The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1) by Marie Andreas Page B
Authors: Marie Andreas
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was going to hate. Something I couldn’t get out of.
Chapter 6
With a heavy sigh, I gave in and let Harlan and his cronies lead me where they wanted. I was simply too hungry, exhausted, and confused to argue about it.
My spirits lifted and crashed at the same moment when I realized where we were going. Sort of an odd feeling, not unlike someone pulling a rug out from under you while you were standing on a rocking ship. Harlan was leading us to the Shimmering Dewdrop. He didn’t go there often, being as he preferred old digger bars where the chairs were artifacts in their own right. The fact that he was taking me to my favorite bar for this conference of his was another bad sign.
Early evening like this was actually a slower time for the Dewdrop. The daytime drunks had all headed for bed to get an early start on the next day’s attacks on their liver. The night drunks weren’t out of bed yet.
The soothing murmur of a handful of voices hit my ears an instant before Harlan barreled through the two wooden swinging doors.
“Good to see you, Taryn,” Karys called out from her usual table. The stunning, dark-haired, dark-eyed man leaning up against her was new. Most likely he was a pirate. Karys may have had to give up the sea, but that didn’t stop her love of pirates.
But her smile was forced and not because of the lean man next to her.
Over in his usual position at the bar, Foxy hadn’t looked up, just kept polishing the same glass with a rag. Foxmorton never polished a glass twice in his life.
In the corner two swarthy men glanced at me, but kept looking back to their table. The twins must have just gotten back from a job; Alejandro and Max were pawing over ill-gotten gains. But their movements were slower, as if they were trying to watch me without letting me see their intent. Their third brother, who rarely would even be in the same room with them and absolutely refused to allow any of them to be called a triplet, stood near the side door. He gave me a smile-less nod then went outside. Abhijeet was a mysterious soul sometimes, but that was odd even for him.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” I said to the room of people carefully not trying to say or do anything to show what they were thinking. “I didn’t kill her.”
“We knew that, sweetie,” Karys said with a look at her companion, but at least her smile was approaching normal now.
“They don’t think you did anything of the sort.” Harlan patted my arm and led me to the far corner. His silent companions trailed behind. That was one good side effect of me being an accused murderess— his companions were rarely silent yet they hadn’t said one word the entire trip over here. All three, oddly looking very much alike, sat a good foot away from the table Harlan hovered over.
I rubbed my forehead and waved at Foxy for a drink. I shouldn’t have anything to drink on my near empty stomach, but I had to have something. Besides, Old Sod ale was thick enough to be a meal. And eventually Foxy would bring over something that would pass for dinner.
“What is it, Harlan?” I sighed as I took a long sip of the rich, almost black, ale. The knots in my back and shoulders twitched as they loosened.
Harlan nodded to his friends in an attempt to include them, but they still weren’t moving any closer. “Well, you see….” The look I gave him over the rim of my glass must have been bitchy. He shook himself out of the longwinded tale he was going to tell. “Actually, I’ll be blunt. We want you to break into the south dig and find out what they’re doing.”
I sputtered a mist of dark ale out at him. “What?” Never mind that I had just been thinking that I needed to do that very thing a few hours ago. My contemplating returning to Perallan’s last dig was a far cry from Harlan dragging me into one of his schemes.
He pulled back and gave me his best affronted look. But I refused to apologize. Nothing hit him, and besides, he deserved to be
Chapter 6
With a heavy sigh, I gave in and let Harlan and his cronies lead me where they wanted. I was simply too hungry, exhausted, and confused to argue about it.
My spirits lifted and crashed at the same moment when I realized where we were going. Sort of an odd feeling, not unlike someone pulling a rug out from under you while you were standing on a rocking ship. Harlan was leading us to the Shimmering Dewdrop. He didn’t go there often, being as he preferred old digger bars where the chairs were artifacts in their own right. The fact that he was taking me to my favorite bar for this conference of his was another bad sign.
Early evening like this was actually a slower time for the Dewdrop. The daytime drunks had all headed for bed to get an early start on the next day’s attacks on their liver. The night drunks weren’t out of bed yet.
The soothing murmur of a handful of voices hit my ears an instant before Harlan barreled through the two wooden swinging doors.
“Good to see you, Taryn,” Karys called out from her usual table. The stunning, dark-haired, dark-eyed man leaning up against her was new. Most likely he was a pirate. Karys may have had to give up the sea, but that didn’t stop her love of pirates.
But her smile was forced and not because of the lean man next to her.
Over in his usual position at the bar, Foxy hadn’t looked up, just kept polishing the same glass with a rag. Foxmorton never polished a glass twice in his life.
In the corner two swarthy men glanced at me, but kept looking back to their table. The twins must have just gotten back from a job; Alejandro and Max were pawing over ill-gotten gains. But their movements were slower, as if they were trying to watch me without letting me see their intent. Their third brother, who rarely would even be in the same room with them and absolutely refused to allow any of them to be called a triplet, stood near the side door. He gave me a smile-less nod then went outside. Abhijeet was a mysterious soul sometimes, but that was odd even for him.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” I said to the room of people carefully not trying to say or do anything to show what they were thinking. “I didn’t kill her.”
“We knew that, sweetie,” Karys said with a look at her companion, but at least her smile was approaching normal now.
“They don’t think you did anything of the sort.” Harlan patted my arm and led me to the far corner. His silent companions trailed behind. That was one good side effect of me being an accused murderess— his companions were rarely silent yet they hadn’t said one word the entire trip over here. All three, oddly looking very much alike, sat a good foot away from the table Harlan hovered over.
I rubbed my forehead and waved at Foxy for a drink. I shouldn’t have anything to drink on my near empty stomach, but I had to have something. Besides, Old Sod ale was thick enough to be a meal. And eventually Foxy would bring over something that would pass for dinner.
“What is it, Harlan?” I sighed as I took a long sip of the rich, almost black, ale. The knots in my back and shoulders twitched as they loosened.
Harlan nodded to his friends in an attempt to include them, but they still weren’t moving any closer. “Well, you see….” The look I gave him over the rim of my glass must have been bitchy. He shook himself out of the longwinded tale he was going to tell. “Actually, I’ll be blunt. We want you to break into the south dig and find out what they’re doing.”
I sputtered a mist of dark ale out at him. “What?” Never mind that I had just been thinking that I needed to do that very thing a few hours ago. My contemplating returning to Perallan’s last dig was a far cry from Harlan dragging me into one of his schemes.
He pulled back and gave me his best affronted look. But I refused to apologize. Nothing hit him, and besides, he deserved to be
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