“What’s happening?” I ask.
“Dawn,” is all he says before a large section of root closest to the tree pushes upward, forming an archway. The void beneath it is just that, black and fathomless.
Until.
A pinprick of golden light appears in the center, then expands outward until the entire archway looks like a sparkling waterfall.
An eardrum-splittingwhooshovertakes the cavern as thousands of pairs of wings beat as one. The entire eclipse of moths launches off roots, branches, the cavern walls, andLachlan’s finger. They spear through the opening like a jet of shaggy water.
Minutes later, the archway has sunk back into the dirt and the cavern is empty. Save for me and Lachlan and a few stragglers who aren’t in any rush to join their fellows in the Otherworld. Maybe they’ll wend their way back into the woods and someone else will draw them this morning.
“How has no one ever discovered this cavern?” I ask.
“It’s enchanted against human interference.”
“Then how?—”
He taps my ring again. “Creature of the Otherworld right now, remember?”
I nod. “And Granny Maggie would have been wearing it as well. Sabre told me she asked him not to reject her. To let the ring fall off naturally. That would’ve given her nearly a week to hide the Bannrhorn fragment and createThe Knight Departs. But how would she have known that beacon oaks existed?”
Lachlan blows out a long, weary breath. “Perhaps Sabre told her. Maybe he hoped she’d change her mind and come back to him.”
My eyes sting. “That’s an incredibly sad thought.”
“It is,” is all he says, morose.
Is it because we have so little time left to find the fragment? It’s probably more than that. But I cannot bear to hear him confirm it.
“Well,” I say, refocusing on the daunting task at hand, “I suppose we’d better start looking.”
In the end,it’s another clue from Granny Maggie andThe Knight Departsthat leads us to the Bannrhorn fragment. Tiedaround a thin root toward the moss-covered side of the tree is a crimson ribbon. Just like the one wrapped around the knight’s sword in the painting.
As soon as I find it, the ring sears another blister onto my poor finger. I swipe a dirty hand across my sweat-soaked brow and shout for Lachlan. The cavern seems to be growing hotter. I stripped off my jacket and shirt as soon as we began searching, and am now wearing nothing more than a thin chemise tucked into my trousers.
Lachlan strides over, similarly disrobed, and I take an indulgent moment to study his glistening torso. He smirks, knows exactly what I’m up to, and I decide right then and there that if this ribbon reveals what I believe it will, then he will be my reward in the time we have left. He drinks in my half-dressed body as if he’s perfectly on board with that plan.
Will this bottomless well of want between us ever cease? I hope it does—for both our sakes.
“Look,” I say, pointing to the ribbon.
He tugs a few of the weaker roots aside, making space to dig into the soft ground beneath. I’m cursing us for not having brought any tools—not even a shovel—but as it turns out, we don’t need one.
His fingers bump against something hard, buried only a few feet down. He pulls out a rusted metal box, the crossed arrows of Tír na Dubh scratched into the lid. He stands, wiping off the dirt, and hands the box to me. “You’re the quarry.” His voice hitches slightly. “You do the honors.”
The box is heavier than it looks, though it’s not much larger than a cake tin. A faint hum rises when my fingers touch the surface, similar to those ghostly whispers I heard when I found the ring box among Lizzie’s gifts what feels like years ago. I suppose itwasyears ago, in some sense.
Lachlan holds his breath as I open the box, revealing the bell of the Bannrhorn. The markings glow when I touch it, and the ring flares again.
I suck in a wince. “Why is it?—”
“It knows you’ve found its siblings. And that it’s almost time to crown a new king.”
Now I am the one frowning. “How much time do we have left?”
He shuts the lid, placing his hand over mine atop the box, then pulls the obscura compass from his pocket. The eye is almost fully open, though there’s a thin expanse of lid visible on the top and bottom. “Less than an hour.”
I place the box on the ground, wipe the dirt from my hands, then cup Lachlan’s precious face in one hand as I run the fingers of my other over his pointed ear. He shudders, his eyes sliding closed. “If I’ve only got an hour left, let me spend it with you.”
