He nods, his eyes softer. A little sad, even. “Then I’m going to help you.”
“Why?”
He lifts a muscled shoulder. “If you want to be queen, I want you to be queen.”
“Have you helped any of the other candidates?”
“I have not.”
“Then why me?”
He sags further into his chair. “Because Desmond made me a promise this year. One final job. Help him win the kingship, and he’ll release me from his service. I am … ready for my next chapter.”
Silence falls between us. I have so many questions. Chief among them why he would want to leave Desmond? They seem close. I could probably ask. He’d probably tell me. Which is odd, because he seems very taciturn with everyone else.
I tap my upper lip, pretending to weigh the decision. Always wise to make a man believe you’ve got other options, as Granny Maggie often said. Probably where I failed with George.
The ruse hardly matters. Lachlan looks profoundly calm. If I said no, he’ll likely thank me for my time and leave without another word.
Annoying. And again, I wishIcould do that.
“Fine.” I wave a hand at him. “I suppose I could do with some help. Since you’re offering.”
“Splendid.” He arches forward, rubbing his palms together and rising from his chair to put his cloak back on. “We’ll start right now. You, uh, need to get changed first.”
I glance at my lap, see my chemise riding higher, then scramble to lower the hem. Now I’m the one blushing. I flee to my wardrobe, but before I can open it, he calls, “Nothing in there will suit. Here.”
He aims an open palm toward a bright star outside, then twirls his wrist. A cinched sack appears in his hand in a puff of gold light.
“What did you just do?” I ask, fascinated.
“All the folk of this kingdom can use celestial light to perform small magics.” As if that explains anything. But he doesn’t elaborate further, merely tosses me the sack, which contains apair of trousers, some scuffed boots, and a dark cloak similar to his own. “Put those on.” He opens the door to my room. “I’ll wait for you out here.”
“Where are we going?”
“To fetch the first Bannrhorn fragment.”
“How?” I huff out a frustrated growl. “I have no idea what Desmond’s clue means.The swan lands in a pond turned to stone? Absurd.”
He grins widely. “Hurry. If we leave now, we’ll be able to fetch it and be back in time for you to get a few hours of sleep before the presentation ceremony.”
“What are you?—”
“There’s an old faerie tale about a man who dreamed of the same woman every night for a year.” He curls a large hand around the side of the door, leaning toward me. “In his dreams, she played the harp and sang to him in the loveliest voice. He fell in love, but was never able to find her in the waking world.”
“Oh, I know this one!” I yelp. “He visits an enchanted lake filled with swans and has to identify his lady in order to break her curse and turn her back into a woman.” I haven’t thought about the story in ages, an old favorite that Granny Maggie used to read to me.
“Do you remember what the lady’s name was, I wonder?” Lachlan asks portentously before closing the door and leaving me to change.
The name cracks through my mind like a bolt of lightning.
Lady Caer.
The swan lands in a pond turned to stone.
Desmond’s Bannrhorn fragment is in the very first place my feet touched down in the Otherworld.
Queen Caer’s tomb.
