Page 93 of The Shadow Heir

There was no sign of the Shadow King. Our plan to distract him with the dragon had failed.

I’d led Cas astray, and now he was dead. My heart constricted until I thought it might stop beating.

I jumped as the honey-colored dragon blasted from the windows of the great hall and swooped out into the night, quickly circling back toward the open courtyard.

Remembering the way the pale dragon had taken an interest in my noisy shoes, I curled my fingers over my head into the starting position of a dance. Maybe it would work a second time. The blue dragon’s nostrils flared. It beat its wings two more times before settling down onto the stone.

Without knowing what else to do, I stomped my heels in quick succession and launched into the moves of the dance I knew best. It was the dance I’d performed the night Cas had stolen me away. When I thought he was no more than a murderer with no heart at all.

My breaths came faster and faster, but somehow my muscles relaxed as I moved through the steps, stomping and twirling with singular determination to reach Cas where he lay. I added in claps where I usually clicked my castanets. At each stomp of my heel, the dragons settled, one after another, until a dozen of them were perched on the stones around me. Not one of them attacked. I spun, the massive skirt of my red dress flaring out into the night, mimicking flames. With one final spin, I would reach Cas, but I had to move right past the golden dragon that had burned me. I swallowed my fear and pushed toward Cas.

The dragon scooted backward out of my way as I spun across the open space.

My blood pulsed in my veins in time with the stomping of my feet and the clapping of my shaking hands. The fear rushing through my body counteracted the cold air biting at my skin, but after several more turns, I lost myself to a violent shiver. Instantly, the dragons lurched toward me as I broke from the dance. I sucked in a gulp of air and kicked my foot out to enhance the spinning of my dress.

The nearest dragon cocked its head back as if pleased. These dangerous creatures were entirely different than I had imagined. They wanted to be entertained, much like the fae. I wondered how long they would be entertained by my dancing. It seemedthat the louder I stomped and the faster I twirled, the calmer they became. But if the king was watching he wouldn’t let me go on like this forever.

The end of the dance was drawing near, the final move only a spin away. I could immediately shift into another dance, but what if the dragons disliked my change in tempo? My arms were so cold, and my movements were slowing as my body fought against the frigid night air. I began the final spin, turning and turning, adding two more revolutions. The ruffles of my dress danced over Cas’s back and my foot came down right beside him, hands lifted overhead, as I threw myself backward into the final pose.

The dragon nearest me had crept closer as I’d spun across the space, and I flinched, preparing for his fire. But its serpentine head cocked sideways, as if waiting to see if I would keep dancing. Its eyes, those awful orange slits, peered down at me.

I fell to my knees, placing one hand on Cas’s chest. It was faintly rising and falling, and I could feel a slow heartbeat underneath his thin black shirt. The dragon’s long neck extended, until its head hovered before my chest, nostrils flaring as it sniffed me. I could barely take a breath.

Now that I was still, the cold air sunk into my skin and raced toward my heart. Cas’s arms were fully black up to where his sleeves bunched at his elbows.

I assumed I only had another breath or two before I would leave this world. I glanced down at Cas, wishing so badly that his eyes would open. But we were out of time. I bent over and pressed a kiss to his cold face. His mouth didn’t respond, and it felt like I was kissing a corpse. A tear dripped from my face onto his, and I smeared it away with my thumb.

The black lines from his curse crept slowly up his neck into his cheeks. I wished I could wipe them away with my fingers as Ihad my teardrop. As I frantically called to Cas, something scaly bumped my elbow and I screamed, toppling forward.

The dragon had nudged my elbow with its snout. Perhaps it was playing with its food, wanting more of a fight. Unable to control my rapid, ragged breathing, I shuffled over Cas and knelt at his other side, clutching his hand to my chest and staring into the face of the blue dragon. We would die together. Cas’s father was right—love would be our end.

I pressed a kiss to Cas’s cold, black hand and trembled as the dragon’s claws clicked the stone so close I could reach out and touch them. Three more dragons were creeping closer now. I smelled smoke on the wind, as one of them was gathering fire in its belly.

Maybe Cas wouldn’t feel a thing when the fire consumed us. I just wished I had been able to tell him how I felt before the end.

Staring up at the enormous blue dragon, I blinked away the tears blurring my vision and lifted my chin. From somewhere in the shadows, I heard the distinct ring of a sword being drawn from a scabbard. The king must be disappointed that we hadn’t already been torn apart by the dragons. He was prepared to finish the job.

The dragon heard the sound as well and snapped its long face toward the glint of steel in the darkness. The animal—whether male or female, I couldn’t tell—inhaled deeply, a rattle sounding in its massive chest. It released a quick burst of flame in the direction of the shadows, and Rykar’s face glowed orange from where he hid. The flames didn’t reach him, however, as if the dragon had merely been issuing a warning to say stay back. We were its meal, and it wasn’t planning to share. I yelped as the warmth from the flames washed over my body.

The dragon returned its attention to me and Cas.

But the Shadow King was not taking orders from a dragon. He shifted into his dark winged form and stepped across thestones toward us, sword in hand. Several dragons rose on their hind legs, their wings extending and their bellies expanding. The dragon that had been watching us extended one wing over us, its leathery membrane touching the top of my head and arcing down to rest against the stone on the other side of Cas’s feet. Was this dragonprotectingus? Surely it was only protecting its food, the way a wolf might protect its kill from another predator.

I didn’t like the thought of becoming a dragon’s next meal. I figured being flamed to death would be a quicker way to die than being ripped to pieces by fangs.

The king’s guards followed their sovereign out into the night, loosing small arrows toward the dragons. The weapons must have stung as they found their marks, for the dragons attacked. One dragon emitted a stream of flames that stretched across the entire platform. In the light of its blue-white flames, shadowy fae darted away, several screaming in pain. It seemed that dragon fire could even harm a fae in shadow form.

I clutched Cas’s arm tighter to my chest, as if his presence could keep me safe from the flames and the battle raging around us. The dragon with its wing over us spun around, its tail knocking into my shoulder. I sailed backward and barely caught myself before my head hit the stone. I flattened myself on the ground next to Cas, pulling his head against my chest.

One shadow landed on the platform beside us. As he walked slowly toward us, I recognized Rykar, with his broad chest and dark sword, the point aimed at the ground.

I clung to Cas, pressing my eyes shut as the sword rose over my head. This was it. My plan had failed.

At the sound of the blade clattering to the ground, my eyes popped open. The blue dragon had snatched the Shadow King from the platform and tossed him in the air, catching him in her open jaws. I covered a gasp with the hand not wrapped around Cas.

Whatever magic the king was performing, the dragon must not have liked the taste, for it spit the king violently onto the stones. For a second, he lay there in a cursing heap. Then, his shadowy form solidified, and the king stood to his feet, fully corporeal once again.

I felt the air shift with a pulse that shook the ground. The king lifted a finger toward the dragon that had protected us, and with a single flick of his wrist, the dragon dropped to the stones and didn’t move again, one wing crushed beneath its massive body.

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