Page 51 of Dragons Of Shadow and Sea

And in his gaze, I see the tiniest shred of doubt.

He blinks and it's gone, but it was there.

"Where is the Sorceress?" he growls.

"Your highness." A woman in a deep violet gown and a cloak emerges from the shadows. She pushes the hood of her cloak back from her face, revealing that same youthful visage with hints of decay lurking just beneath the surface.

She also reveals dark hair strewn through with purple streaks, and my throat closes over yet again. It's all I can do not to run my hands through my own hair. She vibrates with magic, and my bracer burns into my arm.

"Prove her falsehoods to the court," King Erembour instructs. He sweeps an arm out to the side to indicate the whole of the room.

His sorceress approaches me. I quake inside, but power hums through me, and I force myself to stand my ground.

I can defend myself. I'm not helpless--even if I'm surrounded by dozens of Shadow Dragons, including an ancient king and a sorceress whose magic tastes like black fire on the back of my tongue.

She circles around me, her gaze appraising. As she moves, a glowing, violet ring traces itself around me on the floor before rising up the length of my body. I flex and clench my fingers, ready for an attack, only it never comes.

The ring of light passes over my head before gathering itself together in the air above me, forming a small, translucent sphere. As the sorceress completes her inspection, she holds her hand out, palm up, and the sphere comes to hover over her fingertips. She regards it for a long moment. Suddenly, her gaze shoots to mine, real fear crackling through her irises.

But then she snaps her fist closed, and the sphere dissipates into nothingness. A mask falls over her face before she turns to face the king once more.

"She is not the heir."

The king's smile this time is pure triumph, and the court roars with approval.

A nervous flicker of uncertainty has been awakened inside me, though. What did the sorceress see that freaked her out? And why did she hide it from her king?

"As I have foreseen," King Erembour crows. Then he gestures to Aria, who has been sitting so still on her throne I almost forgot that she was there. "On our wedding night, Princess Aria and I will conceive the true heir of the dragon world."

I swallow bile, trying hard not to gag at the idea of poor Aria having to submit to this ancient, decrepit king and his sexual appetites. Of her slim frame having to carry his Shadow Dragon spawn.

A new, malevolent gleam appears in King Erembour's eyes. "My son will ascend to the Grand Throne. He will bring Shadow to Light."

"All hail the heir," the court chants.

Their fanaticism and devotion reverberate through the room. The sorceress is louder than them all, but she cuts a glance my way that gives me more reason to doubt.

Lord Rook, still standing beside me, has an odd note to his voice as well. I look up at him to find him staring at me appraisingly. I dart my gaze away, my breath quickening. Did he see the same flicker of fear in the sorceress's eyes that I did?

Some niggling sense in the back of my head tells me that Lord Rook knows something else. That he sees something.

"Read the final count," King Erembour instructs.

The man still holding the scroll that's apparently one giant list of indictments against me clears his throat. "Count five, theft of an artifact of the Shadow Kingdom."

The attention of every single person in the room feels like it zeroes in on me. If I thought the Shadow Bracer burned before, I'm in for a rude awakening now. Its heat is so intense, my skin must be charred beneath it, but there's no pain. Only power.

A power I don't understand; a power I can't control. But a power that's mine.

"I stole nothing." My voice echoes, louder and more gravelly than I was prepared for.

The sorceress flinches, but King Erembour's anger only grows. "You will return the Shadow Queen's Bracer to its rightful owner."

Forget the fact that I am the rightful owner. I laugh. "And who would that be? You?" I glance at Aria, trying to apologize with my eyes for what I'm about to say. "It's definitely not her."

"It belongs to the Shadow Realm," the sorceress replies. "We will find its bearer."

"I won't give it to you." I couldn't if I tried. Its seal around my arm has never felt more complete. It practically clings to me. All my efforts to remove it in the past were in vain. Right now? There's no chance it would let go.

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