“Fucking finally,” Finlay grumbled as Lucien left the room. “Anyway, I thought now might be a good time to tell you that Lady Magdalina and I found the Unseelie stone.”
Emma and I both started. “What?” Emma gasped. “How did you—”
“Youfoundit?” There was a deadly growl to my voice. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?”
“I might be getting ahead of myself. We don’thave it, per say, but know of it,” Finlay responded. “After all, realizing where somethingisdoesn’t mean that it’s in your possession. Sad thing is, you two had it all along.”
“Quit speaking in riddles. Where is it?” I demanded.
Finlay gave a roguish grin. “Do you remember the dark necklace from the King’s Contest?”
The heavy realization nearly made me fall out of my chair. Finlay hadn’t touched me, but still, I felt winded.
Awareness crossed over Emma’s face like a beacon, and she put a hand to her forehead as she leaned over the table. “Of course. We should’ve realized.”
“You’re saying the Unseelie stone is the gemstone within the dark necklace we stole from Lady Korva?” I asked.
“The same one I used to cheat,” Emma emphasized, like she couldn’t believe it.
Finlay nodded. “The very same.”
“No wonder it wounded you so,” I said, looking at Emma. “You were utilizing the power of a Crystal of Harmony, not just any Unseelie object.”
“Where is it now?” Emma’s words were urgent as she reached out to grasp Finlay’s arm. “Please tell us you know where it is.”
Finlay made a sheepish face. “Uh, well, no. After the Unseelie stone was taken from you once the Contest was over, the Circle took it to their archives and tried to destroy it. But as we know, a Crystal of Harmony can’t be destroyed, especially not by normal means of magic.”
“So what happened to it?” I asked.
“It was eventually abandoned by the Circle. Gabby and Elijah wanted to get their hands on it, but they couldn’t do so without drawing suspicion to themselves. Only one with Unseelie blood could wield the power in the necklace, and besides Lady Korva, none of the other council members could do anything with it. Luckily, they never figured outwhythey couldn’t use it. They just assumed Emma had drained the power in the necklace during the Contest, and therefore, the item was useless.”
“Why didn’t the Circle immediately suspect Emma of having Unseelie blood, then, once they’d learned we’d cheated? They knew the power in the necklace was full of dark magic,” I replied.
“Because they’re right morons,” Finlay stated. “Most people don’t understandhowdark magic works, because Unseelie lore isn’t taught at Arcanea University, or anywhere else. The knowledge was forbidden for so long, most fae don’t know anything about it. They think any old Seelie fae can harness dark magic for themselves whenever they wish, and as we know now, that’s not how it works. You have to have the ancestry to even attempt dark magic.”
“The necklace was Lady Korva’s. It was in her family for ages,” Emma said. “She must’ve known I had Unseelie blood before I did, if all this is true. I can’t believe she didn’t try to smuggle it back to her mansion somehow.”
“She was too afraid to steal it, for fear of it being linked back to her,” Finlay said. “She was trying to keep her son’s Unseelie heritage, and her own, quiet, because she knew if word got out what he was, it would be controversial. After all, why would she steal a necklace the council thought she couldn’t use?”
“But Lady Magdalinahadto have known about it. Why didn’t she take it herself?” Emma asked.
“She did her research, but unfortunately, Magdalina didn’t realize that the gem inside the necklace was the Unseelie stone until it was too late,” Finlay said with a sigh.
“Too late?” I asked.
“Lord Radcliffe,” Finlay said grimly.
Ah, that explained it. The man had a love of coin. I had already guessed what had happened. “He saw an opportunity to line his pockets.”
“Yes. He used his place on the council torepossessthe necklace, then sold it to someone in Scotland. It got passed around to a lot of different hands. No one truly knew what they had,” Finlay said. “Lady Magdalina and I spent many months going back and forth from Dolinska to Edinburgh, tracking down who the necklace was sold to, though the trail eventually went cold. From what we know before she died, it’s still somewhere in Scotland, probably Edinburgh.”
So that’s why Finlay and Magdalina had missed so many Circle meetings during our time as king and queen. “Why didn’t the two of you clue us in?” I asked, irritated. “We had the right to know.”
“You two were busy locating the Seelie stone and governing the nation. We didn’t think it was a good idea to distract you until we had a solid lead on the Unseelie stone, and so far, everything we found was just a smoke screen.” He shrugged.
“We need to pick the investigation back up in Edinburgh,” Emma said. “Do you know who had the necklace last?”
“I can look into it,” Finlay said. “But I hate to tell you, our last lead wasn’t promising, and we’re fighting against time to find it before Droga does.”
