Page 19 of The Shadow Heir

Zara

Ilooked first left, then right, and then down. Initially, I saw nothing but blackness. Then cool air bit my cheeks, and a light pulsed to life in a wide, dark hallway. Ahead, the heir strode down the hall away from me. His features had solidified and no longer appeared like writhing smoke. Shiny black walls, unbroken by a single window, surrounded me and a stairwell opened to my left and right, both reaching up.

Dizziness washed over me, and I stumbled sideways until my hand braced against the cold stone wall. Under my fingertips, small veins of a lighter colored stone streaked through the otherwise black walls.

Felipe strode around me and nodded at me. “Wasn’t so bad, was it?”

I scowled at him and wrapped my arms around my shoulders to fight off the chill sinking into my skin. I took a step forward, but Felipe held up a hand.

“Wait here. Someone will be around to fetch you.” He sounded annoyed, as his eyes scanned the hall and quickly flicked to the stairwells on either side, as if thissomeonewas late.

Without another word, the tall fae marched away, toward the prince’s retreating form. The two men exchanged a quiet word, and the prince tossed a single glance back at me.

For a long moment, he stared at me with a cold, shuttered expression. I stiffened under his gaze. Then, with a small huff, he said, loud enough for me to hear, “Let her try.”

To my horror, a shadowy figure separated from the prince’s frame, the same dark form I’d seen in my father’s ballroom. Thissecondprince sprouted wings from his back and vanished down the wide hallway, leaving me pinned to the wall with two hands clapped over my open mouth.

Casimiro, whatever part of him was still standing in the hall beside Felipe, chuckled at my reaction. Pushing aside his suit jacket, he shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled away down the long, dark hall. Felipe nodded once to me and spun to follow the prince.

My eyes cut to the stairwells, then behind me. A solid wall stood in place of the dark passage that had brought me from the mortal world. On the wall was a door-shaped etching, intricately carved with a pattern of trees that mirrored the pines I’d just walked through. The stone was cold when my fingers touched it, tracing the lines of the forest.

I backed away, and without a second thought, I charged up the stairwell to my right. If they thought I would wait patiently in this cold, creepy hall, they were wrong.

The arched ceiling above the stairs echoed my footsteps back to me. A light, pale and almost entirely white, glowed to life atop a wall sconce as I climbed. At the top of the steps, I glanced right and left down another long, pitch-black hall. Across from me, illuminated by the light from the stairwell, was another carving in the stone wall.

This one depicted a massive dragon, talons out like an eagle about to snatch a fish. But instead of a fish, this dragon was about to grab a lone figure with an upraised sword.

A shiver shook my body. If the Wild Hunt was real, then dragons might as well be real too. I only hoped I never had to encounter one.

Fast footsteps behind me startled me so forcefully that I jumped, nearly toppling down the steps. A man wearing white hurried up the stairs toward me. He had a shaved head, putting his rounded mortal ears in full view. A dark shadow of a beard hugged his chin, and he wore a long tunic that fell to his knees with white pants beneath it. The neckline of the tunic was sewn with a dark purple thread. A metal cuff on his wrist partly shone under his long sleeve.

When he reached the top of the steps, he took a breath before he said, “Don’t run off like that. You’ll only anger them.”

I glanced back at the bottom of the steps. “The fae? They already told me they plan to kill me. I’m not sure how angering them makes any difference.”

The man ran a hand down his face and blew out a frustrated breath. “I’m Malik. And believe me, angering the fae will make things so much worse. And not just for you, but for us as well.”

My brows lifted. “Us?”

The man’s lips pinched before he spat, “The servants. Those who chose not to entertain.”

“Are there many mortals here?” Somehow, knowing there were others like me here, othersnotdestined to die, brought a wave of comfort, despite the fact that he’d called them servants.

Malik’s frown deepened. “Yes. Now, come. I’m to prepare you for your first trial.”

“Now?”

He nodded. “Those who choose to entertain complete their first trial the night they arrive. And the fae care deeply about their entertainment.”

The way he said the last word sent a chill down my arms.

I swallowed. “What kind of trial?”

The man’s honey-colored eyes narrowed as he looked me up and down. “I’m not certain. But I do know that the mortal games, as the fae call them, are designed to kill you.” At my gaping mouth, he added, “Welcome to the Shadow Court.”

All the air in my lungs whooshed out. Casimiro had warned me of my imminent death. But he’d also told me I only had to survive for one year. How hard could it be?

I lifted my chin. “I’m not dying tonight. Now, tell me where we are. We’re not in Avencia anymore, though I was just there a moment ago.”

---