“My mansion in Edinmyre was raided,” Arthur groaned. “The books were burned, and the place was completely overturned.”
“What?” I asked. Arthur had his own hearthfire, a personal home within Edinmyre that he’d crafted with his illusion magic, but we’d considered it completely untouchable. No one but us knew it was there.
“I meditated there this morning, to look for documents I’d stored there,” Arthur explained. “And the place has been completely sacked.”
“Calm down. It’s not the end of the world,” Finlay insisted.
I was with Arthur. This wasn’t a good situation.
“Like hell! I found hoofprints, and that rank smell that always comes withkarkans,” Arthur seethed. “I was up all night running across Edinmyre, tracing their steps and trying to catch them. Gods, if I had caught up. I’d have torn them apart for what they did to Vara.”
“And?” I pressed.
“The trail went cold, abruptly. Droga must’ve summoned them back,” Arthur spat.
“How could they even go there?” I asked. The portal to Edinmyre was becoming narrower everyday. It was more difficult each time to transport ourselves there, even with Emma’s magic.
“Droga’s a god, and therefore, has the power to transport whoever he wishes back and forth between Earth and Edinmyre, whether the portal is open or not,” Vocheck said.
“What about Emma’s cottage?” Panic was mounting within me. We kept the Crystals of Harmony there.
“They didn’t find it. All of the stones are still there,” Emma said breathlessly. “We just checked.”
“But theycouldfind it,” I insisted. “The cottage is compromised. We can’t continue to keep the Crystals there any longer.”
“My magic protects the Crystals. There’s a ward on the door guarding the Crystals of Harmony. No one can get in there but us. They should stay put,” Emma insisted.
“Emma, your powers are great, but we’ve seen before that your hearthfire can be attacked and vandalized, and when that happens, you become vulnerable,” I said. “What if they ransack your cottage and your wards protecting the Crystals fail, because you’re not strong enough to keep them up?”
“Aye,” Arthur said dully. “I haven’t been able to cast a decent spell since I got back. Them tearing apart my mansion did my powers in for a day or two.”
“But where are we going to put them?” Emma put a hand in her hair. She was stressed.
“We have to bring them here,” I insisted. “At least for the time being.”
“Ethan, that’s so risky.” Emma bit her lip.
“We don’t have a choice. The estate is the safest place to keep them, for now,” I said. “Droga hasn’t yet discovered us here. It’s a reasonable assumption that the stones will be safe at the mansion, so long as we are.”
“There’s an armory downstairs,” Vocheck said. “It’s bolted, and has wards around it preventing anyone outside the house from opening the vault. Even if Droga’s minions did manage to overtake this estate, they’d have a hell of a time trying to get through the wards of three different fae and into that armory.”
“Then let’s go get them,” Emma stated. “I’ll summon the girls, and I’ll make us a portal. We’ll transport the stones here immediately.”
Relief eased the tightness in my chest. It felt better to have the stones nearby, in a place we could keep an eye on them. We couldn’t be in Edinmyre at all times— we couldn’t even go there to check every day. It was draining on our magic. This way, at least we’d know for certain where the stones were at all times.
I didn’t feel at ease until all five of the Crystals that we had were safely locked behind the armory’s thick door. I knew we’d made the right decision to bring them here. It was the only decision we could make, after all.
Emma put an additional ward on the armory door, just to be extra careful. I wasn’t the only one around here who was paranoid.
Finlay approached me once the others were gone and the vault was shut. “We must speak. I’ve tried talking sense into Arthur, but he won’t listen. Perhaps you will.”
“What are you going on about?” I couldn’t imagine what hare-brained idea Finlay had gotten into his head now.
“Pruska is currently defenseless,” he babbled. “When Gabby took it, she filled it with Black Claw enforcers, but a significant number of them have been moved from the city and into the area protecting her palace. Pruska’s forces are only a fourth of what they were. If we took everyone and put up a good fight, we could take it easily.”
We’d lost Pruska when Gabby had attacked it last year. The entire town had ended up in shambles, and the lives lost during the battle had been numerous. It’d been a heavy blow to our war effort as king and queen, and had started our downfall until we’d lost the crown completely.
Now it was practically open for the taking. Why would Gabby leave such a stronghold to defend itself?
