Page 30 of The Shadow Heir

I wished so desperately right now that I still had my dagger hidden in my clothes.

He flashed me a grin. “You want to hurt me, don’t you?” I hated how handsome he was. It was as though he believed he had the right to make every woman tremble before him solely by the way he looked at them.

Talia had accused me of being so pretty that the men forgot themselves around me. Though I had seen many a handsome face in the ballroom, I’d never understood what she meant. But I had never encountered a man as unsettlingly handsome as the one standing before me now. There was something about him, especially the way he looked without his fancy suit on, that made my skin buzz with energy, and I hated it.

He stepped toward me. “I’m glad you want to hurt me, and I hope that one day you try because it will prove that I’m right.” His teeth clicked together at the last word.

“You’re not as scary as you think you are,” I said, stepping deeper and deeper into territory that I should have abandoned long ago. Why hadn’t I turned around and walked away?

“Brave little one,” he said, twisting the apple in his fingers. “We’ll see how brave you are when the next trial arrives.”

I swallowed. “When will that be?”

The side of his lips curled up. “The mortals didn’t tell you? Pity.”

“When will that be?” I repeated, tone lower.

“Does this mean you’re asking for my help?”

I rolled my eyes. “No. If the other mortals all know when it will be, it’s common knowledge that I could find out from them as easily as you.”

The wordsother mortalssuddenly reminded me that I hadn’t yet asked anyone about Talia.

His dark eyes flashed. “Then go ask one of them.” He flicked his wrist as if dismissing a fly.

This time, I held my tongue from all the snide remarks I wanted to say. He must have sensed that I was holding something back, and he quirked his brow at me.

“My friend married a fae. I aim to find out what happened to her.”

“Oh?” His eyes brightened with interest. “You saidmarried? They gave away their magic and status, then.” He tsked. “Shame. Most immortals know better than that.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked past on silent footsteps. “If you really want that man to leave, just tell him,” the prince said over his shoulder before he disappeared around the corner.

He left his bedroom door open. Perhaps he was waiting around the corner to see what I would do. If he wanted me to snoop, then I wouldn’t. I turned and marched out of the hall back toward my room, which I desperately hoped was empty now.

It took me a half-hour to find my way back to my room. The black halls all looked the same, save for the chiseled art on the stone walls. I’d been running too fast earlier to take note of the scenes. By the time I found the windowed hall overlooking the mountain range, it was empty. The magical lights had dimmed, but they blazed to life again as I dragged my feet toward my room—my prison cell.

To my great relief, no one approached me in the hall and no one waited in my room. I was finally alone. My shoulders relaxed, and my arms fell loose at my sides. I realized that my heart was about to break through my ribcage.

When I stepped into the room, the candle glowed brighter as if welcoming my presence. I glanced around the room. It was elegant for a slave’s quarters. The sheets had a sheen to them that suggested silk. I ran my hand across them—cool, like spring water. There was a vase of fresh flowers on either side of the bed, along with unlit candles, a silver brush, and several tins that I recognized as containing face powders. A massive armoire stood on the other side of the room.

The room was long and narrow, suggestive of a cell, but full of such nice things that it was easy to think of it as merely a guest room. For twenty years, I’d been on a leash that had been getting shorter every day, a leash leading me here.

My shoulders sank, but I wouldn’t let myself dwell on the anger and fear and sadness that prickled in my chest. Shoving those emotions away, I peeked under the bed to check for any monsters hiding there. It seemed like a cruel prank the fae would enjoy. But there wasn’t even a speck of dust. I was so disgusted that the fae were trying to lure me into compromising situations solely so they could laugh at me the next day, that I grunted and flopped facedown on the bed, punching the soft sheets over and over again until there were no tears left.

13

Casimiro

Firelight warmed the small reading area of the narrow library to an uncomfortable level, but the mortals who tended the books—looking for mold, worms, or pixies—relished the crackling flames and claimed they helped fight the dreaded moisture of these caves. I’d pushed my sleeves up as high as they would go and unbuttoned the top two buttons of my shirt, hoping to stave off any sweat, but the fire was winning right now. After reading the same sentence three times, I slid down in the wide chair, rested my head against the back, and stared at the glowing orb hovering among stalactites above.

My mind drifted back to the woman I’d brought here this evening. She’d chanced death by sliding into those waters. If I’d thought to enchant the water with a clinging spell, I could have listened in on her conversations with the other mortals. But I hadn’t thought she’d do what she did. I’d unleashed our largest water dragon, thinking his presence in the lake would be enough to scare her senseless.

Instead, she’d beaten my game.

A fae entered the long, narrow cavern lined with shelves, their magic brushing against my own like a housecat rubbing against its master’s legs. I sat up and tried to find the sentence I’d last read. The approaching fae wore a concealment spell, although not a well-crafted one.

When Alba slipped into the firelit reading room at the back of the library, her features dim beneath a veneer of shadows, I didn’t look up from my book.

“I see you,” I drawled, reading the same sentence for the fourth time. Daylight hours always made me feel lethargic, and poring over the medicinal properties of various fruit leaves had left me in a state I could almost describe as sleepy.

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