“Nonsense,” Saif waved his hand. “You spoke only what you believed to be true, and we owe you, either way. Plus, you may still make use of the bottle we crafted. Nothing is wasted. The only thing that has changed is that my parents can now rest easy knowing that our end has not come.”
“Still, I'm sorry that I worried you for nothing.”
“Because of you, we are better prepared to handle the prophecy if it should ever threaten us again,” Saif countered.
“I'm relieved that you feel that way but please, go home, Saif. Give your parents the good news and convey our most sincere apologies,” Darc urged. “We don't want to keep them in suspense any longer.”
Saif bowed his head. “I will return if you have need of me.”
“Thank you, but no; we'll be fine. And consider your debt repaid,” I said.
“Then this was more than worth the effort,” Saif declared. “Good luck to you with Gargo and the vengeful Jinni, should he ever appear. If there is anything we can do to help free Slate Devon, please let us know.”
“Thank you; we will. Goodbye, Saif.”
“Goodbye, everyone.” Saif disappeared.
“Now what?” I whispered forlornly.
“Now, we call Lucifer,” Darcraxis announced.
The other men sighed but nodded.
“Okay,” I agreed. “Lucifer could probably exorcise Gargo again but then what? Gargo has already proven that mere exorcism won't work on him. We have to either contain his spirit or destroy it.”
“I don't suppose the Jinn bottle would work?” Banning asked.
“Doubtful,” Declan muttered.
“Then destruction it is. But how do you destroy a God's soul?” Banning countered.
“I think I may know,” Torin said, sounding surprised.
I frowned at him. He stared back, lifting his brows pointedly. I frowned deeper.
“When we first met, we encountered something that can destroy magic,” Torin reminded me.
“The bombs,” Banning whispered before I caught on.
“What bombs?” Declan asked.
“You can't be serious.” I gaped at Torin in horror.
“It would destroy him; Gargo is pure magic,” Torin pointed out.
“What bombs?” Darc asked.
“We destroyed them all,” I continued to speak to Torin. I couldn't deal with the others yet.
“But Quinlan could make one if we needed him to.”
“What bombs?!” Gage roared.
I took a breath and let it out. It trembled... as I did.
“The Copper King found a way to create magical bombs,” Torin finally explained it to the others.
I closed my eyes, unsure if this was a course we should take. Not that I didn't trust the other men with this secret. I just didn't want a weapon like those magical bombs out in the world. Any world.
“King Cyrus would never—” Gage started.
“Not Cyrus,” Torin interrupted. “Lorcan, the King before him.”
“King Lorcan made a magical bomb?” Declan shrugged. “So what?”
“Not a magical explosion,” I clarified. “An explosion that destroys magic.”
The room went silent.
“It functions similar to an atom bomb, except where an A-bomb splits an atom, the magic bomb uses a malevolent spell to split an otherwise harmless spell,” I went on. “The destruction of the harmless spell causes a chain reaction and the blast takes out everything magical within a certain radius. I've seen it work on Shining Ones.”
“Sweet stones,” Declan whispered. “Do you know what a weapon like this could—” His expression lit with revelation. “You used it in the Sapphire War, didn't you? That's how we got past the Sapphire Gardens.”
“Yes,” Torin answered immediately. “And those were the last of the bombs we confiscated.”
“What about the bomb makers?” Declan asked. “I mean, beyond King Lorcan, who I assume you killed?”
“Yes, we killed them all,” Torin confirmed. “And by 'we' I mean; a few of my soldiers, Elaria, and Banning. I was busy entertaining you and the rest of our allies.”
“Great gems,” Declan muttered. “I remember the exact night; I'd been wondering where Elaria was.”
“We also destroyed all of the information about the bombs,” I added. “We had hoped to never deal with them again.”
“But you said that this Quinlan could make one,” Declan reminded Torin. “So, apparently, you didn't destroy all the information.”
“There's nothing on paper, but I'm certain Quinlan could reproduce one from memory. He's an alchemist who I enlisted to inspect the bombs.”
Declan gave Torin a heavy look.
“I trust him,” Torin said firmly. “He would never use his knowledge to build new bombs. Not unless I asked it of him.”
“Couldn't we just make an orb to trap Gargo like we trapped our magic?” I asked Darc.
“We were only able to do that because our magics are counterpoints,” Darc reminded me. “Mine was able to confine yours and vice versa.”
“But we know what can confine Gargo,” I argued. “Water. We just need an orb of water to put his soul into.”
“Something like that would take a lot of time to construct,” Declan mused. “And we wouldn't be certain of its efficacy until we put Gargo inside it.”
“Whereas, the magic bombs are certain to work,” Torin concluded.
“Oh, fuck me,” I whispered. “Are we seriously going to remake weapons that could lead to world-destroying wars?”
I caught Verin's stare; it was indigo again.
“Slate's life hangs in the balance, Elaria,” Darcraxis said grimly. “The choice is yours. What do you want to do?”
Well, when he put it like that...
“Build the damn bombs.”
There wasn't much I wouldn't risk for Slate.
Chapter Forty-Three
Torin walked down to the castle gates to use his stone to travel to Onyx. Tír na nÓg, the Shining One Realm, was protected by some of the most powerful wards in existence. No one could get through without an invitation. However, a Shining One traveling stone is akin to an invitation, and Gargo had Slate's stone so we had to keep our individual wards in place.
The rest of us took seats in my living room to discuss our new plan; destroying Gargo. We hadn't contacted Lucifer yet. I wanted to wait until we had something concrete to offer him. I sat between Gage and Banning with the rest of the men on couches and chairs around us. My guys had given up on pushing Verin and me together for the time
