I blinked at him, not sure how—or if—I should answer that question. Luckily, Astra saved me from making the decision.
“It . . . might be,” she said slowly, as if considering her words carefully. “Though that was not the intent when she was gifted the stone.” She gave him an extremely abbreviated version of the gift, not mentioning what Finn and I had done while Making the setting for it. She didn’t say anything about what had happened to Rand, either, and I wasn’t sure if that omission was on purpose or not. Although I desperately wanted to know, I decided to follow her example and wait it out to see what else he could tell us first.
He nodded knowingly. “Yes, these things do tend to take on a life of their own. We do not have any fae Objects of any significant power or import in our possession these days, but we do have many stories about them that have been handed down through the generations of our people.”
He eyed my wrist again, though my sleeve covered the stone and the bracelet now. “Have you named it?”
I looked at Astra for direction. She shrugged in a very unqueenlike fashion. “No. I was told that naming it would give it more power.” At his gesture of inquiry, I slid my sleeve up, displaying the bracelet for him. He stepped closer to inspect it. “It won’t come off now. The clasp is welded or locked or something.”
He motioned to one of his companions without looking back at the man. “This is Dorn, my second. He knows more of such things than most. May he approach?”
Again, I looked to Astra for a clue as to how I should respond. She nodded. “Please do. Anything you can tell me would be helpful.”
Dorn stepped forward, passing by Olen. He held out his hand without saying anything or even meeting my eyes. I raised my arm so he could look the bracelet over, trying not to fidget or shift my weight nervously. His hands hovered a few inches over the bracelet, not touching it directly. I turned my wrist slowly to display the clasp. His cuffs slipped as his hands moved around mine and I could see the ridges of bone or cartilage that started above his knuckles and made their way up his arm. Or I assumed they did, anyway. I paid more attention to the loose sleeves on the shirts they all wore, which would serve to hide the ridges well enough, and tried to see if the light patterning on his skin was some sort of tattoo or actual scales. With his hands moving, I couldn’t tell.
Rand moved closer when Dorn did, not quite touching me, but still closer than I’d allowed him since he’d . . . changed. Dorn didn’t acknowledge him as he continued his inspection. Absently, I realized Rand must have given Toby a ‘stay’ command, because the German Shepherd didn’t move with him.
When Dorn finished, he retreated a step and glanced back at Olen, who nodded. His words were heavily accented as he spoke. “This bracelet is very powerful.” His ‘i’s’ were pronounced as a somewhat guttural ‘e’s.’ He sounded almost—but not quite—mediterranean. Despite the accent, he was easy enough to understand. “It feels much like an Object, but it is not. Not yet, anyway.” His dark eyes met mine briefly, before he ducked his head respectfully. “It wants to be, I think. If you ask it to open or release, it may listen, if it believes that is what you truly want.”
I chewed my lip, thinking about his words. I also remembered some of what I’d read online when I was researching. I couldn’t remember what site I’d seen this on—probably some fantasy, D&D type of page, which were at the top of every search I’d tried. “If I ask it, wouldn’t that be the same as acknowledging it? And isn’t acknowledging almost as,” stopping short of saying bad, I finished lamely, “well, kind of like naming it?” Hadn’t Astra told me not to name it?
Olen moved closer and I realized both he and Dorn had a very distinct, almost fishy scent, which only made sense. Inhaling deeply, I decided it wasn’t unpleasant. It reminded me of the times I’d spent sitting on the beach, of salty, clean ocean air, with just the faintest hint of fishiness underneath. Olen quirked an eyebrow at me. Now I wished I had worn the glamour cream after all. Maybe it would have helped to hide the blush I felt creeping over my cheeks, since I was pretty sure most people would consider being sniffed rather rude.
Dorn slid away smoothly, allowing his king to answer me. “It is true that acknowledging it will likely give it more of a foothold, if not more power. But it will gain that over time just by its proximity to you, I believe. It is better that it does so knowing it has your . . . approval . . . and that it is both wanted and useful. Fae Objects like having purpose. To that end, you may want to consider naming it in the near future. That will bond it to you more tightly, though as Dorn has said, most of that bond is probably already there.” He glanced at Astra. “I can feel that it is still lightly tied to you and your colony. This is a good thing. Was its original purpose something to do with this tie?”
Astra inclined her head. “Yes. With it, she can call on us for help if ever she is in need.” She stretched out her own arm, displaying a smaller version of my bracelet with the piece originally cut from my sapphire on her wrist.
Olen
