“So cool…” I think about the possibilities.They could be superheroes!“Can any of them fly?” I ask eagerly, making them all smile.
“I’ve never heard of that one, no,” Indy says, smiling at me.
“Okay, well, as much as I’d like to sit here talking about magic, my hands do hurt a lot. Silver, how much for the cream?” I ask as I reach for my bag, noticing it on Indy’s shoulder. He steps closer,letting me rummage through it. I haven’t been in here since we ate the chocolate bars in the mountain.
“Oh, there’s no charge for you. If you want it, it’s yours.”
“No, I insist,” I mumble, distractedly, peeking in my bag to look for the envelope of cash I threw in here before I left on my search for Ria. “Dammit, where are you—Hey, what’s this?” I ask myself, finding a heavy velvet pouch, and pulling it out. It’s a deep maroon color with a gold-colored string, keeping it closed.
“Here,” Indy says, taking the pouch from me. “You shouldn’t be using your hands right now, Sugar.” He pulls it open and holds it low for me. Heads lean in with mine as we peer into the pouch.
“Is that…” I trail off as I try to reach inside.
Brax grabs my wrist, stopping me, and Ry reaches in and pulls out a single gold piece, holding it up to the light and turning it back and forth. “Gold,” he concludes.
“Where did it come from?” I ask.
All their eyes turn to mine. “You don’t know? This is your bag, isn’t it? Do didn’t know it was in there?” Indy asks in confusion.
“No, I had a lump of cash bills… er… it’s like money, but from my world. But it’s gone now.” I glance at the piece in Ry’s hand as they all stare at it silently.
“How much do I have?” I ask them. “Is it enough for the cream?”
“Well,” Ryker starts, not peeling his eyes from the coin. “I’ve never seen this particular one before. See the caledon on it, here?” he points to one side and I nod, seeing the familiar head of the bullicorn. “That marks it as a crown. I didn’t know any of these were still in circulation, to be honest.”
“Why? What’s so rare about it?” I ask in confusion, studying the coin in his fingers.
“This one coin could purchase this tavern and everything in it,” Silver says, his eyes wide.
“Really?” I ask in surprise. Ryker just nods. We all seem to come to the same question as our heads turn to the pouch in Indy’s hands.
“Indy?” I ask nervously, licking my lips in anticipation of what this could mean.
“Yeah, Sugar?”
“Dump it out on the bar. I want to see it all.”
I turn to face the bar as my men surround me. Brax stands behind me and places his hands on my shoulders in support as Indy and Ry stand on either side of me. Silver moves up beside Indy as the pouch is upended and a bunch of coins roll across the bar. We all shoot our hands out to stop any from rolling away. I see more caledon heads and start flipping the others over, as do the others. Soon we are staring at twenty-five gold caledon coins.
“What does this mean?” I whisper, afraid of what this might mean to them. Money was not new to me, I’d been left with a lot from my parents’ life insurance policy. But I knew how money made some people behave. It was the reason Ria was my only friend. Other people had tried to use me to get things from me.
“I think it means you’re rich,” Silver laughs.
I glance at my mates. “I know whyI’ma bit worried, but why do you guys look so concerned?” I ask nervously.
“It could make you a target, having this much money. We aren’t alone in here, we should have done this in private,” Brax says, frowning down at the coins.
“What do you want to do with it?” Ryker asks, surprising me.
“Me? It’s our money,mate.” I lean my head on him as I say the last word and he reaches up his opposite arm to hold my bicep, rubbing his thumb soothingly over it.
“Really? We wouldn’t begrudge you for keeping this to yourself. We’ll take care of you. We don’t have enough to buy you a whole village or anything.” He motions to the coins in front of us. “But we can take care of you.”
I turn to face him, making sure he understands how serious I am about this. “Ry, I don’t care about money. It’s not important to me, you know this about me already. Whatever we do with it, we make the decision together, and we refer to it as ours, not mine. Okay?”
“Well, considering I’m only courting you, can I make a suggestion for what you and your mates do with it?” Indy asks. I want to correct him, to tell him he is one of my mates, but the look he gives me silences me, so I just nod.
“I suggest you divide it between Ryker and Braxton. Then you will be less of a target and if something happens, you won’t lose it all.”