Crowned (Beholder #4)(7)

“That’s so nice,” said Amelia quickly. She grabbed my wrist and dragged me through the maze of metal.

Now, if most people had just been told they were a topic of conversation for the gods, then they’d have a lot of questions. Not Amelia. The fact that she said that’s so nice meant my friend was leagues deep into a mechanical project of some kind and wanted me to see it right away. Nothing else mattered.

Kade, however, did not miss the comment at all. He followed one step behind Amelia and me. “Gods? What did they say about my mate?” His words came out as a snarl.

“Just listed her name, that’s all,” I called over my shoulder. “At the time, I couldn’t hear much of what they were saying…just a snippet of a word here and there. Amelia’s name was all I heard.”

“May I have a minute of your time, brother?” asked Kade. That boded ill. The edge in Kade’s voice said that the conversation would take far more than a minute. Kade had never been enthusiastic about our plan to spy on the gods. No doubt, he was worried that my actions were dragging my friend into danger.

Again, he wouldn’t be entirely wrong.

Every so often, I wondered about hiding from the world. Perhaps I could retire to some small Cloister and wait until all this was over, one way or another. Then, I’d realize the truth. I couldn’t protect myself and my friends, but leave the rest of the world to Viktor’s not-so-tender mercies. After all, Rowan and I were the only ones who could fight him.

Amelia dragged me past a long curtain of what looked like metal hair and stopped at a small clearing on the lab floor. In the center of the space, there was the statue of a kneeling figure that had been made of bronze, wood, and stone. It wore scraps of black leather that had probably once been part of a Necromancer robe. Arms, legs, even the jawline…all the pieces of the statue had movable parts. It was a life-sized doll.

And it looked a lot like me.

As I stepped around the figure, the world took on a dream-like quality. Who would make a statue that looked somewhat like me? I knew the Casters were just starting to warm up to the idea of me as Rowan’s mate. It seemed a little early for them to be carving statues. Besides, Caster statues were typically enchanted stone. This creation was definitely mechanical.

A dozen questions flew through my mind at once. Leaning in to my Necromancer training, I calmed my mind and selected the query that would give me the most information. “Tell me how you made this.”

Amelia bounced on the balls of her feet once more. “Made this? No me. I found it! You know how Kade and I have been visiting my great grandfather, Justinian?”

“Yes.” I glanced around, looking for Kade and Rowan. I couldn’t see them, but I could hear their voices rumbling from not too far away. I’d have liked to have Kade here to tell his side of the story, but I supposed that would have to wait. It always took a little while for Rowan to explain why we had to do things for the best of the Casters, not only Kade’s mate. It was an argument Kade never liked to hear.

“Well, on our last visit, we stopped waiting at the doorstep for entry to Justinian’s chateau. Instead, Kade broke the door down, and we got into a battle with three mages.” Amelia lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “It didn’t go well for the mages. I used my new dart shooter on them.” She pulled what looked like a miniature crossbow from her jacket. “Took them down like that.”

“You killed them?” I knew Amelia had been getting battle training from Kade, but somehow I never thought she’d use it.

Kade stepped out into our group. Grinning from ear to ear, he pulled Amelia into his arms and spun her about in a circle. “Amelia had to kill those fiends; they were attacking without provocation or remorse. My mate is fearsome in battle.”

Amelia set her hands on Kade’s shoulders. Her big blue eyes sparkled with delight. “I wasn’t that scary.”

“Yes.” Kade brushed a gentle kiss over her lips. “You were.”

Rowan walked out of the maze and into our group. When he saw the statue, he froze in place. His eyes narrowed. “What’s this? Who’s making statues of Elea?”

Amelia broke free from Kade’s embrace and started circling the statue, touching bits of bronze or stone as she went. “As I was saying, we broke into Justinian’s castle and finally got to speak with the old goat.”

“You did?” Bands of excitement tightened about my chest. This might be the information we were looking for. “Did he tell you where the Sword was?”

Amelia sniffed. “He said the Sword was hidden and would find me when the time was right.” Amelia poked at a bit of worn leather on the statue. “The man really was useless, but then Kade had the idea to search the chateau, and we found this statue.”

Kade turned to Rowan. “I had the palace mages transport it back here to the laboratory. They ran some Assessment Spells on it. The thing is made of bronze gears, wood, stone, and some small leather bits. It was made by Amelia’s forebears.”

“This certainly looks like the work of your family,” I said.

“The mages also ran an Age Incantation on it. You won’t believe the results.” Kade gestured toward the kneeling figure. “That’s two thousand years old.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Two thousand years old? Are you certain?”