Wild Knight (Midnight Empire: The Tower #1)(55)
Oh, gods.
Kami stared at me. “What did I say? You’re wearing that face. You know the one I mean.”
“Better me than someone else.”
“You’ve thought of something,” she accused.
“You said the magic word—elemental.”
Kami and Neera exchanged blank looks.
“I think I know how they got here.”
Neera scrutinized me with what we called her mom face. It was equal parts concerned and judgmental. “Is this connected to the job for House Lewis?”
“I think so.” I rose to my feet. “Your hour’s up. I need to get home and sleep so I can think clearly tomorrow and figure out my next move.”
Because if I didn’t find the stone soon, I had a sinking suspicion the city would have a lot more than Korriganes to worry about.
16
I awoke the next morning to find a flurry of notes on the balcony. Barnaby stood in the midst of them looking like his beak was out of joint.
“Sorry, buddy. I’ll take care of it today. No more pigeons. Promise.”
The raven cawed and flew away.
I let the menagerie out for a short circuit on the rooftop and cleaned up after them before returning to the flat. I’d shower and head to the library to see what Pedro had uncovered.
It was still early when I entered the library. Even though it was open twenty-fours a day, that didn’t mean everyone was as bright-eyed and bushy-tailed as yours truly.
Pedro spotted me from behind the counter and waved me over eagerly. “Wonderful. You got my messages.”
“Hard to miss all those pigeons outside my window. Let me tell you, my raven is not a fan.”
“I’ve been thinking about your symbol ever since you left.”
“That makes two of us.”
He retrieved a book from behind the counter and set it on top. “I marked the page for you.” He opened it and removed the bookmark—an old postcard of a red double-decker bus—and turned the book toward me.
I spotted the symbol straight away. Five triangles around a circle.
I skimmed the paragraph. As soon as my gaze landed on the word, I knew. Fire. Water. Air. Consider the dots connected. Interesting the wizards hadn’t yet used earth magic. There had to be a reason why not.
I tapped the image. “But there are five triangles and only four elements.”
Pedro smiled. “Unless you count an ancient metal born from the earth’s core as the fifth element, which many would.”
Damascus steel. The resurgence of the ancient metal wasn’t a coincidence. It was directly tied to the stone. Whoever controlled the stone had access to incredible elemental power and their first act was to use it to kill Maria. I couldn’t let them keep it.
On the other hand, I was tasked with recovering it for the vampires. Another problem. Surprise, surprise. Queen Imogen had lied to me. She didn’t want a simple artifact. She wanted control of a weapon. House Lewis possessed the immortality stone and now they wanted this elemental stone to add to their collection.
I thought back to Lann and his ineffectual efforts to manipulate the metal. He was a dwarf. He wouldn’t be able to.
But I could. Ostensibly any magic user could if they had traces of elemental magic in their bloodline. The vampires wanted to keep control of the stone away from magic users. If the stone fell into the hands of wizards—it all made sense now.
“Thank you, Pedro. You’re amazing. Best librarian in the world.”
“I’d offer you a cup of tea, but you know how I feel about food and drink near the books.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
He thumbed through the book. “I also took the liberty of gathering more details on the ancient metal. I was helping a chemistry student and came across helpful information.”
“You found information on an ancient metal in the chemistry section?”
He nodded. “This young dwarf was working on a project that blended chemistry with his work as a blacksmith.”
“Ah. A future weapons maker.”
“I don’t believe so. Chemistry is to please his mother and blacksmith is to please his father. You know how parents can be.”
I really didn’t, but I let the comment slide. “This is an incredible find, Pedro. Thank you.”
“What will you do with the information?”
An excellent question. “First I’d like to read more, then I’ll decide. If you find more information on the symbol or the metal, will you send me another pigeon? Just one this time.” I wanted to know everything contained within these four walls on the subject.
Pedro held up a finger. “I anticipated this very question and took it upon myself to gather what I could find.” He leaned down and produced an armful of books, which he set upon the table with a soft thud. “I marked the relevant pages.” He paused. “Well, you can thank Adelaide for that. She used a spell so we didn’t have to use adhesives. Bookmarks have a tendency to slide out too easily.”
I removed a book from the top of the pile and placed it in front of me. “Show me Damascus steel.”
The pages flipped faster than I could’ve managed with my fingers. They stopped on page 74.
“Tell Adelaide thank you the next time you see her.” Her spell would save me valuable time, especially considering the number of books now on the table.