“Sienna said that Doryss and his crew just started working for Erik.”
Jem nodded slowly. “You think that Erik might be the one they were covering for the other night?”
“The timing certainly seems to work. If Erik is the smuggler we’re after, that also means he likely has somewhere nearby where he stores the goods. It would have to be a place hidden enough or difficult to access so that no one would come upon it by accident.”
“I’ll see what I can find out.” Jem gave him a mock salute. “In the meantime,” he waggled his eyebrows meaningfully, “you should stay here and give Sienna yourfullattention.”
Casper regarded him with a flat look. “I know what you’re doing, Jem.”
“Do you?” His first mate blinked innocently.
“I know you think it will work this time, but it won’t. Besides, she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.”
Jem narrowed his eyes. “Treated like what?”
“Like she’s just a means to an end. She shouldn’t have to suffer just so that we can be free.”
“You’re putting the happiness of one woman above your entire crew?”
“It’s not her responsibility!” Casper dragged frustrated hands through his hair, remembering just in time the close proximity of the subject of their conversation and keeping his voice low despite its intensity. “And she’s already been through enough.”
A slow smile spread across Jem’s face. “Hmm. This is definitely promising.”
“What in the realms do you mean?”
“Oh, nothing.” His continued smile said it was anything but, though Casper had no desire to argue the point further.
Let him think whatever he wants.Hisdisappointment, at least, I know how to deal with. He’ll follow me around with disapproving lectures for a few days, and then we’ll go back to how things have been for the last fifty years.
“Speaking of your fiancée, what is this story you have to tell me? What happened?”
“Aside from nearly falling to her death, not much.” Casper quickly recounted the harrowing experience. “I don’t know if it was the pain or the adrenaline or just pent-up exhaustion, but she could barely keep her eyes open.” His ears heated at the memory of some of the things she had said in her muddled state. “Even so, it was all I could do to convince her to sleep for a few hours before she shows me how to refill the lighthouse lamps.”
Jem appeared troubled. “Where did this happen exactly?”
“There’s an overhang just a few hundred meters in front of the house.”
“Do you mind if I take a look?”
Casper’s eyes widened in surprise. “I’ll show you, if you want. Is there a reason why?”
Jem rose and threw his arms into his sleeves. “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I wandered into the kitchen for a drink. A movement outside the window caught my eye—the moon was so bright it was hard to miss—and I could have sworn there was someone out there. Of course, when I went to take a closer look, they were gone.”
Casper slipped on his own coat and hat and led Jem to the cliff’s edge. “There,” he said, pointing from a safe distance away. “The overhang extended another three or four feet past where it is now.”
Jem lowered himself to the ground and cautiously crawled forward on his belly until he could look down and see the side of the cliff. Casper watched a frown deepen on his face as he examined the ground. “It wasn’t an accident,” he announced, pushing back and brushing his hands on his pant legs.
“What?” Casper started forward. “How do you know?” He stopped right behind Jem’s shoulder.
“The edge is too straight, and in some places it runs against the grain of the rock. If the damage were caused by erosion or weather or other natural forces, it would have split along the weakest lines. This looks as if it has been cut in a straight line.”
Casper was unconvinced. “How could someone possibly cut through a cliff unnoticed? Even with a blade strong enough, it would have made a massive amount of noise.”
“I didn’t say itwascut, only that itlookedthat way. As to the how—we’re in Faerie, Casp. These fae have magic that does all sorts of things that wouldn’t be possible in our realm.”
“Even if that’s the case, how did it keep from falling until right at that moment?”
“Look here—the top layer of dirt and grass isn’t as cleanly broken. I would guess that whoever did this left just enough in place for it to hold until someone stepped on it, adding enough weight that it would all go crashing down.” Jem’s face darkened. “And with it being so close to the lighthouse…” His words trailed off.
