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“The crown jewels don’t have magical powers,” I muttered under my breath.

“Not anymore,” Owen whispered in response.Advertisement

I made a mental note to follow up on that later as the conversation between Sylvester and Merlin intensified. “I’m more concerned about your plans for the Eye,” Sylvester said. “As you said, it is very dangerous.”

“My plan is to destroy it or neutralize it so it can do no more harm,” Merlin said.

Sylvester raised an eyebrow and smirked. “So you say now, but would you really be able to do that once you had it in your possession? I could imagine how tempting ultimate power would be for you. After all, you do need to consolidate your position in this century, when you’re not so closely aligned with political power. It must be difficult for you not pulling a king’s strings.”

“I have no intention of going anywhere near the Eye,” Merlin responded, sounding deceptively unruffled. I’d worked with Merlin long enough to recognize the signs of a calm that heralded a storm. “The people I’ve assigned to this project are immune to its power. To them, it’s just another rock.”

Sylvester glanced at Owen. “Yes, I’d heard that about Palmer. It’s true?”

“I tested him,” Lyle said. “If he were magical, he’d be dead.”

The elf left standing opened his mouth as if to add something, but before he could speak, Lyle said, “We don’t need to hear it, Earl.”

“I suppose the girl is immune, too?” Sylvester asked Merlin.

“Yes. As I said, I can trust them to find the Eye without being tempted to use it.”

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“They may not be magically tempted, but it is still a valuable gem, even without power. Can they resist that temptation?”

“I’m actually not that big on jewelry,” I said with a shrug. Turning to Owen, I added, “It does match your eyes, though.”

“It’s too gaudy for my taste,” Owen said. “I prefer my evil accessories to be more subtle.” Behind Sylvester, Earl smirked, then quickly straightened his expression.

“For now I’ll take your word that your people won’t use the Eye for themselves,” Sylvester said. “But without magic, how will they destroy it?”

“We figured we’d climb Mount Doom and throw it in,” I quipped, which earned a fleeting grin from Earl.

Ignoring my interruption, Merlin said, “It can’t be destroyed magically. Believe me, I tried, and though magic has adapted over time, it hasn’t fundamentally changed in such a way that we can do things now that were impossible then. Technology, however, has changed significantly.”

Earl opened his mouth again, but Sylvester waved him to silence, saying, “We don’t need your input, Earl.” I wondered why they’d bothered to bring him. They must have needed something to step on to get into their car. I gave him a sympathetic smile, but he didn’t respond. “And what of the Knot?” Sylvester asked Merlin. “What happens to it when you’re destroying the Eye?”

“That would depend on which technology works to destroy the Eye,” Merlin said. “If the two can be safely separated, we will return the Knot to you.”

“Gold does have a lower melting point than sapphire,” Owen said, earning another smile from Earl.

“We could give you what’s left,” I added.

Merlin gave us a stern glare before continuing. “But we don’t even know how they were joined—are they merely joined physically, perhaps by a jeweler who was immune to magic and didn’t realize what he was doing, or were they fused magically by someone who planned to combine their powers? Do you have any idea who stole the Knot?”

“It was long before my time,” Sylvester said with a shrug, and I imagined that meant it was a very long time ago, indeed. “It is possible that the fusion was recent, and it is the combination with the Eye that made the Knot powerful enough for Lyle to sense.” I couldn’t read Earl’s expression as Sylvester said this, but he definitely had an expression.

“I think the fact that this was done at all is of some concern to all magical races,” Merlin said. “Who did it, and why? This is as important as retrieving the brooch.”

“Your man—” Sylvester indicated Owen “—suggested we work together on this. Why should we assist you?”

“I rather thought of it as us assisting you,” Merlin said mildly. “My priority is to find this thing and render it harmless as soon as possible. That’s more likely to happen if we combine our resources. If you prefer not to cooperate with us, I would understand.” His tone sharpened considerably as he added, “But rest assured, I will not allow you to keep the Eye if you do find it first. I will get it back, no matter what it takes.” pqdm.com