Fragile Destiny (The Aether Chronicles) by Suzanne Lazear Read Free Book Online Page A

About the staff, at least. “Quinn was a noted scholar. This was one of his projects. But he lost some of his research when he joined my father in exile. Considering my uncle was sending people to steal pieces, I’m of the mind that Brogan found it.”
    “Are we going to sneak into the palace and steal it back? Eris … why does that sound familiar?” Noli plopped down on the floor next to him in a flurry of skirts.
    “ The Iliad. Eris is the goddess of strife,” he explained. They’d read it together, once.
    “There are Greek gods in the Otherworld?” She picked up another journal from the pile and paged through it.
    “I think it’s figurative.” That also meant that during the mortal time of the Greeks—or shortly thereafter—the staff was still in use. Interesting. Had the Bright Lady used a spell to cause her people to forget? Whose idea had it been to use the blood of a young mortal girl with the Spark to nourish the magic?
    Noli sucked in a breath and looked up at him, the book in her hand, eyes glassy. “You never told me Quinn was with Creideamh. But Creideamh was with an earth court prince. Quinn’s not a prince, is he?”
    Steven wiped away the tear on her face with his finger. “Who’s Creideamh?”
    “She’s Kevighn’s sister. The one who died.” She closed the journal and set it aside.
    “Oh.” That explained a lot. “Quinn’s quite wellborn, but I’m not sure how. I never knew him to be involved with anyone—just like I don’t know why he followed Father into exile. Anyway … ” He handed the journal to her, open to the sketch. “This is what Quinn thinks the staff looks like.”
    Noli took the book into her hands and frowned. “Not quite.” Her finger traced the image. “When I asked the piece to show me things, I saw what it looked like. There are designs on it. The high court symbol—the one with the five circles.” At the top of the staff she tapped the page with her finger. “There’s something right there. Something that holds the key to the entire artifact.” She closed one eye and squinted. “It’s purple and large, maybe the size of my fist?”
    “Do you mean a jewel?” When the piece of the staff “spoke” to him, he hadn’t seen an actual image of the assembled staff.
    “Exactly. Somehow it’s the jewel that provides what the land needs,” Noli agreed, still frowning over the sketch.
    “Why don’t we return to your house? We can research more in the morning.” The idea of a powerful jewel as the centerpiece made sense; there were plenty of magical gems in the Otherworld. Still, before jumping to conclusions, he wanted to see if Quinn had anything about it in his research.
    Noli’s eyes widened and she sat straight up. “I … I might know where to find it.”
    “We’re not even sure there is a jewel.” He gathered a few books and stood.
    A mischievous grin played at her lips and her eyes grew alight with a look that usually ended with them being in big trouble. “Remember the new museum? Well, it opened—that was why my grandfather was in Los Angeles. He told me they had an exhibit on faeries, which included a gem rumored to have once belonged to a faery queen.”
    “Odds are it’s a fake. Most things in this realm said to belong to faeries are,” he replied. Her face fell. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to look. I did want to see their exhibit of Dutch Golden Age painters,” he added hastily, not wishing to hurt her feelings, but still unsure about the jewel.
    “Good. If it’s the gem, we’ll steal it back.” Her grin returned, illuminating her entire face.
    “We don’t know anything about stealing gems.” What was she thinking? This was much worse than the time they’d tried to steal pieces for the tree house from an abandoned building. That had ended with a visit from the fire department and a trip to the doctor. This could end in being hauled off to jail—and Quinn wasn’t around to send aethergraphs so he could bail them