I couldn’t help by smile at him. “You don’t have to justify your choices to me. I understand how much you want to keep your friend safe.”
With a nod, he marched around us in his stupidly expensive suit and led us into the drawing room.
Melinda sat in an armchair, a black Kimono wrapping her slight form in glistening silk. The flickering light from the fireplace caught the folds of her robe, reminding me of the mercury of
Fin’s magic in my grasp.
We took seats on the couch opposite her, and Helix stood vigil at the back of her chair like he had before. I noticed more now how he was attuned to her every twitch. It only made me more curious about their relationship.
Fin nudged my arm clearly saying ‘none of your business.’ I gave him a sheepish grin and focused on Melinda. While still incredibly beautiful, she had dark circles under her eyes tonight.
“You called us here.” I said, gently. “What did you need? Are you finished?”
She waved at Helix who crossed to the bar and handed Fin and I each a whiskey on ice.
Melinda raised her glass. “To your bonding. I see you’ve sealed it.”
We weren’t going to go into how creepy it was that she noticed it, or maybe...the answer filtered into my head.
Fae could see the entwining of our magic around us, like a brand easily identifiable. It would fade as we settled into it but for now it shone bright and strong a symbol of our new union.
Still creeped me out though, especially given the intimacy of the ceremony and what we shared in those precious moments together.
“Thank you,” Fin said, for both of us, as my mind wandered.
I needed to get used to this thing between us. The knowledge that slipped into my head distracted me.
I let her sip her toast and then took a polite drink myself before placing the glass on a coaster on the coffee table. If we had to do magic, or fight anytime soon, I wanted to be at full capacity.
She sighed and finished her drink. Helix took the empty glass away and returned to place his hands on the back of her chair again like a castle gargoyle on duty.
“Tell me what you know about metal magic.” Melinda said.
I glanced at Fin who gave me a tiny nod to go ahead. “Well, I know that some metalsmiths can imbue metal with magic, hold it and keep it there to be used later, or by someone in particular.”
She nodded.
“Also, some metal is better suited for magic than others. The ones which go well with magic are more expensive and harder to get a hold of. There is a balance between hard metals and soft metals. Soft metals are better for magic, but they are also easier to scratch, bend, and break so to make things like weapons, there has to be a certain amount of magical binder.”
“You know more than I thought,” she said, sounding impressed.
To be fair, I’d been doing a lot of research lately on magical metalsmithing.
“Most of us, metal workers that is, start with jewelry,” she said, “watches and little things to begin as we get to know what form our magic will take. It’s rare to find a metal worker who can do everything required to complete a project. Often it takes several workers with varied gifts to finish one item. Many of my kind work in teams to produce their artifacts.”
I nodded. “Let me guess. You aren’t one of those.”
Her jaw tightened as she glanced away. “No, I’m not. Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I had been. Safer, probably. As you can guess, my abilities are highly sought after. Most of those with whole abilities die young trying to flee others who wish to capture them, or under the strain of their own power as they try to do too much with too little source magic.”
Fin’s knowledge hit me again.
The source magic being the well of someone’s power. Most fae only had so much of it, and what Melinda did, required more than she had access to herself.
“I understand better now why you need magical amplification from Fin. So, what now? Were you able to negate the knife?”
She shook her head, and my heart sank like a rock tossed off the edge of a cliff.
“Don’t misunderstand me,” she said. “I have only tried the bare minimum to get a feel of what would be required. I need to explain some things about it first.”