Moody And The Beast (Shadowvale #4) - Kristen Painter Page 0,18
and set it gently on her head. It went down over her eyes. He took it off again, adjusted something, then replaced it. This time, it sat right. “There you go.”
“Thank you,Your Lordship.”
“You’re welcome, Theodora.” He gazed into her eyes for what seemed longer than necessary.
Her throat felt hot and tight, and her stomach did a weird flip. Probably from lack of food.
He turned to Grent. “Good to go now.”
Grent started walking again. They followed the path of lights until the cavernous passage split into four smaller tunnels. Men and women passed them, all dressed in jumpsuits and hard hats, some carrying pickaxes, some pushing carts of stones. Many looked like trolls, but there were other species mixed in. Dwarves in abundance, but maybe even a few humans.
It was louder here with the whine of machinery and the sounds of digging. That was fine with her. It covered the rumbling of her stomach. Whatever. She’d been hungry before. She’d live.
The air smelled of stone and oil and sweat. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant. It was one of the many smells of work, something Theo was intimately acquainted with.
Grent headed into the first tunnel on the right. He spoke over his shoulder to Robin. “The hunt for that vein of opal we were getting close to last week has paid off. We’ve struck a nice seam. Should give us a substantial bit of ore in another day or two.”
They didn’t go far. After just a few more yards, he stopped them near a cluster of workers chipping away at the rock wall. A visible vein of milky, iridescent opal shone blue and green in the lights. It couldn’t have been more than a half-inch wide, but the color was almost neon against the tan rock it was embedded in.
“Wow.” Theo reached out to touch it, then caught herself.
She slid her fingers along the narrow strip of gem. It was smooth and cool to the touch. “It’s beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
His smile was proud and steady. “Wait until we open this up a little more. I predict it’ll widen up considerably another two or three feet in.” He went over to one of the worker’s carts, dug around a bit, then pulled out a chunk of rock.
He brought it back and turned it so the opal fragment was visible. “Look at the color in this. Some of the best we’ve come across to date.” He handed the rock to Robin.
“Excellent.” Robin held it up and nodded his approval. “I can’t wait to see what next week brings.”
Theodora felt the old itch to work with the stone and turn it into something amazing, but her chance to become a lapidary had come and gone.
They went through all four tunnels the same way, inspecting the new finds and talking about what might be on the horizon. Robin took samples along the way, collecting them in a little bag at his waist. Theo saw more gems than she’d thought possible. Besides the opals, there were emeralds, amethysts, tourmaline, topaz, and in the last tunnel, sapphires of all colors.
But they never ventured into each tunnel more than fifteen feet, maybe less. Twice, Grent went quite a way deeper, gathered samples, then came back to them. It seemed odd that Robin, who was there to inspect the work, didn’t actually do that in two of the tunnels.
She kept her mouth shut about it, though. What did it matter to her how he did, or didn’t do, his job?
When they were through, they said goodbye to Grent, who made sure Mrs. Applestock’s now-empty basket was returned, Theo handed over her hard hat, and they headed back to the house by the same path.
Theo carried the basket with His Lordship’s hard hat in it. Something gave her the boldness to ask the question burning in her mind. “How is that possible? All of those gems in one mine? That shouldn’t be.”
“No,” Robin answered. “It shouldn’t be. But this is Shadowvale, and magic rules. The mines were all created with magic, which means the natural laws don’t exist. It’s a good thing, too. Those gems, the sale of them anyway, are what keep this town going. The money pays for all the things we enjoy here. Those mines fund everything the town needs. From the fire department to the schools to keeping the roads nice. Of course, magic helps with some of that, too.”