Page 33 of The Fifth Heir

“Look past it at the wood grain.”

He adjusted his position. A second later, his eyes widened.

“Don’t touch it,” Sebastian said.

“I wasn’t planning to.”

Rafe joined us. “I still don’t see it.”

“Stand here,” I said.

He stepped beside me, close enough that his shoulder brushed mine. A faint electrical charge lifted the hair along my arm.

I moved away and pointed again.

“The line of the desk bends.”

Rafe’s expression changed. “That’s not empty.”

Torren approached from the terrace. He held his hand over the support without lowering it.

“No heat,” he said.

“Move your fingers slightly to the left,” I told him.

His knuckles struck something solid.

A clear note sounded through the study.

Torren withdrew his hand.

Light traveled through the object he had touched, briefly revealing the outline of a rigid neck ring.

A torc.

The crystal became invisible again when the light faded.

My pulse quickened.

“There were only four in the Hall,” Leander said.

“Four visible ones,” Sebastian replied.

“This one was not present.”

“How would anyone know?”

“The ceremonial inventory lists four.”

I opened my notebook and flipped through the pages until I found the copy I had made during the final inspection. Four torcs, each described by material, stone, weight, and condition.

No fifth entry had been removed or marked unreadable.

“It has been here,” I said. “The dust around the supports is undisturbed.”

“Waiting,” Rafe said.

Leander looked at me. “For what?”