Fire Me Up
Page 64

He froze for a second, then he grinned, his hand closing over mine, still clutching his shirt. "She is a friend of ours, is she not? She told me last night what had happened to your dog. I am sorry it was sick, but it is better now, yes?"
"Yes, my dog is better," I said, biting the inside of my cheek. Something was raising the hairs on the back of my neck, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Gyorgy looked just the same as he had the day before—pleasant, clean, and innocuous, if a little anxious. It was obvious he'd just come from his morning ablutions and breakfast—his hair was partially wet, there was a smidge of drying soap or shaving cream behind his left ear, and the scent of bacon and campfire clung to his shirt. "And yes, Tiffany is my friend, and she's here, petting the ducklings."
He relaxed, actually sighing in relief. "There are only women at the small animal petting area."
"Yeah. Um. You do know that Tiffany is celibate, right? She mentioned that?"
He made a dismissive head bobble. "She said many things last night. You are thinking that I am too old for her, that she is too pure a flower for me to pluck. But you are wrong! She is like no other. She is the rarest of all hothouse flowers, and only I will enjoy the beauty of her petals as she unfurls for me."
My jaw sagged. He wasn't talking about what I thought he was talking about, was he? I decided that Tiffany's unfurled petals were none of my business. The amulet was. I pulled it over my head and held it up. "I'm sorry I had to run out on you yesterday without giving you the amulet, but as Tiffany told you, it was a bit of an emergency. I wondered if I could ask you a few questions about it—"
"Keep it," he said, trying to tug his shirt from my hands.
I clung even tighter, knowing full well that if I let go, he'd be off and running to the petting zoo. "What?"
"Keep it. I have no need for it now. Why don't we check on Tiffany? She might wish to see around the rest of the park. I could show her my cavern. She would like it. She would appreciate all the sights of nature."
"I'm sure she would, but about the am—"
He wrestled his shirt from my grip, backing away from me quickly. "It is yours! I absolve you of your charge to deliver it. Let us find Tiffany." He hared off without even waiting for me to finish my sentence.
"Well, hell," I said, slipping the horrible thing over my head again. "Now what am I supposed to do?"
Go back to the hotel, apparently. Gydrgy was unhappy when Tiffany opted to return with us rather than staying ai the park and allowing him to show her around.
"But I have many things to show you! Many flowers and sweet animals and birds in the trees!" he protested, almost on his knees begging.
I tried to give them a little privacy, but Tiffany was absolutely indifferent to Gyorgy's obvious infatuation with her.
"The flowers and birds and sweet animals will be here another day," she told him firmly. "I must go with Aisling. She is paying me. I will share my smile with many people. Perhaps later, if you promise not to say the things to me that you said last night, I will share it with you, too."
With that put-down, she left, scattering sunshine hither and yon as she headed for the main gate.
Gyorgy groaned such a pathetic, love-struck groan that I felt sorry for him. "She is a goddess. No, beyond a goddess, a... a... what is beyond a goddess?"
"A virgin?" I suggested.
"Yes! She is a virgin, the purest of the pure. There is no other one like her. She must be mine!"
I gave him half a smile, not at all comfortable with the possessive light in his eyes. "You may have a bit of a fight there. Tiffany is awfully set on her course of celibacy. You might say it's her business. Look, I know you've got other things on your mind right now, what with trying to woo Tiffany, but I can't keep your amulet. It's way too expensive, and besides ... it's just weird."
"Weird?" he asked, moving to the edge of the waist-high brick wall that marked the boundary of the petting zoo. Beyond, through the big black wrought-iron gates, Tiffany was strolling through the parking lot toward Rene's car. His shoulders sagged. "How is it weird? It is a Venus amulet, created by Marsilio Ficino, inscribed with both the third and the fifth pentacles of Venus."
"Ficino? The Ficino who served the Medicis? The man who wrote the De triplici vital"
"The Three Books on Life, yes, that Ficino. The amulet was one created by his hands, but I have no need for it now. Not now that I have found her."
He looked with longing out the gate to the parking lot. I paid him little mind, too busy eyeing the amulet, turning it in the bright sunlight until I found, so faintly etched they were almost invisible, two circles topped with a tiny pentagram, scribed with spells along the perimeter and invocations inside. The pentacles of Venus, as described and drawn in an ancient grimoire known as the Key of Solomon the King. I'd seen them before in one of my translations of the Key of Solomon, but never had I held an object bearing the marks. One pentacle would be enough for a strong love charm, but for an amulet to be scribed with both ... hooo! No wonder it rendered me nigh onto irresistible to mortal men.
I frowned at a rogue thought, looking at Gyorgy. Why hadn't he been overcome with passion for me? I'd been wearing the amulet both times, and yet he hadn't blinked twice at me. I slipped it on over my head, holding it in my hand.
"Well, Gyorgy, I'd better be going." I leaned close to him, invading his personal space. He nodded, his eyes still on Tiffany as she got into Rene's car. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. If you don't mind me borrowing the amulet for another day or so, I'd like to keep it. I'll return it to you later, of course."
He flashed me a look that was mostly distraction. "Yes, yes, that's fine. You keep it. I have no use for it now that I have found the one who shall save me."
I pursed my lips, blowing a little breath on his cheek. He shifted his weight. Away from me.
"I can't do that, but I will gladly borrow it. Say, I have a thought! Why don't you come with us back to the hotel? There are some lovely gardens there, as you probably know. Maybe we could take a little stroll through them? Just you and I? And you could tell me about the sweet birds and plants and stuff?"
"No, no, it is forbidden."
"Huh?"
He turned and gave me another friendly smile. "It is forbidden to the order of hermits to which I belong that we should dally in regions not assigned to us. This park is within my domain. Trie gardens on Margaret Island are not."