ago? On the map the terrain seems pretty straightforward, especially without the overgrowth.”
Fionn stood, chucking the core of his apple into the weeds. “Let’s be checking it out then.”
Traipsing through the woods took almost half an hour. Like Lyse had predicted, it wasn’t the terrain that was the problem; it was the hundreds of saplings, the fallen tree trunks, the overgrowth of vines and weeds and a decade of fallen leaves mulching the ground. Fionn, with his long legs and, ugh, muscles, made his way easily, occasionally laughing at her attempts to overcome logs far taller than her short legs. When he helped her over one tree and simply held her there, legs dangling, she gave him a backhanded smack on his perfect pec. “It’s not my fault I’m not built like an Olympian god,” she snapped.
Fionn nipped the side of her neck before allowing her to slide down his body. “Maybe a miniature goddess.”
He grinned when she glared up at him. Then his look turned serious, his eyes going unfocused as he stroked her cheek. That expression… “Your body is perfect to me, Lyse.”
She shivered, swallowing hard. Before she could respond, Fionn was walking away.
The folly was, in essence, the remains of a long-ago castle, though very little of the structure could still be found. Follies were scattered across Ireland in various stages of completeness, but Robert’s folly, in addition to some random half walls and piles of stone, contained one room that was almost completely enclosed. The walls, anyway. No roof remained, and the door was long since gone, but with the growth of the canopy around the site, the small space was practically private.
“If anything is buried out here, we’re shit out o’ luck,” Fionn said, voice rough with impatience. Time was weighing on them both.
“True.” Lyse gestured toward the room. “That’s the most likely place.”
Inside, light filtered through the leaves overhead, allowing them to see the ragged walls. Very little vegetation had grown within them, though, and when Lyse kicked at the floor, she realized some of it was actual stone. In the far corner a mound of grass-covered dirt rested against the two walls as if the wind had pushed it through the door over time until it accumulated to waist height.
Fionn made a beeline for the corner. Without finesse he dug into the top of the mound, dragging clump after clump away until the top of a solid steel footlocker appeared, dirty and corroded from time. Fionn paused, glanced back at her. “Holy feck, I think we’ve found it.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Fionn’s heartbeat was thundering in his ears. Most people would be ecstatic to find footlockers full of gold. He sure as feck was, but not because of the money. Because of the freedom it would give them. His mam no longer in hiding. Fionn able to come and go, seeing Siobhan as frequently as he desired. The end of the Ferrinas’ hold on his family once and for all.
His fingers shook as he dug out the combo lock holding the lid of the steel box shut.
“How do we get that open?”
Lyse’s question pulled him out of his fantasies and back into the moment. Anticipation flowed through him, making his smile bigger, adding an edge of danger. The warrior gearing up for a fight. “I always come prepared.”
Lyse’s laugh hitched in her throat. Her laughter was like bubbles in champagne, lighting him up from the inside out. Right now, as it mixed with the hope surging in his chest, it made him almost giddy. He dug into the pack he’d carried on his back and pulled out a smaller version of the bolt cutter he’d used on the front gate. The thick jaws made quick work of the metal loop on the lock, and then he was throwing everything on the floor and lifting the lid of the footlocker—to rows and rows of smooth, brownish-gold bars, dulled by a decade of dust. The gold filled the box from one end to the other, and edge to edge, all the way to the top.
“Holy feck,” he whispered raggedly.
The earpiece he wore, connected directly to Deacon, crackled in his ear. “We’ve got movement on the road, Irish. Ferrina brought plenty of friends with him.”
Something cold and ready rose at the words to blanket the wonder and hope inside him. He caught Lyse’s eye, knowing she’d heard the same message. “Got it, Deac. Heading back now.”
“What will we do with all this?” Lyse asked, watching as he grabbed a