I made my way to my mother’s primary office, since the first place I had looked—her bedroom—had been a bust. I’d thought for sure that would have been her first choice to hide things. That room was once warded within an inch of its life. But with her passing, most of those had failed, and I was able to easily disarm the rest. The safe there still had the old passcode on it, and nothing but the Warner jewels were inside.

Entering her office felt like passing through cobwebs, and I shuddered. The magical ward that would have stopped me in tracks had weakened enough to let me pass through, but not easily. I cast an uncloaking spell on the room then dropped down behind her French style desk to the now-visible safe underneath. It was strangely old-fashioned, and human-made, with a rolling lock of numbers.

A frisson of excitement flushed my skin. This must be it! Why else would she have a mundane safe in her office, rather than a magical one?

I rolled the metal numbers between my thumb and forefinger, feeling the small ridges and cool metal. But how did revenge work into this?

Ah! Probably a simple one-to-one correlation between letters and numbers. I tested out the theory but there weren’t enough numbers on the gears, or even enough gears to make it work. I tried adding the numbers together and came up with 76, which also wasn’t enough. I tried every fucking combination I could think of and still came up with nothing.

Damn it, Helene! What the hell fuckery is this?

Frustrated beyond endurance, I took out my wand and blasted the bastard. To my shock, the lock fell right off. I ripped the door open and spilled all the contents onto the floor: papers, boxes, and a few potions that broke on impact and made me jump back out of the when the carpet started to sizzle. I quickly conjured a mask to keep from breathing the fumes of whatever was in there then cast a poison-neutralizing spell, hoping it would stop any more reactions. The sizzling stopped, so I hoped like hell it worked.

A half hour later, I was still no wiser than I had been before opening the safe. Other than discovering my mother had held a lot of stock in the human world that I’m pretty sure her husband didn’t know about, and she’d left it all to me. Was that what she’d wanted to give me with her dying breath? But why all the fuss about revenge being the key? Maybe she’d hidden those things as revenge against Harold?

I shook my head. There was one more place to look, but I was running out of the will to try. I shoved the paperwork into my own safe and stared at the boxes of jewelry I’d set aside. I supposed these particular jewels were also left to me, since the Warner jewelry that had been passed down for generations was still in the bedroom. Those definitely belonged to Sierra.

I opened a box that contained a dazzling necklace of diamonds and emeralds, which I’d never seen my mother wear. It would look amazing on Sierra with her auburn hair. I scooped up the rest of the jewelry boxes and took them to Helene’s former bedroom and placed them in the safe with the rest. My mother’s perfume still scented the air, and I sank onto the huge bed for a moment, and really looked around the room for the first time.

I’d hardly ever spend any time in here—it had been her sanctuary. The private domain of the lady of the house. Even when I’d checked the safe in here earlier, I hadn’t lingered.

My attention caught on a small, gold-framed photo on her dressing table, and I walked over to see it. The photograph was one I’d never seen before, but as I stared at it, the haziest memory of it being taken came back to me.

I couldn’t have been more than maybe three years old and we were at her parent’s lake house. It was just the two of us on a blanket on the beach. I was sitting on her lap, laughing. She was also smiling, and actually looked happy. It was a candid photo—a snapshot in time—taken with what must have been a non-magic camera since there was no movement. I flipped it over, wondering who had taken it, but there weren’t any clues.

My throat felt tight, and my eyes burned as I put it back in place.

What were you trying to tell me, Helene?

I shut the door behind me as I left the room, the click sounding very final to my ears. I should just leave the past behind.

Then Sierra stood in the hallway.

“Hey,” she said quietly. “I was just coming to check on you.”

She looked like she was afraid of spooking me and my gut clenched.

“I’m fine,” I said, and could have kicked myself when my voice came out as tired as I felt.

She just nodded, looking like she was already regretting coming up there.

“Okay, well, I’ll leave you alone then,” she said, proving me correct.

As she headed toward the stairs, I shouted, “Wait!”

When she turned, I panicked. I don’t know why I’d asked her to stay and had no idea what to say next. I floundered a moment then said, brilliantly, “Umn, I opened one of Helene’s safes.”

Her brows shot up.

“There are things in there for you,” I added quickly.

“Really?” she gasped. “Why would she leave something for me? Is that what she was trying to tell you?”

“I … I don’t know, really.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Here, look.” I opened the door I’d just come out of and motioned for her to follow me.

Her eyes widened at all the jewels when I opened the safe.

“But … this doesn’t make any sense. Was there a letter or anything?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“Wait, you said ‘one of’ her safes. There are more?”

I nodded. “I checked another one. I think that might have been the one.”

“Tell me.”

Sighing, I told her what I’d found.

Her face went through a myriad of expressions as I spoke, and she frowned when I was done explaining.

“The lock didn’t make sense, Heath. If you were able to just blast it off with your wand, I don’t think that would be the case.”

I don’t know what she saw on my face—probably how fed up I was with it all—because she stopped pushing.

“Well, maybe you can check it later, when you feel up to it,” she said, getting ready to leave again.

I scrubbed his hands over my face. “Maybe I should just get it over with. I doubt there’s anything more for me to find though.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” she offered, hesitantly.

Did I? My fucking brain, heart and gut instincts went to war. I took so long to consider that she said it was all right if I didn’t want her to and turned to leave again.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” I said quickly.

We travelled through the labyrinthine halls to the oldest part of the building. It was obviously less well-kept than the rest of the place.

“Did the servants not come here?” Sierra asked.

I snorted. “Not much. No need. My parents preferred the newer part of the house that they had added on. This section had been used more by Harris and Cordelia when they lived here, so it’s been neglected for a while.”

“I see.”

“Depending on what you want to do with the place,” I said, “you’ll need more staff than the ones we let go if you’re going to use the full house.”

“I really don’t want to think about that right now.”

“I don’t blame you.”