Chapter 4

"Thank goodness we'll be there in a few hours," Laila said with a relieved sigh. "I'm about to go out of my mind with boredom." She handed Ray the journal that she'd been writing in diligently since before the trip. Florian leaned over when Ray opened it and caught a glimpse of Laila's imprecise scrawl. He didn't attempt to read it, since it most likely contained research Noir would use and the less Florian knew about Noir's activities, the happier he was. It was a surprise when Ray angled the book to give Florian a better view.

"You might be interested in this, Florian. Laila's been researching an old legend."

"Oh?" Florian was interested. He had a fondness for reading myths and legends and had found a treasure trove in Ray's library. It was one of the things the mismatched pair had in common.

"It's a legend about sisters who weren't really sisters, and a necklace that wasn't a necklace," Laila related, wriggling a little in her seat and looking as excited as Noel when he had a story to tell.

"There's a few minor things mixed in," Ray added with glee. "Like murder, family secrets and, of course, jewelry."

"Of course." Florian couldn't help but return Ray's grin. He loved seeing the younger man so excited. There were only two years difference in their ages, but Ray acted so mature most of the time that Florian often felt like an awkward adolescent. It was nice to see Ray show his youth once in a while.

"It started with a funeral," Laila intoned, trying to sound solemn as if relating a family history, but her inflection rose at the end of her sentence and she grinned with excitement, leaning forward and lowering her voice to a dramatic almost-whisper. "It was the year 1750 when the Grande Dame of the House of de Villiers in France died at the age of seventy-one. She was a widow who left behind three children, eight grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. Her estate was divided according to her wishes with the great-grand-daughter receiving a sizable trust and the Grande Dame's favorite necklace."

"And that's when the trouble started." Ray took up the story, his eyes so bright that Laila didn't object. Instead, she leaned in closer to listen.

"Some said that the Grande Dame's necklace was cursed, others said it was the fault of the Lady's oldest son, who spent most of his time gambling and drinking away the family fortune. His bad habits ran in the family and by the time the great-grand-daughter, whose name was Minette, was of age to consider marriage, her family was on the verge of ruin."

"So they arranged a marriage without her knowledge," Laila broke in, "and Minette was forced to marry the man to whom her family owed a great sum of money." She paused, glancing between Florian and Ray before continuing. "Minette was miserable. Not only was the man a commoner, but he was twice her age and rumored to be ruthless."

"Minette was an only child, but she had grown up among a group of girls and they were all very close. As close as sisters. The night before the wedding, Minette presented each of the six girls with a necklace – a jeweled pendant on a gold chain, representing her wish for their happiness. She begged her friends to keep the necklaces a secret and safely hidden away. She wouldn't explain her reasons, but they all promised to do as she'd asked."

"Until eight months later when they each received a letter." Ray took up the story. "It was from Minette, begging them to destroy the necklaces because they were cursed and would bring them nothing but sorrow. Two weeks later Minette and her husband were dead. The police determined that she'd stabbed him while he was asleep, and then hung herself."

"But the oddest part was the letter that one of the girls received a few days later. It contained Minette's necklace and a note that read: Please forgive me. The girl, Odile was very unsettled by the letter and asked to meet with the other girls, but two of them were traveling together in England, one was recovering from a fall off a horse, and the other two were preparing for their weddings. Soon Odile was involved in her own wedding preparations and the letter and necklace were hidden away. It wasn't until almost a year later that Odile found the letter again."

"By then," Laila took over the story again. "Two more of the girls were dead, one from illness, one from abuse, and a third had been crippled by a runaway horse. After she found the letter, Odile contacted the other two girls only to learn that one had died in childbirth and the other had drowned."

"Odile tried to find out what happened to the necklaces Minette had given to the other girls, but even the crippled friend couldn't remember what she'd done with hers. The others had all been lost, sold or claimed by a family member. Odile didn't know what to do, so she hid the two necklaces she had and tried to forget about them. Just thinking about them made her sad for her dear friends but she couldn't bring herself to actually destroy them as Minette had asked."

"Years later she'd all but forgotten about the necklaces, but one day she was playing with her daughter and they found them tucked away in an old jewelry box. Odile dismissed her old fears of the necklaces as a girlish fancy and decided to have them reset as matching brooches so she and her daughter could each wear one. When she consulted the jeweler he told her the stones were very rare white star sapphires, each with a twin-star. Odile was surprised her friend had given such valuable jewels away and changed her mind about giving one to her daughter as a plaything. Instead, she hid them away again, reluctant to tell her husband about them. Odile's husband was a strict man and he disliked extravagances. She was sure if he knew about the jewels, he'd insist on selling them and investing the money." Ray made such a face at that point that Florian almost laughed. He coughed to cover his amusement and waved for Laila to continue.

"Unfortunately for Odile, she fell ill shortly after she'd hidden away the jewels, and she never recovered. It was years later when the husband had remarried that the daughter, now grown, was going through her mother's things and found them. She had them reset and wore them on her wedding day – but she never married; the groom disappeared on his way to the church and they discovered a week later that he'd been robbed and killed. At some point Odile's daughter sold one of the jewels, and later she sold the second. They seem to have disappeared after that, although rumors have placed them all over Europe and even in America." Laila shrugged. "Thankfully the others were easier to trace. In fact, you've seen two of them already."

"I have?" Florian blinked in confusion and looked to Ray for confirmation. The man nodded and smiled but he didn't say anything, preferring to watch as Florian tried to puzzle it out. After several long minutes Ray shook his head and sighed.

"Think Noel," he prompted, but it only made Florian look more confused so Ray sighed again and added, "His teddy bear?"

"His bear? But…" Florian's eyes widened and he glanced towards Laila for confirmation. "You mean the twin star sapphires in Betty Deux's eyes? They're Minette's?"

"Two of the seven sister gems," Ray confirmed with a nod. "Originally from the Grande Dame de Villiers's legendary necklace, referred to as The Pleiades for its seven twin star sapphires."

"But you said Odile's and Minette's sapphires were white, and the ones in Noel's teddy bear are blue."

"That's right," Ray answered, pleased that Florian had paid close attention to the rather long story. "You see, the sapphires are different sizes and colors but all contain twin stars and are all very valuable." Ray gestured to Laila and she took her notebook and flipped through the pages until she reached a crude color sketch showing how the seven sapphires might have been arranged in a necklace with the two smallest bright blue stones closest to the neck on either side, then a bigger pair of oval stones in pale blue followed by the two white sapphires and a large bluish-purple stone in the center.

"Ray," Florian turned to his lover with sudden comprehension in his eyes. "Hasn't Noir been favoring sapphires lately?"

"Perhaps," Ray waved the question away. "This does seem the type of thing he'd be interested in. He has a penchant for legendary jewels, especially ones that are supposed to be cursed."

"But they're not really cursed, are they?" Florian asked nervously. "All those things that happened could have been coincidences, after all. Illnesses and death happen all the time."

"Of course they do," Ray said with maddening calm. "But you'll remember your own brush with Noel's sapphires and how that turned out."

"It wasn't that bad!" Florian insisted, conveniently forgetting that he'd almost been killed several times during that particular misadventure. "The worst of it was you adding the cost onto my debt."

"Was it?" Ray asked, leaning in close and grinning. "That was worse than your being wounded and then captured and tortured by the Black Hand? It was worse than having to be rescued by Noir and almost being shot in the process?"

"Well…" Florian leaned toward Ray, unable to resist the draw of the man he loved so intensely, even if Ray did drive him to distraction far too often.

"Can we talk about The Pleiades?" Laila asked, although it sounded more like a demand. She lifted her feet and dropped them down onto the seat between Ray and Florian.

Ray turned his head to give Laila a glare, but Florian remained still, his eyes fixed on the same spot, but his brow furrowed as if he were thinking hard about something. "Something's not right."

"What's not right?" Laila asked, but Ray turned his attention back to Florian and grinned; the blond wasn't the quickest thinker, but he was thorough in his own way and often made connections that others missed.

"The Countess' missing sapphire. She said it was bluish-green, so it couldn't be one of Minette's." He frowned, thinking a moment longer before adding, "And only one of the jewels Noir obtained in Spain was pale blue and none were white or bluish-purple." He crossed his arms over his chest and demanded. "Is this why we're going to Brussels?"

"Of course not," Ray answered smoothly. "We're attending the premiere of a new opera and visiting the art museum for you and we're visiting an old friend of Laila's. I, unfortunately, will be working. Someone has to earn money for the household while there are so many debts that have yet to be repaid." He grinned at Florian's furious blush.

"I'm going to pack!" Florian rose with as much dignity as he was able to muster and walked out of the door at a dignified pace. It was only after he reached his temporary quarters that he let his temper show, shoving clothes into Ray's suitcase carelessly. Of course that only lasted a few minutes before his training took over and, with the echo of his mother's voice in his head, he removed everything he'd packed, straightened it and repacked it neatly so as not to wrinkle the expensive fabrics. However, he did pack one of each pair of Ray's shoes at the bottom of the suitcase, leaving the other to be packed on top. He was in a much better mood by the time Ray arrived to tell him it was nearly time for them to disembark.

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