“No end of trouble to mine those mountains,” grumbled Elias. But I could see the gleam in his eyes as he contemplated the possibility. “Fine. Climb that beast, and see what’s up there. Report your findings to me immediately. If there’s anything worthwhile there, Mister Doyle will help make arrangements for a proper extraction when he returns from Cape Triumph. And don’t start spreading rumors until you’re absolutely sure what it’s holding.”

“Of course,” Cedric said, again keeping his tone polite in spite of Elias’s snide tone.

An awkward silence fell between us all, and then Elias said, “Well, aren’t you going to invite us into your home for some refreshment? We came all this way to help you.”

I flinched, remembering that Cedric had an Alanzan diamond on the wall. “It’s so cramped in there,” I said. “Hardly any room between the bed and the stove. I’ll go bring you something and you can enjoy it out here on this beautiful day.”

Elias eyed me askance. “How kind of you. And how fortunate you’re so familiar with the shanty and its bed.”

I smiled sweetly. “I’ll be right back.”

I walked away calmly, like some dutiful young lady serving the menfolk. Once inside Cedric’s shanty, I hastily closed the door and performed a frantic search. I pulled the diamond down and shoved it in a trunk he’d brought from Cape Triumph. It held a pack of Deanzan cards, though they at least were at the bottom of the trunk. I wrapped them in a shirt to make them harder to find and deemed the house safe should anyone come in.

Refreshment options were meager, as Elias no doubt knew. This was a power play. I’d seen canteens on their horses, and he and his men probably had snacks far better than anything we could muster. Cedric’s stove was quirky at best, which was why Mistress Marshall’s food always seemed so indulgent to him. I wrapped up some corn bread that she’d given Cedric and brought it outside with cups and a pitcher of water. The water had come from a good well on the claim, but it had long grown warm in this weather.

Nonetheless, I served it with all the grace and courtesy drilled into us in all of the Glittering Court’s “good hostess” lessons. I even earned a gruff “thanks” from one of Elias’s otherwise silent men. A brief exchange of glances with Cedric told him all he needed to know. It was unlikely that Elias would search the shanty, but nothing obvious would point to the Alanzans.

“You should’ve never had that diamond out,” I told Cedric, once our visitors had left. “This is as bad as the open rituals.”

He pushed sweaty hair out of his face and nodded. “You’re right.”

“Did you just agree with me?”

“I agree with you all the time. You’re an astute and intelligent woman. Smarter than me.”

We both looked up at the stony outcropping. “When are you going up?” I asked.

He leaned down and began sifting through the lines and other gear Elias had brought. “No time like the present.”

“What, now? It’s the hottest part of the day!”

“It’s always hot these days.” He separated out a couple of ropes and some hooks. “I can’t wait to get one of those big storms old Sully’s always talking about.”

I tried to think of some other excuse to delay his climbing up, but there was none. And again, there was always the pressure of time and money weighing upon us.

“Do you even know how to use any of this?” I asked.

He fastened a leather harness around him. “You doubt me?”

“I’ve just seen you ride a horse, that’s all.”

“No need to worry. I’ve researched it. Talked a lot to Sully and the suppliers in town. It’s pretty straightforward.”

I was skeptical, but I couldn’t deny that he seemed pretty competent as he hooked up the various lines and stakes. I handed him a pick and kissed him on the cheek. “Be careful. Don’t leave me a widow before we’re married.”

He grinned by way of answer and began his climb. I knew little of such matters and was impressed with the way he could pierce the rock with stakes and hooks, creating handholds to scale up. The jagged surface I’d worried so much about actually helped along the way, as it provided extra traction.

“You might be good at this after all,” I called up.

“I told you: no need to worry.”

A few clouds had moved in. I was still sweating in the humidity, but at least it cooled me as I waited. The climb didn’t take that long, really, but I watched it with clenched fists, aware of every second until he finally swung himself up onto the wide ledge at the top. He waved down at me, and I exhaled in relief. He unhooked his pick from the harness and stepped inside the crevasse. Losing sight of him made me tense again, especially since I didn’t know how long this part would take. I doubted he’d simply walk into a wall of gold. And how deep did that opening go? Was he entering some cavern that would put him in danger of a rockslide?

A half hour passed before he finally emerged. “Well?” I yelled.

“Catch,” was all he answered back. He tossed something down. The throw was wide, and it landed several feet behind me. I scurried back, searching the ground. A flash in the sunlight caught my eye, and disbelieving, I picked up a gold nugget the size of a cherry. Five times the size of Glen’s pebble. More gold than from a day of us panning together. I ran back to the cliff’s base.

“Are there piles of this laying around?”

He put his hand around his mouth so I could better hear. “No, but it didn’t take that much digging to get it out. I think there’s a huge deposit running through this. To do it right, they’ll want more men and some engineers, I’m sure. But there’s more than enough here to pay out your contract.”

“And will that ‘more’ part also cover your Westhaven stake?”

“Definitely.”

“Then get down here so I can kiss you.” My heart drummed with excitement. Without even using a backup team, we could almost certainly get out what we needed in a relatively short term. If the vein was fully excavated properly, Cedric would have rights to everything pulled out, less Warren’s ownership fee. It would not only get us to Westhaven but ensure we didn’t have to move into another shanty. Maybe I could live on love, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to also live with a solid roof over my head.

Cedric’s climb down required some different maneuvers. In theory, it was simpler. He secured a rope in the stone and then swung himself down, gripping the rope with gloved hands as he rappelled over the stony face. It was less work than getting up, but I was constantly aware that a lot depended on his grip. The harness was secured to the rope as well, providing extra security. And despite his outward cockiness, I could see that he was moving very cautiously.

Which was why it was so astonishing when he slipped, suddenly sliding down, with neither hands nor harness holding the rope. I screamed as a brief, terrifying vision flashed through my mind of him crashing to the ground. His hands flailed out, trying to get purchase, and then somehow, amazingly, he managed to stop himself on a piece of rock jutting out about two-thirds of the way down. It was a narrow horizontal ledge that was just barely big enough for his feet to fit if he turned them outward in opposite directions. The rest of his body clung to the cliff’s face, spread eagle.