Chapter Sixteen

Although Orion called the makeshift camp and the project it was attached to a mine, the term was a bit of a misnomer. A mine implied dug out shafts or large pits in the ground, but there was nothing like that in the Tyrion mountains. Instead, the mountains were filled with a series of caves, many of them going miles deep into the mountaintops, interconnected at often surprising points, but exposing the core of the mountain itself. The caves were caused over centuries of erosion, weather events, and the natural movements of the earth.

It was in one of those caves not far from the camp where one of the first natural crystals were found. Since then, Ryan and his crew had sourced more than a hundred individual samples all from the same cave system. The geologists, thrilled with the finds, confirmed each of the samples likely came from the same seam, and logic dictated that seam ran back into the mountain.

Orion thought about the implications of the project as he followed Ryan into the mine, his pickax in hand. Compared to bordering countries, Tyrion was relatively poor. Most of the land was covered in mountains, with only a few valley areas where people could grow crops and farm animals for food. Understandably, those same valleys were where most people lived, close to those necessities.

Tyrion did have a small port, but King Oscar didn't see the need for a navy, so the opportunities afforded by access to the sea were limited to those hardy souls who didn't mind making their own boats – heading out in often treacherous conditions to secure fish for their families and to sell at local markets in the town around the castle.

If we had more readily available access to magical crystals, that would be a huge saving to the country overall, not to mention the employment opportunities the magical crystals would create in all areas of the population.

"The main seam heads off in that direction," Ryan said, stopping and pointing to where the cave system disappeared off to the right. "But a couple of the men were exploring this other side," he pointed to the left of where they were, "and they found four crystal samples in the one cave."

"Is it possible it's the same seam, exposed from a different angle?" Orion looked from one side to the other. There was no way, from where they were standing, to know how far apart the two finds were.

Taking off his cap, Ryan ran his hand through his bushy black hair. "Anything's possible, sir, but if that were the case then we'd have found the motherload of crystal seams. With what those geologist fellas mapped out with their fancy equipment, a seam that wide could go back miles into the mountains. It would be a huge find."

Orion felt a surge of excitement. "Then we have to check it out. If you think about it, we already know we have a seam. We just have no idea how far back it stretches. If you've found another part of the same thing, or even a second one, that surely doubles the chances this could be a viable proposition."

"We'll head down that way then, sir." Ryan held up his crystal lamp. "This should hold a while longer, although it won't last forever."

"Just think, Ryan, soon we might have our own crystals that can be powered up and used all throughout the country and possibly even as an export option." Orion's excitement grew as they headed down the way Ryan had indicated.

The caves were quite tall. There were very few instances where Orion or Ryan had to duck, and there were some areas where the caves soared high above Orion's head. Trailing his fingers along the dark walls, Orion's smile widened as he saw the occasional glimpses of sparkles.

"Here, look at this," he said, pointing upward. They'd just come through one of the narrower openings and the roof of the cave they were in shot up to a point. "See how some of that rock has recently fallen away? Does that look like exposed crystal to you?"

"Yes, sir, it does." Ryan peered up. The glinting line in the rock was about three feet above their head. Then he glanced around, likely looking for something to stand on. "We need to come back with some ramps so we can reach it. There were a couple stacked up at the entrance to the caves."

"You go ahead and grab them." Orion winced as he shook out his foot which was starting to sting again. "The ointment on my blister must be wearing off. I'll sit here and wait for you to come back. Go on, man," he added as Ryan hesitated. "You're not going to be longer than ten minutes and I'll be fine." Glancing around the cave, he chuckled. "I doubt anything else is going to be lurking in these cave walls. Clearly no one's been here for a while."

"If you're sure, sir…" Ryan was clearly still undecided.

"I'm sure." Orion brushed off a flat piece of rock that was sticking out from the wall and sat down. "Far better for me to sit here like an entitled royal, waiting for you to return with our equipment, than for me to be hobbling out to the cave entrance and then back again. If I walk much more on this foot, John is going to be very disappointed in me."

"If you say so, sir. I'll leave the lamp for your highness." And this time Ryan had the hint of a smile on his face as he left the lamp on the ground and disappeared out of the cave.

Alone time. Utter bliss. Leaning his back against the wall of the cave, Orion closed his eyes. As a prince, being around people for ninety-nine percent of the time was normal. Orion was always expected to have at least John with him, no matter where he went. Apparently, crown prince consorts required even more protections. Orion quietly snickered as he remembered how appalled Vincent's valet, Morgan, had been, catching him on his way out of the castle. He had been horrified that Orion refused to take any guards with him. According to Morgan, that type of refusal just wasn't the sort of thing a consort should say.

The joke is on him. Inhaling sharply, Orion focused on letting that same breath out slowly. There had been more than a hundred times since he'd left Carntan where he wondered if he'd done the wrong thing or over reacted by leaving Vincent without even talking to him. But in a world where appearances meant everything, Orion knew that while he could never change his husband's behavior, he also didn't have to accept it. Think about something else, he reminded himself quickly. Vincent would never know how much his callous behavior had hurt Orion, and Orion planned to keep things that way.

Look at this outcrop. Opening his eyes, Orion patted the rock he was sitting on. It was honestly as if someone had chipped out a bench seat from the stone wall. The edges were all smooth, as though they'd been exposed for some time. Looking up he could see there were a number of sharp edges on the walls as if the whole thing had moved recently. There were fallen rocks and piles of stone chips at various places around the cave.

I wonder what caused that, but even as he thought it, Orion felt the wall behind him tremble, and a loud rumbling sound bounced around the cave. He jumped up, ignoring the pull on his heel, his only focus to get out of the cave. But as he moved toward the entrance, the rumbling got louder, and a stone clipped the side of his head. As Orion fell to the ground, he had just enough time to roll under the seat as rocks started raining down around him.

Looks like I won't be a problem for Vincent anymore was the last thing he thought as the rock seat he'd been sitting on broke off from the wall and fell with a thud across his back.