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He looked at me. Then he told me.

His mother made it. Toritha, Queen of Sarenal. She built it for one purpose, to bring him home. That was its true function, to pull him back to Sarenal.

But, like many Sarenal artifacts, it had additional benefits. It could do more than simply return him to Sarenal. It could open other wards, perhaps seal them too.

"Only a Siren can wield it safely," Eravic said. "Anyone else who tries dies. The magic is too old and too specific."

"And if Dali gets it?"

He looked at the fire. "If any of Toritha's bloodline wears it, Dali, Maridale, or me, it sends me to Sarenal before doing anything else.”

“Why you?” I couldn’t help myself.

“Because I’m the heir.”

“How do you know it wouldn’t pull Maridale or Dali in simultaneously? She is your sister after all.”

“I do not know, and that is part of the problem.” He paused.

“Whatever it is meant to do, Maridale would not survive it."

I sat with that.

"And if Orsin gets it?"

“I do not know, I simply know that if he has any control over any of the wards it will be more than just Sarenal creatures that are concern. It will be his ability to siphon all of that power.”

“Why does Dali want it, then?”

“I do not know. At first I thought it was because she wants the ability to live in Sarenal, perhaps reunite with our mother. Then I thought she had some altruistic desire to free the Sarenal creatures trapped here in Morrath.”

I almost laughed at the idea of the words altruistic and Dali being in the same sentence.

“But I think it is worse. I think it has to do with revenge.”

I did not probe further. If it was a revenge plot involving against my father, I could not entirely blame her, even if I did not agree with the approach.

"Then we cannot let either of them have it,” I said.

"No," he said. "We cannot.”

"You said I am the workaround."

"Yes." He held my eyes. "The Arrolyn made you the exception. It gave you just enough of that magic to survive it. But you are not of Toritha's bloodline, so the amulet cannot compel me back to Sarenal through you."

I nodded slowly. “So I could fix everything without harming you.”

He looked up at me. “Perhaps. But it is unlikely that you could fix everything without harming yourself.”

I thought of my mother. Loyalty and selfishness.

Neither of us said anything after that.

Eventually I stood and pulled my cloak around my shoulders.

"Same time tomorrow?" I said.

"Aye," he said quietly.