Page 43 of Mantle

Mom stared at him for several moments, then looked at me.

“Yes,” she breathed. “You’re right. It’s time for exactly that.”

“Excellent.”

Wow,this was something else.

“Mom, are you sure?”

She nodded firmly. “I am. I’ve been thinking about it for a while. Since your party, actually. It’s time.”

I wrapped my arms around her and we held each other for a moment, before she then said her goodbyes to the room, then headed on out with Cassius and Dad.

Pops and Papa started rising from their seats too and talking about their respective tasks ahead of them.

And then it was just us.

I sucked in a breath as I held Cassius’ book tight to me.

The calm in the midst of all the chaos had come and gone.

9

~Kai~

I stood staring at the Bastion Gauntlet levitating in Cornelius’ vault.

He’d managed to complete it, and it was really something.

A masterpiece in magical craftmanship, an ornate right-hand gauntlet forged from bronze with intricate latticework swirling across its surface in elegant, symmetrical patterns. The knuckles were reinforced, the plates honed to precision, each joint moving with fluidity that belied it solid structure.

It was imbued with the ability to wield extraordinary power that would prove harmful to all Celestial beings outside of Ariana.

It was our defense against them.

But with the rise of Ketheron and our shifting goals, even that was no longer enough.

The tables had turned.

The high-stakes game had changed.

And in order to survive, we needed to adapt accordingly.

And fucking quickly.

“Impressive,” I said, eyeing Cornelius as he examined it opposite me. “Although, we’re going to need to replicate it,produce several more, with our intention now being to break the link to the Celestial Plane. We have to anticipate that they’ll try to come for us, try to stop it at all costs.”

“I’ve taken that into account. We must prepare for an army.”

“Exactly. But for us to accomplish that as a twosome, it will be time-consuming. And we still need to work with Arcanum Order to figure out a way to reengineer theInhibitorspell as a means to neutralize Ketheron’s magical abilities.”

He smiled. “I didn’t just bring you here to review the Bastion Gauntlet. I will induct you into Arcanum Order today.”

“That’s… wow.”

He chuckled. “I’m looking forward to you becoming a member. You will make a powerful addition. You’ll also be able to see exactly the sorts of profound things that we can all accomplish together when working as a unit. Whatyoucan achieve when you don’t limit yourself to working alone.”

“I’ve already seen the value in that with Ari, Nyx, and Vorzyr. As well as working with you on this.”

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