My gaze flicked to the other side of the cave. He’d looked in that direction when he’d pushed the drawer back into place. I hadn’t thought there was anything there, but perhaps I hadn’t looked closely enough.

I lifted my lamp. Stalagmites blocked my path to the other side; I had to weave between them like a deer through bamboo.

At last, I reached a clear area against the wall – the spot I’d seen my father looking at. As I cast my gaze around, my heart sank. There was nothing here, just stone and the flash of crystal in the walls. I’d walked over here before; I wasn’t sure why I expected anything different.

Secrets within secrets.

No, there was something here. He’d glanced at this spot, and I’d been experiencing his memory. There’d been a reason for it, I could feel it. I dropped to my knees, setting the lamp down and feeling around on the ground.

My fingers found the smallest crack filled with dirt.

I set aside the key, pulled my engraving tool from my sash pocket and used it to clear the dirt from the crack in the stone. Someone had chiseled a piece of stone away and then replaced it. There was something here; I hadn’t been wrong.

The engraving tool bent as I used it to pry the stone out. My fingernails ached as I wedged them beneath the slab, pulling until it came free. Dirt shook loose, catching the lamplight. I peered inside the cavity and found a hatch with a keyhole.

What would my father have kept that necessitated a series of four locked doors? The key slid into the lock easily and turned with a soft click. The hinges to the hatch were well oiled; it opened soundlessly. When I swung my lantern over the hole, all I could see was a ladder descending into the dark.

There might be anything down there. I crouched down, lay on my belly and lowered both the lantern and my head into the hatch.

It was difficult to see very far into the cavern below with only one lamp, and upside down at that. The ladder was long, the bottom farther than I’d first thought. But I could make out shelves against one shadowy wall.

Well, I’d come this far, hadn’t I? And it wasn’t as though I was going to go back and ask Jovis to accompany me into my father’s lair. I’d defeated my father; I could climb into a dark hole by myself. I pushed myself back up, tucked the engraving tool back into my sash, gripped the lantern’s handle between my teeth and set my feet upon the ladder.