A Most Dangerous Profession(47)
He adjusted his hat so that it would shade his eyes. Should I tell her? Can I really trust her? He wanted to tell her everything, only it wasn’t really his secret to share, but Michael’s.
She fixed him with a firm stare. “We are partners.”
He couldn’t deny her reasoning so he shrugged. “Fine. I will tell you. There are three boxes, and if you know how to unlock them they open flat.”
“To make a panel?”
“Exactly. And—when they are fitted together, they make a map.”
Her eyes widened. “A treasure map?”
“Yes.”
“So Aniston must know about the map. That explains why he’s so determined to find it.”
“He never mentioned a map to you?”
“No. But I knew there had to be something very special about the first box that he sent me to fetch, so when I had it in my possession, I examined it. But I never saw anything resembling a map.”
“You have to know precisely what you are doing in order to open one.”
“Ah. What kind of treasure do you think the map will lead to?”
Some part of him urged him on. If he wanted her to trust him, he had to show trust in her. “My brother Michael hopes that it will lead us to a lost family heirloom, the Hurst Amulet.”
Her eyes lit with interest. “This just gets better and better.”
“The amulet was in my family for centuries, until a member of the MacLean clan stole it and gifted it to Queen Elizabeth. She kept it for some years, but supposedly became fearful of its powers.”
“An amulet with powers?” Her lips twitched. “You can’t believe that.”
“To be honest, I don’t know what I believe. A telling number of people who came into contact with the amulet claimed that it had certain . . . abilities. Michael spent years researching it; he found many mentions of the amulet and its powers in old archives, even those in Elizabeth’s court.”
“What special power does the amulet supposedly possess?”
“Michael came upon one account where, at the queen’s insistence, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting wore the amulet. Afterward, the lady claimed to see her own future.”
“That’s too fantastical to believe.”
“So I thought. She said that the amulet showed her whom she was to wed. Much to Queen Elizabeth’s ire, the lady-in-waiting eloped with a courtier the very next day.”
“She thought it would happen, so she made it so. There’s not much magic in that, is there?”
Robert chuckled. “No, not when you put it that way.”
Moira grinned back at him. “Since Elizabeth didn’t approve of the wedding, I take it that she didn’t care for the courtier, either?”
“Quite the opposite: he was one of Elizabeth’s favorites, and she saw the elopement as an insult. She sent her guard to tear the lady-in-waiting from the arms of her new husband. Then she had them thrown into the tower for treason, and threatened them with beheading.”
“Good God.”
“One did not steal one of Elizabeth’s flirts without consequences. She was a very jealous queen. Perhaps it had something to do with the color of her hair, for they say redheads are very passionate.” He looked at Moira’s hair, the deep red free from the dark dye that had covered it. “I would vouch for that.”
“They also say redheads freckle, and I never have. What happened to the star-crossed lovers? Did they languish in the tower and die in each other’s arms?”
“Fortunately, the lady-in-waiting was already carrying her new husband’s child.”
“That was quick.”
He smiled. “Wasn’t it? Elizabeth wasn’t a monster and wouldn’t allow a child to be born in the tower. She released the unhappy couple but banished them from court. According to the records, they lived a long and happy life far from the queen’s attention.”
“It that a true story?”
“It’s well documented; Michael has the papers himself. But I don’t believe the amulet is magic. Perhaps it simply holds heat, or trembles. I once saw a crystal that did both.”
“So Aniston is searching for a treasure map that might lead to the lost Hurst Amulet, which supposedly tells the future,” she mused. “Aniston’s had some financial troubles, and if he can convince others that the amulet is magical, he could name his price.”