While inwardly cursing his bad luck, Lith explained to her how he had devised the mystical flower so that it needed to be repeatedly imprinted to not wither.
\"Marvellous! A magical item that needs to be tended, making the person who receives it think about the gift giver every time they recharge it. That's the most romantic betrothal gift I have ever seen.\"
Sylpha said staring at Kamila's wrist in admiration, making both her and Lith wish the ground would swallow them whole.
\"It's not a betrothal gift. I made it as a spur of the moment gift for our second date.\"
'I told you it was too much for a second date!' Solus interrupted his inner swearing monologue.
'I never expected to be discussing my love life with the Queen! Why doesn't everyone mind their own business?' He replied.
\"You are a very lucky woman to inspire such deep feelings after only one date.\" Sylpha kept stirring it, making the matter become worse by the second.
\"My thoughts exactly, Your Majesty. I couldn't believe it when Kallion Nuragor dared to call it a 'trinket'.\" Jirni was unaware that the ship she was attempting to sink already rested on the bottom of the ocean.
\"His heart must be as rotten as his eyes to say such a thing. Isn't that right, dear?\" The King obviously agreed, and as soon as the guest learned about the Royals' opinion on the Camellia, it became unanimous that Lith was a sensitive soul and Kallion the scum of the earth.
Sylpha and Jirni were happy to introduce Kamila to some of their most notable supporters. They boasted both her lovely appearance and the Camellia, making her wish a sudden meteor could put her out of her misery.
\"Don't worry, Jirni will take good care of her.\" Orion said while dragging Lith to the Ball Room with the excuse that he needed his help to finish the final preparations before making the guests move there and commence the gala.
\"I know we have never been exactly on the best terms.\" Orion sighed.
\"I'm too jealous of my daughters and I've often acted like a jerk to you. For that, I'm deeply sorry.\" Orion gave Lith a deep bow, making his eyes open wide in surprise.
\"The past is in the past. It's no big deal.\" Lith's paranoia got knocked into twelfth gear, expecting Orion's next move to be asking him to dump Kamila and get back with Phloria.
\"No, it is a big deal. You saved my wife's life in Othre more than once and now you have rejuvenated us both. I suck with words almost as much as you do, so I've prepared a gift for you, Spellbreaker Verhen.\"
Lith inwardly smiled at those words. Like any manipulator, he liked to be underestimated. Also, receiving a gift from a Forgemaster as powerful and skilled as Orion was twice the treasure.
He had learned more about forgemastering from Orion's weapons than from most books. Orion took out a ring from his pocket dimension and handed it to Lith.
\"What does it do?\" Lith used Invigoration on it, discovering he had never seen a pseudo core like it had. The ring was shaped like a coiling dragon and it was made of electrum, an amber colored alloy of gold and silver.
It had a small purple crystal embedded in a socket between the dragon's folded wings. Invigoration revealed that the ring's surface was covered by unknown runes of power making Lith's curiosity kick up a notch.
\"It's a cloaking device for your ring. Or should I say your secret artifact?\" Orion pointed at Solus's ring. Lith didn't even attempt to deny his allegation.
His mind was running all the possible scenarios from how Orion discovered their secret to his chances of killing the man if push came to shove.
'If he knows, Jirni knows. There's no telling what contingency plans she has prepared or what kind of arrays are surrounding us.' He thought.
\"We noticed it the first time when we were fighting Nalear, but we thought it was just something you kept in your dimensional amulet. At least until Jirni saw it shapeshift before you fought Thrud.\"
Orion pretended not to notice Lith's shock and his cornered animal gaze, talking like everything was normal.
'I'm sorry.' Solus thought. 'Back then my priority was our survival, yet I shapeshifted only when I thought everyone was too busy staring at Thrud to notice.'
'You did nothing wrong, Solus. We wouldn't even be alive if not for your choice. Besides, it doesn't seem like they want to blackmail us. Months have passed since that day and Orion is giving us a gift instead.' Lith replied.
\"I don't know where you found it, but since according to my daughters you have always had it with you, I must assume you have found some legacy hidden in the Trawn woods when you were still a nameless hunter.\"
It was the only possible theory he had could think of which explained both Lith's mastery of magic and him possessing a mysterious artifact. Orion waited for a second, giving Lith the opportunity to answer, yet he was only met with silence.
\"Whatever the answer, you can't just go around with that thing on your finger. If someone finds out about its existence, best case scenario they'll steal it from you. Artifacts capable of changing their size to such a degree usually hold great powers.
\"It could tempt many to the point that they would be willing to face the wrath of the Royals to have it. Also, you're not a shut in, there are beings out there that don't care about the Association or the army, like the undead Courts.\"
\"Why are you doing this?\" Lith moved his eyes from the ring to Orion non stop, like he expected one if not both of them to sucker punch him.
\"Kid, you really are a piece of work.\" Orion sighed.
\"I told you, you saved my daughters and my wife more than once. That means the world for someone like me, even for Jirni. Maybe we'll never be in-laws, but you earned your place in this family and the Ernas protect their own.\"
Lith imprinted the ring to make sure it was really without a master and not some kind of slave item.
\"How does it work?\" Lith asked.
\"It's standard black ops equipment for those who carry weapons which are not supposed to exist. It suppresses the magical aura of an item, making it undetectable to most creatures and artifacts capable of sensing magic.
\"Silver is great for forgemastering, gold is terrible, but if you mix them together the resulting alloy is capable of conducting magic like silver but prevents it from leaking outside thanks to the gold's disrupting nature.\"
\"Do all alloys have special effects?\" Lith slipped the ring on right in front of Solus's.
\"You wish. Only some of them and only if used in the right proportions. This kind of knowledge is imparted only from master to apprentice, you'll not find any of this in any book unless is part of a mage's legacy.\"
'By my maker!' Solus's mana sense confirmed Orion words and revealed more.
'It's actually even better than he says. My aura has disappeared and you now you appear to have a yellow mana core, a static one at that.'
'Do you mean that..?'
'Yes. The hairpin Marchioness Distar wears is not meant to hide her mana core. That's logical if you consider fake mages can't see mana cores, or they wouldn't even perform the academy's entrance test.
'She hides some kind of weapon on herself. The cloaking of her mana core is just a side effect.'
