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If he had been joking about the diamonds, it failed to a into h to distract me from the situation The lantern’s flame stayed steady No breeze, but before I worried about running out of air, I re was torture; I decided to continue up the shaft until I reached a junction I reasoned that Galen would still be able to find me The next intersection resembled all the others we had passed on our descent At least there was a littlefor an airflow Nothing stirred

Resigned to wait, I sat on the ground, crossing ine all types of horrible scenarios I clung to one piece of logic This wasn’t part of Vasko’s revenge for Pazia He needed ers to Irys and Bain Besides, Pazia, Nic and Eve kneas down here No I wouldn’t contemplate this as a murder atteh uncut geic Too bad I couldn’t use it to coain, ould I say? I’m stuck at the intersection of Rock Boulevard and Rock Street? Coaveshafts, searching for directional et lost from time to time Wouldn’t it make sense to name the shafts or at least indicate an exit? An array of scratches lined all the walls Perhaps the y on what I did know, I mulled over a reason Vasko would lie about where the black diamonds had been found Perhaps he discovered them in a more accessible or even public location, and didn’t want his coers, these super ones didn’t require any special lass the location secret was key

If he iht already be suspicious Before, he had Ari and Janco investigating General Kitvivan’s illicit operation Except this ti h the underground market in the Citadel He had been the first to discover Kitvivan’s dia of Fisk, I reate the Bloodrose Clan

I shot to my feet as round as I raked a hand through e leap of logic But I believed the reason the blacks looked so familiar was because I had seen the where Walsh’stables filling the space, boxes withbuilding, mounds of sand and black rocks littered the area I had been so worried about Quinn flaht

Walsh’s actions against the other oyster farms made more sense Not only could he affect the pearl prices, but he could keep the others fro that those black rocks are actually diamonds

But once I considered it fully, there were more than a few holes Those rocks could indeed be rocks If they weren’t, then how did Walsh figure out the rocks were dialass Heli had found The pieces had been scratched, and there were only a few substances hard enough to scratch glass Dia one of them

But ould Walsh team up with Vasko? Even with these questions, a visit to the Bloodrose Clan was overdue

One problem Galen hadn’t returned I checked the oil level in the lantern Half-full I settled back on the ground Devlen had been right Waiting wasn’t easy And how long should I stay here before trying to find my oay?

The diamonds still clutched in my hand could scratch a mark into the wall Perhaps I should explore--

A ruled and small stones rained down I donned my helmet as dust filled the area

Then a blast of fresh air cleared the cloud Unfortunately, the wind extinguished the flaht was a unique experience to ht there was always the moon or a distant fire or a lantern Without any real hope, I waited fortangible like ic

Perhaps the coveralls I wore had matches in the pockets This had happened before Pazia had warned rip on the dialowed from my palm I blinked a few tian had said I shiic Probably why he called me Fire Lady Unable to see it for myself, I didn’t really believe him At least it was useful in this situation

I searched the pockets, and only found the items I had taken froer an option, I turned in a circle and stopped when I felt the breeze full in my face The air had to come from somewhere and I planned to find the source I scratched an arrow pointing in the direction I traveled and walked into the wind

At each intersection Ion the surface offrolass was still warm, which meant these had been lit before the blast of air