Page 61 of The Shadow Heir

Finally, I drew up the courage to ask one: “If you’re the heir, can’t you change what you want to?”

A quiet scoff escaped his lips. “Have a good evening, señorita Valencia.” He offered a quick bow and walked back toward the dining cavern, leaving me shaking and confused and unable to dismiss the feeling of his thumb against my shoulder.

26

Zara

After leaving the dining cavern, I’d returned to the bath chamber to wash off the wine and the humiliation, and had sat in the hot water for so long that my fingers turned to wrinkled little raisins and the place where Cas had touched my shoulder had burned from how hard I’d scrubbed it.

But no amount of scrubbing could erase the memory of his touch.

I skipped the final meal of the night, and after an hour of attempting to fall asleep, gave up and got back out of bed. As I took the dress offered by the wardrobe, I reimagined, for the hundredth time, Casimiro’s face as he’d walked toward me in the dining cavern. The way my heart had surged at his appearance. The way he’d held me upright until I could stand on my own. None of it made any sense. None of it fit into my plan to hate him endlessly.

The silver dress slipped over my head, and I felt as if I’d stepped into a cool spring. I ran my hands over the fine material, white pearls exquisitely sewn in a pattern across my chest that mimicked the sparkling light on a windswept pool.The immortals did appreciate the finer things in life, at least—anything to push back the relentless boredom of their long lives. Today’s dress covered the spot of raw skin on my shoulder, for which I was grateful.

I glanced at the place I’d stored the ruby as I’d slept. The vacant place on the armoire’s lone shelf reminded me I was without his protection now. I’d have to find the information he sought and return his favor of saving me. Then, I’d be free to forget about him. Which was what I needed to do. But as I left my room without his ruby, I felt a small twist of trepidation. The ruby’s presence had allowed me to face the halls of Nightsong without fear.

I stole from my room on quiet feet, smiling at the blinding sunlight that glistened on the newly fallen snow outside the floor-to-ceiling windows. One floor below, a waterfall thundered with the sound of constant escape. The water had the privilege of leaving this place, every second of every day. Every time I saw the water fleeing this wretched mountain, it fueled my hope that I, too, might find a way out.

The halls were quiet, as usual during daylight hours, though a few servants shuffled here and there, carrying folded garments, pitchers, or a look of profound purpose. They never so much as glanced at me, but their chins lifted as I passed.

The shock of Adán’s death had caused a more pointed silence among the mortals here, but I wouldn’t let another day go by without attempting to uncover the secrets of the poisonings.

I nodded at a white-clad servant carrying a small stack of books and heading, I assumed, toward the library, a room I’d discovered during my exploration of the palace. The servant, a tall, thin man with tattoos up both arms, cut his eyes vaguely in my direction, but they never landed on me. He hurried around the corner, and I was left staring at an empty hall.

“Wait,” I said, hurrying toward him.

He kept walking.

“Do you know where I can find Malik?” I called after him. I hadn’t seen the man I’d met that first night in several days.

The servant paused and glanced back at me. “Malik was sent through a doorway the night of the full moon. Hasn’t returned.” The man spoke in thickly accented Avencian.

“Sent through a doorway? A magical one? Was he allowed to return home?”

He frowned at me, shifting the stack of books in his arms. “You are the newest one, yes?” The man shook his head. “Second-newest. The heir brought back another one last night.”

“He did?”

“Yes. He chose to serve,” said the man with an air of pride. “But as to Malik, I suppose you are still new enough to know the fae sometimes bring humans through the doorways with them to help with their nightly raids in the mortal lands.”

A disturbed frown tugged at my lips. “Nightly raids?”

Now the man’s expression drooped in annoyance. “The fae plague the mortal lands at night. You know this much, yes?”

I nodded.

“They take us with them sometimes, because they need mortal puppets, as they like to call us. And sometimes, we don’t return.”

“That’s awful,” I whispered, feeling the loss of the kind servant like a stone dropped in my gut. “This place is a nightmare.”

The servant’s lips tightened. “You haven’t been here for one of their equinox nights.”

I shrugged. “No.” It was late summer, so the fall equinox wasn’t for several weeks.

“They are worse than the full moons. But I suppose you may not live long enough to see one.” He turned to continue walking.

“Wait,” I said again, not wanting him to leave without a useful piece of information. “I know the servants are being poisoned.” The man’s steps halted again, but he didn’t look back at me.Recalling Cas’s words about the mortals being coerced not to speak of the topic, I said, “You don’t have to say anything. I only wanted to ask if it’s happened to you.” Cas had said the ones who’d been poisoned didn’t know who was behind it.

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