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lamp in a bit and come look at this.”
    The two men stood shoulder to shoulder, and Dev could see the ring, massively enlarged now through Harry’s magnifier.
    There were indeed minute tracings of what might once have been golden swirls or markings. He’d thought they were scratches when he’d taken his first casual look at it. How many hands must have caressed that piece to wear the surface down to its current smoothness.
    “See here?” Harry’s pick was at the upper edge of the stone, moving along what had looked like a slight lip in the gold.
    “Yes. That’s what’s holding the stone in place, isn’t it? Very cleverly done.”
    “Right. It does hold the emerald snugly. But watch…”
    With amazing dexterity, Harry pressed downward on the tiny ledge with his pick, and to Dev’s astonishment, it moved, sliding over the stone and then fanning to one side.
    The emerald dropped out.
    “ Fuck .” Dev swore. He’d promised Léonie he’d keep the ring safe. Now Harry had broken the damn thing.
    “Relax. It’s meant to do that.”
    “ What ? It is? Why ?” Dev’s mind struggled with the idea.
    “Here’s the answer.”
    Turning the ring so that the socket for the gem was revealed beneath the glass and in the full glare of the lamp, Dev peered into the golden opening. And at the very bottom were several intricate carvings and one tiny point.
    “Now look at this.” Harry turned over the emerald, and to Dev’s astonishment, the bottom of the gem matched the markings in the socket. In reverse.
    “So…” Dev gulped. “Let me see if I understand this. The bottom of this jewel has been notched to match the ridges in the gold. Is that to hold it in place? Is it why there’s that tiny lip thing and nothing else?”
    Harry shook his head. “No, but you’re on the right track.” He adjusted the lamp once more. “Let me put it all back together and then I’ll show you what I think this may be about.”
    Dev’s heart jumped into his throat as he watched Harry’s delicate maneuvers with the emerald, little nudges and movements that finally seated the beautiful gem back into its nest. With equally dexterous skill, he swung the tiny lip back across the stone and into its slot, securing everything and returning it to its previous beauty.
    “The workmanship that went into this, Dev. Our jewelers would be challenged to reproduce this today, so imagine how it must have awed everyone a couple of thousand years ago.”
    “Truly a gift for a Queen.” Dev could only shake his head and stare.
    “Now,” said Harry. “Come over here and I’ll show you what I think is the purpose of that ring. And this is only a guess, mind you.”
    “At this point, my friend, after what I’ve just seen…well, you could tell me my horse is blue and I’d believe you.” Dev took a breath. “My mind is reeling.”
    “Well, your horse isn’t blue. But that ring holds secrets.” He led Dev to a different part of his workshop, where there was an assortment of inlaid boxes, both large and small. “A hobby of mine. Magic boxes.”
    Dev groaned. He was very bad at these kinds of puzzles. He’d been given one as a child and remembered spending one very frustrating holiday in the country trying to open the bloody thing. He never had. It might even still be there today, in the back of the greenhouse, where he’d shoved it into a plant pot and covered it with soil, thus consigning it to an early grave beneath an aspidistra.
    “Don’t worry,” chuckled Harry. “You don’t have to open these. It’s an acquired taste. But there’s one that I recalled as soon as I saw the inside of that ring.”
    He reached up and pulled down a fairly simple box, several inches square. On the top was a circle of concentric wooden rings, topped with a smooth ball of what looked like white marble or alabaster stone. The sides were smooth, there were a few inlays here and there, and around the ring on the top were carvings and indentations. It