Page 74 of The Shadow Heir

Ivy wept. At least she finally clutched a sword to her chest. She’d improved in her weapons training, but she wasn’t prepared for this. None of us was.

I stepped forward, sword at the ready, but my injured leg wouldn’t cooperate, so I shuffled out from the wall with a step-slide, step-slide. My heel clacked against the stones once more. The pale dragon turned one glassy eye down at me.

“I think it likes the sound,” I muttered to Tomas. Three quick times, I lifted and lowered my heel, grunting as my injured leg bore my weight briefly.

The dragon snuffled, then shifted its weight. It almost appeared excited. Or agitated. I was no expert in dragon body language. For two breaths, the one circling in the sky stopped howling.

I tried to clack both heels, but my burned leg buckled beneath me.

To keep from slicing myself, I dropped the sword. It clattered like a trumpet announcing my surrender.

From my hands and knees, I stared up at the beast, determined to keep from gagging on the spit I couldn’t swallow. My throat had stopped working.

“Not tonight,” I begged through clenched teeth.I’m going home. I’m leaving this place.

Casimiro’s husky voice as he’d commanded me not to get burned flitted through my mind, and I tried again to swallow. He wasn’t here. He hadn’t come.

“I didn’t steal from you,” I shouted at the dragon. My voice came out scratchy and weaker than I’d hoped.

The dragon dropped its snout closer to me and tucked its wings. I reached for my sword, but the animal trapped it with a massive, clawed foot. I clutched my hand back to my chest and attempted to scramble away from the enormous creature.

“What do you want?” I screamed. “I don’t have the stone. I don’t have anything!”

But the dragon wasn’t listening. It was filling its lungs with frigid air. I assumed by the depth of its inhale that its fire had replenished. I was too close. There was nowhere to go.

As it opened its mouth, Tomas hurled his sword, drawing the beast’s attention at the last second.

Flames burst from its mouth, and a scream tore from my throat. The fire blasted against the wall and arced over my head. The heat was so intense that I was thrown backward. My ribs ached from slapping the rock, but I tucked my hands over my head and curled my body into a ball where I’d fallen. The fire sputtered out and wingbeats signaled the animal was in flight. The smell of singed hair filled my nostrils, and the backs of my hands burned violently.

My mind slipped. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t hold on.

The world eased out of my grip.

30

Casimiro

“Where is she?” I bellowed as my feet slammed down in front of Alba.

My sister stood among the crowd of mingling fae sipping from wine goblets beside the open windows of the old castle. Magic buzzed in my ears, in the faces of those present, in the wine, in the air. And nowhere in this palace could I sense Zara’s presence. My magic couldn’t feel her.

Alba looked up from her sparkling goblet but said nothing.

“Tell me what happened.”

Her eyes flashed with concern. “Not here.”

Leaning into her space, I growled at her ear, “Tell menow.”

Alba’s breathing quickened as all the eyes in the room watched us. I didn’t care. Didn’t want to waste a heartbeat on what they thought.

“She’s alive,” Alba whispered a second before she vanished.

I stormed through the crowd into the empty atrium of the castle, where Alba stood against the far wall. She was young, but she had inherited my father’s magic, which made her powerfuland fast. A barrier surrounded her that only I could sense—a concealment spell.

My gaze snapped to my sister’s face. “Where?” In a breath, I crossed the distance, undeterred by the magic that would keep her unseen and unheard by the rest of my court—a perk of also inheriting our father’s abilities. “Where, Alba?” The fact that I couldn’t sense Zara’s presence meant only one thing—she’d been burned by dragon fire. A fire of my own kindled in my blood.

“Cas,” she hissed. “Look at your arms.”

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