Heart of the Priestess

Chapter 3

I woke to Julia pounding on my door like the building was on fire. My head throbbed, and the taste of last night’s wine clung to my tongue. I groaned, rolled over, and hoped she’d take the hint.

“Rosie!” she hissed through the door. “You need to get up—now!”

That got me moving. I stumbled to the door in my hotel robe, yanking it open to find Julia pale and clutching her phone like it was a live grenade.

“What?” I croaked.

“They found it,” she said, voice flat.

For a second, my foggy brain didn’t process it. “Found what?”

“The amulet,” Julia whispered. “Someone dug it up overnight. It’s gone.”

The words hit like a punch to the gut. I blinked at her, then shook my head. “No. No, that’s not possible. Shay said we’d start this morning.”

“Apparently someone started without us,” Julia said grimly. “It was pulled from under the throne room floor. Quietly. No official record yet, but Dio’s team is losing their minds.”

I ran both hands through my hair, panic rising like bile. “We were right there. How did—how could—”

Shay appeared down the hall, laptop tucked under his arm, looking like he hadn’t slept either. “The site’s chaos,” he said, voice clipped. “Dio’s private crew is swarming. Locals are saying it was done in the middle of the night—someone knew exactly where to dig.”

My stomach twisted. “This is bad. This is really, really bad.”

Julia stepped closer, lowering her voice. “What do we do?”

I was already pacing the hall barefoot. “We call Dio. We have to tell him before he hears it from someone else.”

Shay winced. “You know that’s not going to go well.”

I jabbed a finger at him. “Not calling him goes worse.”

Back in my room, I threw on yesterday’s clothes, hands shaking as I dialed Dio. The line barely rang once before he answered, his voice like a blade.

“Rosie,” he barked. “Tell me you’re bringing it home.”

I swallowed hard. “Mr. Leandros… there’s been a development.”

There was a pause, sharp enough to cut glass. “Don’t dance around it.”

“The amulet—it was located overnight,” I said, rushing the words out. “Someone moved on it before we could. It’s been removed from the site.”

The explosion on the other end nearly made me drop the phone.

“You were supposed to be there!” Dio roared. “I’ve spent thirty years, millions of dollars chasing this, and you—what were you doing? Sleeping?”

I gripped the phone tight, voice cracking. “We had the location pinned. We were scheduled to start first thing this morning. I don’t know how they—”

“Don’t know?” Dio’s voice dropped to a venomous hiss. “I trusted you because you’re supposed to be the best. Do you have any idea how important this is to me?”

I squeezed my eyes shut, heat prickling behind them. “I do, and I’m sorry. I’ll find out who—”

“No,” Dio cut me off. “You’re done there. Pack your things. Get back to New York immediately.”

My chest caved in. “Sir, please, I can fix this—”

“Fix?” His laugh was harsh, humorless. “You’ve already lost it. When you land, we’ll discuss whether you still have a future with the Smithsonian at all.”

The line went dead.

I lowered the phone slowly, staring at it like it might offer a do-over. Julia and Shay stood frozen near the door, both looking like they’d just witnessed an execution.

“Well,” I said hoarsely, forcing a brittle laugh. “That went great.”

Julia stepped forward. “Rosie…”

I held up a hand, pacing again. “He’s going to blacklist me. Do you understand what that means? I won’t just lose this job—I’ll lose every job. No museum, no university will touch me once he’s through.”

Shay glanced at Julia, then back to me. “There’s still a chance to—”

“No,” I said sharply. “He made it clear. I’m finished here.”

The room fell silent except for the sound of my suitcase zipping. Julia helped me pack in quiet efficiency, Shay gathering his notes and muttering under his breath about security leaks.

When everything was shoved into bags, I stopped by the window. The excavation site sprawled below, crawling with Dio’s men and locals arguing in rapid Greek. Amid the chaos, I spotted him—Lex—leaning against a jeep, speaking casually to one of Dio’s supervisors like they were old friends.

I told myself it didn’t matter. That none of this mattered anymore. I turned away from the window, jaw tight.

“Let’s go,” I said.

At the airport, as we boarded the flight back to D.C., I couldn’t shake the image of the amulet being carried away in the dark of night. Whoever had taken it knew exactly where to look.

And Dio wasn’t wrong. I should’ve been there.

Shay hugged to his chest, looking like he’d aged ten years overnight. His normally neat hair was sticking up in odd angles, his glasses crooked. The man was brilliant, Cambridge-polished, and usually composed. This morning, he was a wreck.

He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, opened his mouth as if to speak, then stopped himself. Julia glanced over her shoulder at him, brow furrowed. Finally, Shay let out a breath, his voice low and strained.

“I should’ve caught it,” he said, his words sharp with self-directed anger. “I had the data, Rosie. I spent hours last night running models on the throne room structure. I should have been the first to find it. Whoever pulled it out… they knew exactly where to dig. They beat me to it like I didn’t even exist.”

He pushed his glasses up his nose, blinking fast, the usual gleam of quiet confidence dulled to ash. “I’m supposed to be the expert. The historian. The one Dio trusts to see what no one else can. And now—” He cut himself off, biting back the last words.

Julia tried to interject, but I held up a hand and stepped closer to Shay.

“Shay,” I said firmly, my voice cutting through the morning chaos. “Listen to me. This is not your fault.”

He shook his head, frustrated. “But it is. I had the map. The stratigraphy reports. I should’ve seen it. Instead, someone else…” His hands tightened on the laptop until his knuckles went white. “Someone else outsmarted me.”

“No,” I said, keeping my voice steady even as my stomach twisted. “You’re one of the sharpest minds I’ve ever worked with. A brilliant historian—a genius. If anyone was going to locate that amulet, it was going to be you. The company is lucky to have you, Shay. Don’t let this—” I gestured vaguely at the room, at Julia’s pale face and the frantic energy radiating between us, “—make you doubt what you’re capable of.”

His jaw worked as he stared at the floor, conflicted. I stepped closer and lowered my voice, softening the edge. “Whatever happened last night wasn’t because you weren’t good enough. Someone had information we didn’t, maybe even access we couldn’t have had. That’s not on you.”

Shay finally looked up at me, his expression still raw but slightly less defeated. “You really believe that?”

“I do,” I said, offering the closest thing to a smile I could manage. “Now, stop beating yourself up before Dio hears you talking like that and thinks it’s true.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, almost a laugh, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

I turned away before he could see me biting into my bottom lip hard enough to sting. My own hands were trembling as I reached for my phone. No matter what I’d just told Shay, the truth sat heavy in my chest: if Dio decided I was to blame, there wouldn’t be any defending myself. My career was already hanging by a thread—and now someone had just cut halfway through it.