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Claire felt her cheeks heat immediately as she processed what Elder Vali said. Someone snorted quietly and Claire had money on it being one of her friends. “That was always the intent,” Claire said carefully. “The timing has just not been right.”
Elder Vali’s eyes twinkled which was the only indication from her expression she knew how embarrassing this was for Claire. She reminded her a lot of Greta in that moment. “I think that should take top priority, don’t you?”
At a loss for words, Claire just nodded and Bethany’s shoulders shook with quiet laughter as she said, “I’ll add it to the list. Up at the top.”
Thankfully, Claire was saved for further embarrassment by the return of her cousins, a small box in Kieran’s hands.
Her cousins wisely didn’t say anything when they saw Claire’s face and instead Kieran walked up to the head of the table. “We found this in your father’s study. We tried opening it, looking for answers after we brought him back here but weren’t able to. It’s the first thing that stuck out to us when you said that,” Kieran said as he handed it to her.
Claire accepted the box carefully. It was carved from a dark wood and the scene etched in the top of the box matched the scene of the stained glass window in Roderick’s study of the Fae and dragon’s alliance. She tried to open the latch but it was spelled shut. She looked at it carefully, it looked like the latches of her mother’s journals. Drawing her Fae dagger, she pricked the tip of her finger and pressed it against the latch. It clicked open and she opened the box carefully to reveal a green velvet lined interior. Laying at the bottom of the box was a rolled up scroll of paper.
Aware of the eyes on her, Claire unrolled the paper gingerly. She scanned it quickly and frowned. It wasn’t written by her mother or her father like she expected.
“What does it say? Is it from the prince?” Elder Milam asked with a thread of impatience in his voice. Claire held in a smile when Malcolm leveled him with a look that could kill.
“It’s not from my father or my mother,” Claire said, reading over the letter. “It is a letter from Councilman Roland to Councilman Vanya outlining the plan.” She looked up in disbelief. “They actually wrote it all down?”
“May I?” Desmond reached out for the letter and Claire handed it over. He scanned it with a hand carefully as he muttered a few words. Handing it back to Claire, he nodded. “It’s like I thought. There was a powerful locking spell that covered the letter. Your mother must have broken the spell before she entrusted the letter to your father.”
Claire nodded and called up her magic. Now that she knew what to look for, she could feel the fragments of the broken spell that Desmond described. Bethany cleared her throat and Claire smiled at her impatient friend.
“The letter outlines their plan to conquer the Realm,” Claire continued. “They started by dividing the Realm against each other. It was too powerful to conquer united but fragmented Roland says it would be easier to take over. And they had to start with the Fae and Elves who would be more likely to see through the plan and also be the most powerful enemies with Winona and Erick’s alliance. They had to turn the rest of the Realm against the Fae and Elves and that involved spinning the story that they were getting greedy with their trades.”
Claire paused to keep reading the letter. “He briefly outlines the steps in the letter of making the shifters the first foot soldiers in the war followed by the witches with their magic. He predicted that the good, honorable families will be at the front lines eager to fight in a ‘just’ war and that will get rid of anyone who would stand against them.”
Her eyes widened as she read the next section and she looked at Malcolm. She whispered the next words into the quiet room.
“Councilmember Roland commends Councilmember Vanya on securing Councilmember Maxios’ hoard with a warded spell, providing them the blackmail they need to swing the dragons to their side.”
Malcolm’s eyes went wide and he exchanged looks with Everett. Claire remembered that dragon’s hoards were deeply personal and protected but hadn’t realized that they could be used to control a dragon as well?
“That bastard,” Malcolm growled to Everett. “All this time and he…” Malcolm’s eyes flashed gold as his dragon came forward at the betrayal.
“Easy there,” Desmond said. “I know this is personal but if you shift here, you’ll squash us all.”
The Fae around Malcolm shifted away a few feet at Desmond’s words and Claire rolled her eyes. Getting up from her chair, she walked to Malcolm’s and plopped down in his lap. He buried his head in her hair, his growls vibrating through her as he fought to collect his dragon. Ignoring him, Claire turned to Desmond.
“Is there a way to undo the ward? Give Maxios back his hoard and bring him back to our side?”
“What are you thinking?” Everett asked her.
“If this is why the dragons betrayed the Fae,” she looked around the room at the Fae gathered here, “then wouldn’t reversing it remove the last thread of control over them? Or at least if you can reverse it and show the other dragons that Maxios lied to them, we might be able to sway his clan without him.”
“We do need the firepower,” Malcolm admitted, his growls softening to a whisper in his chest and down their bond. “My family’s and Arran’s clans would be on our side but if we have to fight dragons to dragons, that could be disastrous. If we can sway most of Maxios’s clan to our side than that’s one less thing to worry about.”
He looked at Desmond. “Can you undo the ward?”
“Can I?” Desmond scoffed. “I could have done it at age twelve if they had said anything.”
Claire leaned back into Malcolm, shifting on his lap and cutting off his snarky reply to Desmond’s cockiness.
“Then we need to get you to the Dragon Mountains,” Kallan said, getting them back on track.
Malcolm smirked and Claire knew Desmond would not like his suggestion. “I can fly you there. If we leave in the morning, we’ll be back by the afternoon. Provided you’re not all talk and can actually break the ward.”
Claire gently kicked Desmond’s leg when he looked offended. “I believe you can,” she said sweetly at him.
“Thank you, little love. Gladsomeonehas faith in my awesomeness.” He sniffed.
