Isaac’s jaw clenched, but then I saw the moment he went deep into his inner calm and the anger washed away. He was going to take this punishment from the alchemist because he cared about him still. I could see that he missed theirfriendship.
“Yes,” Isaac said, and he walked down an opposite hall where the kitchen mustbe.
“Come, I’ll show you my study. It has more gold than the Queen of England,” Rufus informedus.
Dominic had closed the front door and was standing in front of it, guns drawn. He didn’t follow us. I was guessing he was going back out to work the perimeter. Keegan and Sophie flanked Logan and I, guns and tasers in hand as we walked down an open, well-lit hallway to a set of ... no joke ... gold doubledoors.
He stroked the doors. “I tried to make them solid but they were too heavy to stay attached, so they are onlyplated.”
Hah!Only.
He turned the golden knobs and swung the doors wide. I had to raise my arm to keep from being momentarily blinded by the amount of gold in the room. The floor was a lacquered and gold-plated tile; the desk solid gold; the blinds on the windows gold plated; bookcases gold; everything gold except the ceiling andwalls.
Rufus smiled at my reaction. “Looks a bit like the nineties threw up in here,huh?”
I smiled too. I didn’t want to like him because he was a dick to Isaac. But he wasfunny.
“Alright.” He patted his desk. “Put the contents here and tell me everything that happened to the staff. What was it made of, how long did you own it, and how was itdestroyed?”
Keegan walked over, set the bag down, and Rufus instructed him to tip it over and empty the ashes onto his barren gold desk. Keegan looked at me oddly before obliging the alchemist’srequest.
I stared at the sad little pile of ashes. “Ahh, well, an elf friend of Isaac’s madeit.”
Rufus smiled. “Yalash. Goodman.”
I shook my head. “No, Yalash is dead. His twin brother Griddish madeit.”
Rufus frowned. “Oh, okay.” It seemed he had not heard of either of the elves’demise.
“It was made from white elm,” I went on. “But I only had it a short time. A few weeks orso.”
He stopped me with his hand. “I know you’re a hybrid, but what kind of druid are you? I would guess fire from that display outside, but that can’t beright.”
Keegan stepped forward, the shotgun held loosely at his side. “Why are you asking herthat?”
The alchemist smiled and looked to me. “Is he always soprotective?”
I nodded. “Yes, it’s one of his betterqualities.”
Keegan ignored our banter, his gaze pinned onRufus.
The alchemist waved his hand in the direction of the pile of ashes. “If I’m going to re-create this, I need to do it right. If I recreate it with an earth or water druid in mind, it won’t work. I need to take on the essence of what she is in order to fix thisweapon.”
Weapon, every time I heard that in relation to my staff I was surprised. I never usually thought about it as a weapon, but itwas.
‘Tell him. We have nowhere else to go,’Logan told me through our bond. He knew this staff would be good for my dragon, that it would help balance out the raw firepower of the necklace and ground it all to the Earth—in the hopes of keeping my dragon alive and my mate bond tohim.
“I’m half skyborn, half fire druid,” I stated, and couldn’t help but feel a small bit of pride. I wished I had gotten to know my father before hepassed.
Rufus’ eyes bugged out just as Isaac came in with thetea.
“Laney would have loved to meet her … to meet others like her,” Rufus said to Isaac, seemingly stuck in reminiscing. It was almost like as much as he hated Isaac’s presence here, he also needed it. It brought him back to his latewife.
Isaac chuckled. “She’d have smacked you for asking me to make thetea.”
Rufus grinned, taking an offered cup off of the tray. “Yes she would have. I make it best anyway,” he said, with a slight curling of hislips.
It looked like it was going to take more than adultery to tear these old friends completelyapart.
