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His touch grounded her and Claire opened up her magic a bit, allowing her Energy Reading to reach out towards the metal. The void that it encountered had her taking a quick step backwards.
“Nothing. I feel nothing from it.”
“Like you can’t read it?”
“Like it’s a void. It’s sucking up Energy from its surroundings. But how?”
“We don’t know,” Malcolm said grimly. “We found it playing King of the Mountain. It was only Desmond’s quick thinking that saved me from collapsing. We hid it here using his wind magic to transport it without touching it.”
“But what is it?”
“Fae Metallicum,” Everett answered her. “At least as far as we can tell.”
“There are legends to the Fae Metallicum,” Desmond said.
Claire nodded. “I remember. The Fae are masters in creating metal weaponry.”
Desmond nodded. “They are masters in weaponry and skilled in crafting with most metals. But Metallicum is different.”
“According to our limited knowledge from Dad’s library which is mostly legends, Metallicum has unique properties as it can be used not only as a conduit but also to consume Energy.”
“Consume?” Claire’s eyes widened. This metal could consume Energy? That didn’t sound possible.
But looking at the shard of Metallicum leaning up against the cavern wall and the distinctive boundary line around it, Claire believed them. The Metallicum drew her and Claire didn’t know if it was because of her Energy Reading abilities or not.
“What else did the books say?”
“That there’s a very, very limited amount of it in the Realm,” Desmond said. “Like less than Malcolm’s pile of gold over there. It’s not found but created by metal-affinity Fae. Or at least that’s how the legend goes. The Fae were very protective over it.”
“Metal-affinity?” Claire’s eyebrows drew together.
“Like witches have proficiencies or masteries, Fae have affinities. Metal-affinities are usually paired with Energy Reading affinities. Most Fae have dual affinities and typically share Fire and Air affinities. Elves typically have water and earth magic although I think they use the proficiency and mastery terminology,” Desmond explained.
And Claire had all of them because she had a Fae and Elven parent. But she didn’t have metal-affinity, did she?
Desmond must have had the same question as he frowned.
Malcolm pulled a time piece out of his pocket and cursed softly. “We’ll have to stare at the Metallicum later. We’re about to be late for dinner with the mothers.”
Claire laughed when Desmond and Everett also cursed. She turned away from the compelling metal and placed the questions on the ever-growing to-be-answered list.
21
“Ihad money on you skipping dinner,” Bradley informed them with a groan as they walked into the dining hall only a few minutes late. He slapped what looked to be a gold coin into Roderick’s palm. Roderick pocketed his prize with a smirk as Mara shot him a look.
“Why would we skip dinner?” Claire asked. Roderick had said that the mothers had something they wanted to talk to them about.
“I have no idea,” Mara said, cutting a look at the older men. “Our mates think they are funny when they are not.”
Claire didn’t miss the smirks between Brantley and Roderick though and braced herself for the topics. Mara waited until she had a few bites of a hearty stew before bringing up the topic.
“So when are you conducting your bonding ceremony?” Mara’s innocent questions had Claire choking on a chunk of potato. As she coughed, Desmond rubbed her back and pushed a bit of healing magic into her until the burning in her throat eased.
Tried to warn you,he sent down the bond as Claire sipped her water. She nearly choked on the water when she heard his words in her mind rather than out loud. Clearly the bond work from earlier had strengthened them.
“Momma,” Malcolm warned with a grumble. “That’s none of your business.”
“None of my business when it’s my son?” Mara arched an eyebrow at him and the fierce look on her face had Claire torn between wanting to laugh and wanting to sink under the table. She didn’t know how Malcolm didn’t cave but he just sat in stony silence staring at his mother. It was clear which parent Malcolm got his stubbornness from.
