you getting at here? Because obviously, there’s something.”

“‘Something’ is that you’re part of this!” He set the necklace down and began to pace as he organized his frantic thoughts. “We were wrong. Somehow we were wrong. You’re tied to them, Mae. The other eights and nines. I knew it was too big of a coincidence.”

She looked aghast. “We already went over this, and Leo told you I wasn’t a match. I wasn’t worked on.”

“You were,” he said slowly, fully realizing his next words might cause considerable damage. “He…he said you showed signs of genetic manipulation. It wasn’t the same kind as the victims’, but it definitely wasn’t natural.”

Wide-eyed, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out right away. “He never told me that. You never told me that.” It was a small detail, but Justin noticed she had a greater expectation that he would tell her the truth than that the person who’d actually run the test would. “There’s a mistake. I wasn’t part of any illegal genetics.”

“Were you not there at dinner?” he asked. “Do you seriously think you came out of that bunch without some sort of serious intervention from science?”

“I’m not a match,” she said through gritted teeth. “Leo said so.” He could see the panic rising in her, a panic that wasn’t so much just about illicit practices. It was the fear of being part of something she’d had no say in, a future that others had chosen for her. If he wanted to keep any of her regard for him, Justin knew he should back off…but he couldn’t. Not when he knew he was right.