Ancient Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress #1)(11)

“You’d have to get to know me better to find out. That’s not really first date information.”

My heart fluttered. “This isn’t a date.”

“It could be.”

“I thought you were here about a job.”

“I am. But then I saw you. I’d like to add on a date.”

“No.” I’d only ever heard of Aidan Merrick, never seen him in person. I knew he had a place in Magic’s Bend, but the tabloids said he had a house on every continent. Now that I looked at him, he did seem a bit familiar. I only skimmed the tabloids when waiting at the grocery store. Now, I wished I had a few subscriptions. He was even more dangerous than I’d first thought.

“That’s final, then?” he asked.

“Final?”

“About the date.”

“Yeah.”

He shrugged, a surprisingly elegant motion for such a big guy. “I’ll ask again later. Maybe you’ll change your mind if you get to know me.”

“Uh…” I had no idea what to say. Hot, powerful millionaires didn’t normally ask me out. That wasn’t really my thing. “Why are you here again?”

“Two reasons. One, I want to know why you robbed a tomb on my property in Ireland. And two, I want to hire you.”

No joke, my jaw almost dropped. I kept it closed through force of will alone. He owned the property that contained the tomb I’d just robbed? Had he seen the broken warrior goddess column? Double damn.

“Most landowners don’t notice when I borrow something.”

“I’m not most. And…borrow?”

No, he certainly wasn’t most.

“I’m returning the chalice tomorrow,” I said, moving up my timeline and hoping he wouldn’t wonder about the enchantment that’d been removed from it. “And how did you know I’d taken it?”

“A guess.”

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.