Page 66 of The Dragon's Mate Proposal

“Unlikely.” I wanted to tell her flat out she was wrong. But there was a certain logic to it. A blood feud could have occurred if my family was found to be trespassing. That opened up a whole different issue.

Such as, how would I handle it? I couldn’t stay next to people who had killed my entire family. No matter how justified. Could I even let them live? Or would I be drawn into the feud as well, unable to deny my desire for revenge?

“And what if it did happen?” she pushed gently.

I continued to scan the ground below.

“Cade?”

“It didn’t,” I growled.

“But it—”

“No, it didn’t.” I dropped to the ground, wings outstretched to catch the air and slow us down. “My family were good people.”

“I know they were, Cade, but you have to …”

Her voice trailed off as she slid from my wing and finally saw what I saw. The opening in the ground. Stone that had been worked by hand. Some even melted by dragon fire to smooth out an area in front of the entrance.

“See,” I growled defensively. “On our side.”

“You don’t even know if this is it,” she pointed out, but her tone said she believed it was.

“Only one way to find out,” I said, lifting one hand and calling on fire until it filled my palm as I strode into the darkness.

Samantha hurried to keep up.

“How do you think they even found this in the first place?” she asked.

“That is a good question.” It was one I was curious about as well. “My guess is some of the kids were just out exploring and happened to find it. Or maybe they found the gold that was in the dragon carving, and when they told the adults, someone came back and started exploring and found more?”

That sounded plausible, but unfortunately, with nobody left to ask, I would probably never know.

The signs of old-fashioned mining were everywhere. Buckets and even a wheeled cart were strewn about just inside the entrance, and a bit farther down, the walls were scarred with the scraps from the picks.

But no signs of gold in the—

“Oh,” Samantha said as I came to a sudden halt as the passage widened another twenty feet down.

I lifted my hand to the ceiling, traces the lines of the gold ore encrusted within. The light from my fire made the ore glitter.

“Yeah,” I said, turning around and letting the flames play over the chamber. “They did find something.”

“And now, it’s yours,” she whispered, subdued by the sheer amount of valuable metal in the walls of the cave. “You’re rich, Cade. The fortune you wanted, but here in the isles.”

I flinched, but she didn’t notice.

“You’re rich,” she repeated with a strangled laugh. “Cade, you’re rich! You did it! You found what the letter said!”

She was shouting by the end, gripping my arm, jumping around.

“Why aren’t you excited?” she asked, abruptly noticing I wasn’t sharing in her enthusiasm. Her eyes darted around. Then she said something else, something I didn’t even consider.

“You think this is why your family is dead. Someone killed them for it.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. This place hasn’t been touched in some time. We’re not that far in, maybe what, a hundred feet, one-fifty at the most. It’s been a long time since anyone from my family lived here. Any rivals would’ve dug much deeper by now.”

“So, then, why are you so miserable?” she asked. “You don’t even seem the least bit happy you’re rich again.”

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