Page 22 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“Nor do I,” Cade said abruptly. “Let’s search the other parts of the house.”

Forced to scurry to keep up with his long legs, I followed as we left the kitchen and open area spanning much of the back of the house. We explored into the depths of the hallways and other rooms. A large sitting area with rotting bookshelves caught our interest, but again, there were no signs of anything in it that might indicate a fortune.

“This place is a maze,” I said as we entered yet another corridor.

The dirt and grime made it easy to tell where we’d been, though Cade claimed to know the layout just fine.

“I think it was intentional,” Cade said. “There have been several additions built onto the house as time passed, enlarging as the family grew. Some of the coherence was lost.”

“I see.”

If the family was so big, I longed to ask, then where the hell was everyone? Why had it been abandoned for so long? The only answer I could come up with was unpleasant, which was why I didn’t ask. But the more he talked about it, the more I grew certain nothing good had happened.

“I’ll take this one,” I said, pausing at a pair of doors on either side of the hallway.

Cade frowned.

“What?”

“I don’t recall these rooms,” he said. “Or what’s in them.”

“Let’s find out.” I twisted the handle and pushed, but the door didn’t budge. “It’s blocked.”

“Here,” Cade said, edging me out of the way. “Let me.”

He leaned a shoulder into the door and shoved. Things creaked and groaned, sliding across the floor inside.

“Whoa!” I shouted as something tumbled to the floor and shook the ground.

“It was just a piece of furniture,” Cade said, the door now wide enough for me to slide through.

I did just that, ducking under his arm, carefully looking around, while Cade peered in behind me through the opening.

“Is it just me,” I said, looking at the room. “Or does all of this look less like wear and tear from abandonment and more like—”

“Destroyed,” Cade finished. “Yes.”

“What happened in here?” I asked. “And why?”

“No idea.”

I picked my way carefully across the pile of furniture that had toppled to the ground, noting the holes in the walls, the torn-up floor, and what looked like scorch marks along one wall. Something bad had definitely occurred.

“Hey, there’s another door back here!”

“It probably just leads to the next room down the hallway.”

“No, it leads back the way we came,” I said, frowning. “But there was no door there.”

“A closet?” Cade suggested from the door. I could tell he wanted to inspect but didn’t want to risk knocking any more furniture around while I was inside.

“Maybe. Let’s see.”

There was an empty bookcase half-blocking the door. Putting my shoulder into it, I shoved, cringing at the sound of wood scraping against the hardwood floor. Even though it would all have to be gutted and replaced, it still sounded terrible.

“All right,” I said, reaching for the handle.

Wood snapped.

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