“Yes,” Luna hisses. “Why is this so hard for you to wrap your minds around?” She holds her face between her hands, resting her elbows on top of the table. I think they’ve officially broken her.
“But how do we destroy the crystal? Shouldn’t the venom do that eventually?” Evander asks, poking a crystal with the tip of an arrow. A booted foot rests on the top of the table as he sits on the window bench next to her.
Luna slams her hands on the table as she stands and rips the arrow out of his hand. The sound and reverberation have everyone, myself included, flinching.
“Clearly, you can see it’s not eating through the crystal, but holding it. Magnifying its properties because it’s quartz. Together, they are blocking magic!” Her eyes flick from one person to the next. “We have to extract and nullify the venom to regain magic. Does everyone understand now, or do I need to say it slower?” Her words are sharper than the arrow point gripped in her hand.
And I feel my patience slipping. Snapping the book shut, I stand and face her.
“I understand your frustration, believe me. But your clear disdain for my court has also been more than apparent. Do not think you have to stay. I—we—can figure this out without you.”
Luna’s gaze slides my way. She blinks once, as if in surprise I would ever suggest such a thing. But she holds my stare. My eyes narrow, and I refuse to look away. This is clearly some sort of test, or an intimidation tactic that I will not lose.
Lachlan clears his throat, and the others shift awkwardly in their seats, but still we do not break eye contact. After a fewtense moments, Luna’s chin dips, and she lowers her eyes before plopping back into her chair.
“My apologies,” she mumbles.
My breath slides evenly through pursed lips.
“Okay, then. We have to destroy the venom, and the one thing I’ve seen do that is the raven stone under the mountain.”
“Right. It evaporated the venom into black smoke when it touched it in the cave,” Mathilda adds.
“Was that when ye had your wee accident?” Lachlan asks, crossing his arms over his chest.
I wave him off.
“We’ll need to open the quartz somehow and then extract the venom onto the raven stone.” I tap my finger to my lips as I think through the process.
Luna clears her throat, and my attention falls to her. “We also need to make sure we gather up all the crystals imbued with venom. This can’t be the only crystal inhibiting magic.”
My head tilts to the side as my brow wrinkles. “You think there is more than one?”
Mina nods quickly, her gaze swinging to Luna and back to me. “There would have to be to stifle magic across the entire realm. I bet you there’re crystals placed on each island.”
I lean back in my chair and tip my head up to the ceiling. “Of course there are,” I scrub my face with my hands, “alright, let’s figure out how to nullify this one, and then we’ll go on a quartz hunt.”
Tane raps his knuckles on the table, drawing our attention to him. “Why don’t we just smash it against the raven stone?”
Pursing my lips, I shake my head. “Breaking open the quartz that way would spray the venom everywhere, and that would be extremely dangerous. We need to be able to control where it sprays.”
Tane frowns, eliciting a giggle from Mathilda. “You can’t go around smashing things. You need to learn a softer way.”
He rolls his eyes and crosses his massive arms over his chest.
“They had to have gotten it in there somehow. There must be a seal we should search for.”
Luna worries at her bottom lip as she tilts her head. “It could take days to find. What’s the backup plan if we can’t find it or it won’t open?”
My attention shifts from person to person before Lachlan clears his throat.
“What if we created a sword or a needle out of the raven stone to puncture it? It’s much stronger than quartz. We could pierce it exactly where we needed to.” Lachlan’s question has the room quieting.
“We could control where the venom is released, and the raven stone would protect us from coming into direct contact with it!” My words come out rushed, and my excitement has my hands gesturing wildly.
“We need to mine some of it from the mountain and then have a blacksmith or maybe a jeweler fashion it into a weapon.” Lachlan stands swiftly and begins heading for the oak doors.
“Tane, can you go with him and see if it’s possible to mine some of the stone?” Tane nods and follows Lachlan out. “Evander, can you check and see if there are any forges in the capital that are open? I don’t think anyone has had a chance to relocate here yet. But if any of the established forges have reopened—we definitely need them.”
