“Over the past few weeks, we have had some incidents.”
“What kind of incidents?”
Mariam hesitated and it was clear that she wasn’t thrilled about disclosing these incidents.
“I can’t help you unless you tell me what happened.”
“First, I need your word that you are no longer associated with the Mage Council.”
I raised my eyebrow. “I thought you said you saw the video.”
She stared at me silently and I heaved a sigh. “I am no longer associated with the Mage Council. I’m officially fired.”
Mariam’s gaze dropped to my hip. The Mistilteinn Dagger was in my belt sheath, and I hadn’t bothered pulling my t-shirt over it. Mariam had just used my own lie-detector against me.
Sneaky. I could respect that. My opinion of her increased a notch.
“Okay,” she nodded. “Several light fae artifacts have gone missing recently.”
“What kind of artifacts?”
She went silent again. I waited her out. This was like pulling teeth.
“The kind of artifacts that should have been kept in the fae realms,” she said finally. “However, some of their owners are both overconfident and stubborn.”
“Lay it out for me.”
“Three weeks ago, the first artifact was stolen. It’s called the Belt of Thor.”
“What does it do?”
Mariam’s lips twitched like she was holding back a sneer. She clearly thought I should know all about the fae and their most valuable artifacts.
In my mind, I got to my feet, told her to go fuck herself, and walked out the door. Then I woke up in a week or two to find my electricity was shut off.
I kept my ass in the chair and gave Mariam squinty eyes.
She sighed. “The name of this artifact means ‘strength belt’ or ‘power belt’ in Old Norse. Some know it as the Girdle of Might.”
“So, what, it makes people exceptionally strong?”
“It was said that theMegingjörð Belt doubled the strength of Thor himself.”
“Yikes.” If it doubled the strength of a god, what would it do in the hands of a paranormal with a grudge? My mind presented me with the thought of someone like Veronica with the belt and I shuddered. The witch had been crazy and powerful enough.
I took out my phone and opened the notes app. “Where was it stolen from?”
“My office.”
I gaped at her. No wonder she was barely giving me any of the information I needed. Mariam had fucked up.
“My king had asked for it to be kept safe in this world, as he is currently having some… issues with his enemies.” She waved her hand in the air. “There have long been rumors that the belt can also increase the owner’s natural power along with strength. Those rumors are false, but symbols have their own power, and the seelie king found it more convenient to remove the symbol completely.”
“You tried it, didn’t you?” I gave her a wink and she merely sniffed and said nothing. The fae couldn’t lie, and she simply shrugged, leaning back in her chair.
“Ogma’s Amulet went missing next.”
“Ogma?”
