Page 91 of Claim the Light
I’m surprised to find that the metal is warm to the touch, not cold like I expected.
Daring to press my entire palm against its surface, I lean in and speak softly to it. “I don’t have any dragon’s gold. All I’ve had has been controlled by others. You would be the first to be truly mine. If you let me, I will give you a home and a purpose.”
The gold trembles, shivering at my touch as if it were alive.
It is. A living substance that no longer feels lost in my senses, but there’s also a new buzz within my mind. A warning of sorts.
I quickly retract my hand, concerned that I’ve pushed the gold too far by asking it to become mine. Releasing my wings, I hold my hand out to the others, warning them to keep their distance. “Be prepared to run.”
They’re on edge, although Micah looks like he’s determined to racetowardme, notawayfrom me.
I brace as the gold plates shiver again, this time in a ripple that runs from the top of the armor all the way to the bottom and then, as if it’s all part of the same piece, a ripple flows from the bottom of the helmet to the top.
Before my eyes, the entire suit lifts off the wall, and then it begins wrapping and folding itself, compressing inward. The horns on the helmet twist and join across the long sides, then the curved portions that cover the head divide into smaller pieces and begin overlapping each other. The chest, shoulder, and thigh plates do the same, wrapping over each other, making themselves smaller and smaller with every fold.
I consider the suit with wary dismay, worried that I’ve triggered its destruction.
I didn’t mean for that to happen.
“No.” My soft cry turns to surprise when the smaller helmet piece adheres to the larger chest piece and then they elongate. The folding movement slows and finally, a single piece floats in the air opposite me, mere inches from my outstretched hand.
It looks like a belt, and the helmet has formed what appears to be a clip at the front of it.
Carefully, I remove the harness I put on earlier, along with the dagger I placed in it.
Closing my hand around the new belt made of dragon’s gold, I find it warm and light, as if it’s absorbing its own weight.
“Hi there,” I whisper to it before I wrap it around my waist.
It sits neatly above my hips, clicking closed easily.
I’m left holding the dagger and uncertain how I’ll carry it. For a moment, I consider if I’ll need it. Maybe I could leave it behind.
Before I have more time to think about it, the gold at my waist ripples again, becoming fluid for an alarming second before it takes the shape of a new dagger, neatly sheathed and sitting in a comfortable position against my hip.
“Okay, then,” I say to the gold, my heart swelling a little.
This gold is mine now.
“Thank you,” I whisper to it, pressing my palm to its surface with a silent promise that I will care for it.
I look up to find my family poised on their toes as if they were still prepared to rush toward me.
Now, Micah visibly relaxes and Beatrix shakes out her shoulders.
Isaac doesn’t look perplexed at all. “It’s good for dragon’s gold to have a home,” he says. “It isn’t meant to be alone.”
I replace the ordinary dagger on the wall, and then I carefully consider the hammer that’s surrounded by empty space now that the armor is gone. When I bend to the hammer, hovering my hand above its surface, I again sense what Micah and Lana described.
The hammer feels heavy within my senses. Weighed down by its own history.
When I encountered the keeper of light magic, she was carrying a weapon that radiated a nature very similar to this one. She said that the actual weapon was hidden, and for good reasons.
“This hammer must remain alone,” I say with certainty. “It should be hidden and never used again.”
Isaac gives me a firm nod. “When this is all over, we must find a safe place for it.”
We exit the armory to find Lana and Callan waiting.
