One very long hour later, I nearly jump out of my skin when a door opens by the fireplace. Are you kidding me? A secret doorway?
I stare in astonishment as Dyfri walks out of a jet black passageway and steps into the room. The secret door shuts behind him, and now I can’t see it. I can’t tell it was ever there and I’m looking right at it. Is this magic or Buckingham Palace engineering?
Dyfri strides over to the table and places something on it. I scramble off the sofa and join Tristan and his brother at the table.
“I only took one, less suspicious that way. I would have liked at least two to compare, but they all seemed the same.”
Everyone stares at a small circular wooden disk. It looks like someone sawed a thin slice off a slender branch.
“Is it a normal Devourer Charm?” asks Tristan.
Holy fuck! My gaze snaps up to Tristan and then to Dyfri. Did this sneaky little shit just creep into Llywelyn’s bedroom and steal one of the charms?
Dyfri shrugs. “Charms are not my thing.”
“You are better at them than I am,” says Tristan.
Dyfri looks at him. A tense silence brews, then Tristan looks away with a sad sigh. “I’m not sure where Selwyn’s loyalties lie.”
That’s news to me. Does Tristan think Selwyn might be siding with Llywelyn on this duel nonsense? He was absent from the brother’s meeting the other day, so I guess so.
Dyfri grimaces slightly and then peers down at the charm. The hairs on the back of my neck rise, but nothing appears to happen.
“It is a normal Devourer Charm,” says Dyfri after a while. “Theoretically, if someone was wearing several during a duel, it would consume the magic thrown at the wearer.”
Tristan sighs. “It would drain the opponent after the first round.”
Dyfri nods. “Yes, all while making it seem the wearer simply had very well woven shields.”
Tristan stares down at the charm. He runs a hand over his brow. “What could an opponent do?”
“Use spells a Devourer Charm won’t eat,” says Dyfri.
Tristan stares at him, surprise clearly flashing in his ruby eyes. “That would be tricky.”
Dyfri shrugs. “Tricky, limiting, difficult, but possible.”
Tristan sucks in a deep breath. The poor man sounds so very stressed. And sad. All because of me and my stupid, childish temper.
Dyfri straightens up. His dark eyes flick briefly to me, and then back to Tristan. “You can’t use any of this.”
“I know,” sighs Tristan wearily.
Dyfri nods and picks up the charm. “I need to return this before its absence is noted.”
“Thank you, Dyfri.”
“Don’t thank me!” snaps Dyfri as he disappears into the secret door.
I stare at the place on the wall, but I still can’t make out any outline of a door. I shudder and turn back to Tristan.
“Mind explaining what the fuck all that was about?”
Tristan chuckles, but it is a poor echo of his usual mirth. He pulls out a chair and sits down, so I take a seat too.
I don’t understand any of this. I don’t know why Llywelyn is not getting in shit for planning on cheating. We even had evidence and everything. But then again, I have zero clue why using charms is considered cheating in the first place. Why are some types of magic allowed, while others aren’t? It is all bewildering.
And don’t get me started on Tristan and Dyfri’s cryptic conversation. I can’t even begin to guess why they were talking like that. Acting as if the charms and the duel are a theoretical problem and not a real-life situation. It is all beyond me.
