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“I’ve got some other metals here,” Kieran said. “Iron, steel. I bet they were experimenting before the Metallicum.”
“Is any of the Ligamen missing?” Holly asked, her brow furrowed and her stomach uneasy at the implications.
“Hard to tell.” Kallan’s voice was grim as he approached out of the shadows of the back of the cave. “The area around it was too disturbed to tell, but I think we should assume yes.”
He exchanged a grim look with her. This was not good. Whoever had taken the ingredients now had the ability to build another ultimate weapon like the one Claire destroyed.
“I thought a massive amount of magic was needed to bind the ingredients together?” Synora asked as she approached Holly, ignoring Luca’s growl and slipping an arm around her waist.
“That’s correct,” Holly said.
“Well, if Claire isn’t able to, then it should be fine, right? No one has come close to her magic.”
“Not necessarily.” Holly winced as she remembered. “When we were doing our investigation, we realized people could combine their magic to bind the ingredients, but it would leave them drained. It’s why Roland and Vanya went after Claire—so they wouldn’t lose their magic binding the weapon together. However, any large amount of magic will do.”
“What if the right-hand man is a magic user—a wizard?” Kallan asked, his gaze scanning the piles of ingredients around the room.
“What makes you say that?” Dread curdled in Holly’s gut. What if it was someone she knew?
“It does make sense,” Kieran said slowly, his brow furrowed while he thought. “No offense, Holly, but witches weren’t necessarily known for their… upstanding views in the Realm. And if the weapon requires a large amount of magic to bind it, it makes sense.”
“But we shouldn’t rule out other races,” Synora argued. “A charming, charismatic person could convince people to do their bidding, including binding the weapon together, regardless of their race. They wouldn’t have to be directly involved in the binding process to make that happen.”
“That’s fair.” Kallan inclined his head. “I do think we should go to the witches next, though.”
Holly nodded as she fought to hold back her wince. That would mean meeting her parents, most likely. She hadn’t even told them she had found her mates yet. None of them were witches, and one of them was a half-feral dragon.
CHAPTER16
Kallan frowned as he looked at Luca. “What is it?” Holly asked when he didn’t say anything.
“I think we should get Luca scanned by a magic user we trust. I wouldn’t put it past this group to have done something else to him, binding him to this cave or some other spell.”
Kallan didn’t say more than that, but Holly’s mind raced with possibilities of the spells that could have been cast. “That’s a good idea,” she said, shuddering. “We could send up a signal to the dragons?”
Kallan shook his head. “Is there a way for you to contact Desmond directly? He’s the only magic user I trust right now.”
Holly bristled slightly. While some witches and covens were rude at best, power hungry and sabotaging at worst, Brandlevine coven had always been full of good witches and wizards like Andy, her Uncle Frederick, and her papa.
“Present company excluded, of course.” Kieran winked at her, trying to soften the blow of Kallan’s words.
Holly gave him a smile, but it felt pasted on her cheeks, like the mask she used to wear at her papa’s fancy dinners. She turned away from the group with the guise of rummaging through the bag at her hip. She was pretty sure the summoning orb Desmond had given her was still in here.
When he had left for the Academy, he had given her an emergency summoning orb and made her promise to always carry it with her. She didn’t know what danger he thought she was in, but she had kept her promise and always had it on her, even when she had joined him at the Academy a short time later.
She extended her whole arm into the small bag, her fingers reaching, trying to locate the smooth stone. She turned to see her mates staring at her with raised eyebrows. “What?”
Kieran gestured to her arm. “Do you have a whole house in there?”
Holly turned to look and realized the picture she was making right now. The bag was only six inches deep, but Holly had her arm in it up to her shoulder. “Oh.” She blushed. “Extender spell.” Desmond had taught her an extender spell early in her teenage years, and she’d traveled lightly ever since.
Her fingers finally brushed the smooth stone, and she grabbed onto it. “Got it,” she said triumphantly. “Summoning orb. Direct line to Desmond.”
Kallan nodded. “Call him. Please,” he added at the end.
Holly rolled the smooth orb in her hand and then threw it sharply down at the stone at her feet. She looked up at the shocked look on her mates’ face and shrugged. “He always did have a flair for dramatics.”
On his end, Desmond should have gotten her call as soon as she shattered the orb. Once he threw his on the ground in response, an emergency portal would open and take him directly to her.
