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Claire nodded, that made sense.
“Desmond warded the entrance so it’s even more hidden,” Everett said.
“And that’s why I need you over here,” Desmond called over. “I need to key you into the ward, little love.”
Claire rolled her eyes as she reluctantly stepped away from Malcolm’s steady warmth and crossed the cavern to Desmond, she took his hand and he pulled her close and pressed a kiss on her forehead. “I promise it’s painless. Just give me a little strand of your magic for the spell.”
She nodded and felt his cool magic flow into her. She unraveled a small strand of her magic from her center and let it playfully tangle with his magic as he called both strands back and into the ward. The action felt intimate as if she was in Desmond’s very skin for a brief moment but the feeling faded as he called the magic back. The ward shimmered brighter for a moment and then settled.
“There,” he dropped another kiss on her forehead. “See? Painless.”
Claire smiled and shook her head but silently agreed.
Malcolm ducked through the ward and into the tunnel. “Come on little treasure, let us show you our treasure.”
Everett laughed. “That sounds like a bad pickup line.”
Malcolm’s growl mixed with Claire’s laughter and the sound echoed around the cavern as Desmond guided her into the tunnel. This tunnel was shorter than the first one and soon Claire was standing upright in a glittering room. Desmond clasped his hands together and when he pulled them apart, three glowing orbs hung suspended in the air between his hands. He threw them up in the air and they got brighter until the whole room was illuminated.
It was a large cavern with enough room that Malcolm could probably shift comfortably. Although he might not be able to extend his wings if he did shift with his new size. There was a huge pile of gold and gems sitting in the middle of the room and Claire flashed an amused look at Malcolm, her lips opening to make the stereotypical joke about dragons and their gold piles.
Malcolm must have read her intention on her face as he ducked his head and tilted her chin for a quick, hard kiss. She let out a squeak and then melted into him, chasing his lips as he pulled away. “If you make the joke, then Desmond will make another joke, and we’ll never actually get to show you anything.”
Claire laughed softly but kept the joke quiet. Malcolm straightened and gestured towards the pile. “As you can see, we keep the bulk of our money here and some in the bank at the Capital. There’s also a variety of gems I have collected over the years for you.”
“Wait. For me?” Claire squeaked.
Malcolm gave her a bemused look. “Yes, for you.”
“Um…” Claire looked at the very large pile. It was more gold than Claire had ever seen and the pile was practically as tall as her. Nope. This was not something she could handle processing now. That was probably more gold than Windshire’s coven had ever seen.
“The hoard is also where I keep my extra feathers that have shed throughout the year,” Everett said, reading the rigid set of her shoulders and changing the subject. He paused, a flicker of pain crossing his face.
“Gryphons used to be hunted,” Desmond said softly when Everett lost his words. Claire felt horrible as she remembered that Everett’s parents had been killed.
“Was it because…” She didn’t finish the question.
“We don’t know if it was the Great War or some rogue witches looking to gain an edge during the war at the cost of their allies,” Everett said, sadness coating his words and making Claire’s heart hurt. While it had happened a long time ago, Everett didn’t look like the pain had gotten any lighter. She broke away from Malcolm to throw her arms around Everett who wrapped his around her tighter. She doubted either of their pain would ever fade completely. Like he had said earlier, they would just learn to carry it.
She just held him for a few minutes, helping him carry the immense sadness she felt pressing down on him through their bond. He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead as he pulled away slightly. “I’m okay, little mate. It was a long time ago. But we take extra precautions now. Any shed feathers we keep here so no one else has access to them.”
“I also keep my rare spell books that I’ve collected here,” Desmond said, providing them with a welcome subject change. “Basically anything that could fall into the wrong hands or would not be secure at the Academy we keep here.”
Now that Everett wasn’t feeling as sad, Claire explored a bit. She walked over to the book shelves that held so many books their shelves seemed to be groaning. She traced her fingers over a few of the spines, feeling the power drifting from them as she did.
Everett’s feathers were next, arranged in a shallow velvet-lined box on a table. There weren’t as many as Claire had expected.
“We don’t shed them often,” Everett said, coming up behind her. Claire pressed her back into his chest and soaked up some warmth as she tried to provide him with more comfort. “That’s part of the reason they’re in such high demand. We lose some in battle but we don’t molt like birds do and pulling them out is painful.”
Claire scanned the feathers as he spoke. Each of them was clearly from Everett but they were all different, like snowflakes, in their shaping and shading. She was drawn to one in the top right corner of the box. It was one of the few black-tipped feathers but what really drew Claire to it was the darker spot that looked like a heart in the middle. She brushed her fingers over it, the soft feather tickling the tips. She felt Everett’s eyes on her but didn’t meet them. She didn’t have an answer as to why she was drawn to this particular feather but Everett didn’t press. She lifted her chin and pressed a soft kiss against his jaw. His breath hitched and Claire smiled softly as she continued on her exploration.
The next item had to be the oddest thing there. Only the absence of things around it clued Claire into that it might be more important than her first glance. At first glance, it looked like a shard of metal that had been discarded to the side, leaning up against the cavern wall. A six foot circle was cleared around it like the other items in the hoard had an invisible boundary line they did not cross.
Claire stopped a few feet from the boundary line. Something instinctual demanded for her to touch the metal but she refrained. She had gotten enough lectures about touching or accepting or sending magic into strange objects thank you.
“What is that?” she asked, her eyes never leaving the metal. It was like a spell had been cast on her and the pull wasstrong.
“What do you feel from it?” Desmond asked, stepping up next to her and interlacing his fingers with hers as if he was afraid she would step closer to the shard of metal. “What do you see when you use your Energy Reading?”
