Page 9 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

“Not exactly,” Lucian responded. “Ryker’s magic can cut through stable, anchored magical signatures, which encompasses every supernatural magic-wielder on the planet and True Celestials.

Except for this odd creation calling himself Ketheron.

Said creation is a magical anomaly, not a wielder with a fixed signature.

His instability makes his energy far beyond merely hybrid—something Ryker can work with—but chaotic and nonlinear.

Ryker’s defensive magic is designed to sever streams of power that are anchored to stable magical cores. ”

Wow, for somebody who didn’t wield magic himself, Lucian sure knew a lot about it. Then again, he was surrounded by magical beings, so I could totally see why he needed to ensure he had that level of understanding.

Gabriel nodded, then took over, telling us, “From the observations reported by all who were present and engaging against his power, we’ve determined that Ketheron’s magic is like a patchwork—unstable, volatile, and ever-shifting.”

“There’s no central anchor to sever,” Ryker finished.

Kai shifted his weight and figured it out aloud, “The Inhibitor isn’t suppressing a fixed magical system. It’s creating a containment field that can be tuned to chaos patterns.”

“Yes,” Ryker confirmed. “The current state of the Inhibitor has it bound to a location, not a signature. As you know, we obtained Ketheron’s blood from the attack site when he fed it to Ari.

We can use it to anchor the spell to his unique, albeit unstable, magical frequency, leaving others’ magic untouched, and suppressing only his.

The field won’t seek stability or need it to lock his magic.

With the addition of his blood, it will recognize his specific chaos patterns and then suppress anything that matches its signature fluctuation rate. ”

Ryker held the spell out to Gabriel. “Take this to your people. But don’t allow the actual precise spell to be replicated. It’s too dangerous to magic-wielders should word of the intricate spellwork spread.”

“Of course,” Gabriel assured him.

Your people? Who was he talking about?

I looked at Kai and he didn’t seem intrigued in the least.

The only way that could ever be possible with him was if he already knew the answer.

I’d get the lowdown later on when we were alone with our foursome.

“I need to head back to the Compound to meet with the Unity Council and other supernatural Heads about this threat.”

“Go,” Lucian told him. “We’ll be fine here. I’ll see to Ariana and her loves.” He looked at Kai and me in turn. “Ensure you employ an auditory reduction spell before you all retire to Ariana’s room tonight, or you’ll experience Jaxon’s wrath.”

“Lucian,” Ryker spoke.

“I will contain him, my beloved, I assure you.”

“What about Polaris?”

“It remains open. Warlow will be arriving there shortly in my stead.”

“Cornelius won’t like that.”

“I believe Warlow is insisting.”

“Getting suffocated with his intense protectiveness since the Compound attack, is he?” Gabriel chimed in.

“No, he actually relishes it when Cornelius is suffocating him. In various ways I won’t fill your head with.”

“Yes, please don’t. Imagining the Almighty Immortal engaging in anything of the sort is beyond off-putting.”

“You’re one to talk with what you’ve had me walk in on over the years,” Ryker said.

“What you barged on into, you mean?” Gabriel countered. “I believe Calla and I had even warded our room when we resided here.”

“You know it became instinctual for me to use my defensive magic right off the bat when entering spaces, so as to not have to bother with wards.”

“Yes, and how it cost you, son.”

Ryker shook his head to himself. “Stop referencing it. I’d really prefer to keep those memories buried.”

Kai and I exchanged a look at their banter.

It was more than just inappropriate humor for the sake of it. Especially with what I was feeling rolling off them.

It was clearly what they needed right now, what they’d come to do automatically with spending so much time over the centuries in crises similar to the one we found ourselves in now.

Ryker flinched all of a sudden, then brought his hand to his temple. Then he was reporting to Lucian and Gabriel, “Mia has gathered all the Coven Heads. She’s conveying the situation to them via her Arcane Ascendancy Council. She’ll be a couple of hours at least.”

“Very good,” Lucian said. “Is that all she had to convey?”

Ryker smirked. “You know how she is under stress and how she likes to release that stress with us and Jaxon. Suffice to say, that will be happening as soon as she returns.” He looked out at us. “Let’s spare our daughter’s loves from the details.”

“And please spare your father,” Gabriel cut in.

Ryker rolled his eyes, then touched his temple again.

A moment later, he told Lucian, “I’ve asked Jaxon to send his best from Lupan Stabilization Unit up to the Compound.

I’ll be sending them along with our best magical trackers to try to get a lock on Ketheron.

Just recon and ensuring he’s not raining down destruction or coming close to any such acts.

No reports have come in yet, but that may not last. There’ll be no engagement until we have better means to neutralize him or contain him at the very least. I have emissaries reaching out to the outer realms—Light Fae, Dark Fae, Dracoryn and the like—updating them on the situation as Blackline Protocol doesn’t extend beyond this plane.

” He looked out at me. “We’ll also be erecting your developed Underveil Shield around supernatural strongholds and areas of vulnerability. ”

Damn, that was a ton of work he had ahead of him, and all to be accomplished so quickly.

Hearing about all of this was a lot to take in.

And it was really impressive how everyone around us was handling it and working off each other like a well-oiled machine.

I felt like that was what our foursome was headed toward becoming.

I mean, this was decades in the making, but in our case, we’d already come so far.

And I loved it.

I loved how the four of us were together.

As Gabriel headed on out of the room, I saw Kai make a move to follow him, but then he pulled up short, and reached into his pocket.

He pulled the holoscreen out, then sucked in an unsteady breath.

Gabriel turned back and looked over his shoulder and Kai shook his head. “Not tonight.”

Gabriel’s gaze darted to the holoscreen, putting two and two together, and he gave Kai an understanding smile, then headed on out to the courtyard.

I walked to Kai. “What was that about?”

“It’s a long story. For now, though, Ari needs us.”