Page 63 of Cursed

She smiled. “Yes, Vince, I’m aware of that, though I’ve inherited management responsibilities only. Silas remains the signatory on most of those parcels.”

“Of course,” he grimaced. He wasn’t worried about the real estate holdings, though they had given him pause. But he wanted to work up to what he was worried about slowly. Edeena had already been through a lot, and he didn’t want her to worry. About anything.

Especially something so strange as what he’d discovered in the real estate account logs of Heron’s Point.

“And the charitable foundation. You know your father hasn’t made one appearance at any of those events since you fled the country.”

“We didn’t flee the country,” Edeena protested, but Vince raised a hand.

“You absolutely fled the country, Countess Saleri, for which I’ll forever be grateful.” Her face softened with the flattery, and his heart gave another tug. Maybe he could put off telling her the bad news for another few minutes, anyway.

He stepped closer, even as Edeena cast a glance down to the nearest ledger book, a smile playing over her face as she drew her fingers along its top. “I can’t believe there’s so much history we didn’t even know about,” she said. “With the curse so entrenched in Silas’s mind, he refused to look at these old books. He didn’t have any idea how far the family had spread, or where our distant cousins had landed when they’d stopped including the Saleri name in their family trees.” She shook her head. “I didn’t either.”

“But the disaffected Saleris themselves did, even if they didn’t claim the name any longer,” Vince said. He’d moved closer to her, and when she looked up, he was only a step away. Her eyes, always so beautiful, now warmed in genuine affection as she took him in. He could spend the rest of his life staring into those eyes, he knew, and never grow tired of that soft look.

“They did,” she said. “They kept the rolls and marked the books, and they knew the curse as well as anyone—better, really. It was the queen’s dressmaker who reminded her that the Saleri curse wasn’t capable of being overturned merely by princes, and the queen, of course, told Silas, worried about him marrying me off indiscriminately.”

“And Silas, in turn, called you home, where we seemed to find more Saleris around every corner, even though we had no idea who they were.”

“Exactly,” she laughed. “They knew me, the curse, and your potential place in it . . . and we didn’t have a clue.”

“Yeah . . . about that clue,” Vince began, and Edeena’s head tilted as his arms went around her. Somehow, holding her so close made what he had to say a tiny bit easier.

“What is it?” she asked, but her smile remained on her face, the worry about her family somehow banished to a manageable level now, no matter what life threw at them.

“Well, you know those jewels we found on Pearl Island? The ones the Saleris left behind in a box eighty years ago?”

“Yes . . .” she said, though her tone was teasing. “Don’t tell me you care about getting those back. They really aren’t worth—”

“They’re apparently part of the curse.”

That stopped her, and her hands tightened on his arms. “What do you mean, part of the curse?”

He disentangled one hand and pushed a book aside, pulling another one forward. Still standing close to Edeena, he opened the book. It was a ledger from the late 1800s through mid 1950s, with notations about moving residences.

“I got curious about the history of Heron’s Point, thinking it might help with the sale, if you all decide to go through with that, and one of the pencil pushers remembered that the original purchase details of the house were kept in this ledger, along with all the esteemed guests from Garronia over the years.”

“That’s outstanding,” Edeena said, momentarily distracted. “We should have that in the house for when people come through.”

“My thoughts exactly, up until I got to the part about the things those esteemed guests brought to the house. It was written in English so the local caretakers could double check their records and . . . well, here.”

He opened the book to the correct page, and pointed. Edeena leaned over the musty tome, reading quickly. When she got to the relevant line, she froze—just as he had frozen, not an hour earlier.

Edeena looked up at Vince, unwilling to believe her eyes. “The Pride of the Saleris?” she gasped. “What does it mean?”

“No clue. Not even the history geeks understood it, but when I told them about the jewels matching the description listed here sitting in some island house in a glass case, they about stroked out. Apparently, they’d thought the jewels long gone, spirited away by a particularly bitter branch. If we bring those jewels back, however, the rest of the Saleri clan will fall in line as well—because, um, apparently the jewels are charmed.” He shook his head at the continuing superstition of the Saleri family. “You guys don’t give up on your curses easily, do you?”

Edeena’s lips twisted. “It’s a gift.”

“But according to your people, there’s no way in hell you’ll be allowed out of the country for the next six months,” he said. “Apparently, your upcoming wedding to the indisputably handsome Count Saleri is going to take up all of your time.”

“Well, it is going to be a grand occasion, I’m told.” Edeena replaced the book on the table and turned back to him. But still, she couldn’t stop the dread building in her stomach. “This is bad, though,” she said. “I want this curse to be over and done with.”

“Then we’ll get the jewels back,” he said firmly. “I’ll take care of it, Edeena. Let me help.”

She blinked up at him, ready to argue . . . then something unraveled inside her. Yes, she decided. Yes. She would let him take care of it, take care of her, in this way. But she would take care of things, too.

“I will let you,” she said, putting her arms around him and leaning back, the smile once more in her eyes. “But here’s a suggestion. My sisters want nothing more than to embrace adventure, and it’s time I let them do that. Caroline would love that old Pinnacle House with all its treasures, especially if Mr. Blake’s grandparents are present with stories to share.” She smiled. “If you could spare a security guard or two, maybe we could send her there with a replacement set of jewelry as a peace offering. Then, everything will be okay.” She said the words like a benediction, but it had the ring of truth.

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