Page 13 of Jeweler to the Blessed
Alaric hadn’t said anything about a meeting with the king yesterday.
“Is he here?” Vaddon asked again. He’d pulled back the curtain, revealing the empty workspace.
I shook my head.
“Where did he go?” Vaddon clenched his teeth, and his nostrils flared like this entire experience of chasing down the jeweler was beneath him.
I didn’t know what else to say. “He wasn’t here when I arrived.”
Vaddon’s brow furrowed in frustration with my unhelpful answers. “Were you supposed to meet him?”
He stretched his fingers and glanced at his ring, allowing me to do the same without his notice. The edges glowed green, and the slightest pressure graced the back of my neck. Hewielded persuasion. Vaddon intended to make me answer his questions under the influence of magic. He thought I was lying.
This presented a problem of a different kind. The feeling on the back of my neck intensified slightly as Vaddon repeated his question.
Like taking emotion with adamas, the gem’s wielded magic also didn’t work on me. Whatever pressure the magic applied, it never sank beneath my skin. But if Vaddon didn’t think me compliant—if he thought the magic didn’t persuade me—it would be as bad as a Blessed trying and failing to take from me. I had no choice but to provide more information, so he didn’t question the gem’s power.
“Yes, I was supposed to meet him this morning.”
His sneer was unpleasant at best. “How much has Alaric Sare taught you?”
“Everything he can.” It was a dangerous choice, but truthful, as the ring’s magic would demand. I hoped Vaddon would understand it to mean he taught me how to work the gem, not how to source it.
There were two key parts to prepare the adamas to hold magic. First was finding it. Sourcing adamas in the mine was a skill that couldn’t be learned. Alaric had convinced the royal family years ago no one else in the city was capable. They’d searched, of course, but could find no one else with his talent.
Second was cutting the stones. The same essence that allowed Alaric to find the stones ensured his ability to determine the right shape and density of the magic within the gem. Again, this was unteachable to any who couldn’t identify the stones to begin with.
While I’d never worked the adamas myself, I knew all of Alaric’s techniques, and I knew the difference between quartzand adamas. I was confident I could navigate working the gem to store magic as well.
Not that I wanted the royal family to know that. Alaric had done everything in his power to make certain I avoided their notice.
Now, he was gone.
Vaddon appeared to calculate things I hoped he wouldn’t. He surveyed my features as if wanting to test the theory that none of Alaric’s relations could source the gem. Even though my dark brown eyes, upturned nose, and bow-shaped lips looked nothing like Alaric, I was sure Vaddon saw me as the same tool to the royal family.
He had no proof.
The curve of a smile on Vaddon’s lips told me any hope I had of getting out of this, of searching for Alaric myself, or of visiting Forest’s Edge to ask about the youngleaf, was misplaced. “Well, Emberline. You need to come with me.”
“Where?” I asked.
Already, he strode toward the door, expecting me to follow. “We’re going to the castle. Prince Elias will want to speak with you.”
5
They worshiped Order with or without her champion.
— FROM CHAMPIONS OF KAVIOS
To say my morning wasn’t going well was an understatement. My world seemed to be crashing down around me.
Alaric was missing, and my only reassurance was that I could scratcharrested for blasphemyfrom the list of potential whereabouts. Everything else was on the table. My plans to leave that night felt like they had already slipped through my fingers. I couldn’t tell if my anxiety was due to my uncle being missing, my plans falling apart, or the fact I was on my way to Glanmore Castle.
Vaddon’s urgency made everything worse. He swiftly marched me out of the shop anddown Cross Street.
“Doesn’t your father own the shop in Woodside?”
I had no idea what kind of answer would be less damning. “Yes. I work with him there.”
