Page 70 of The Shadow Heir

Only when we made eye contact over her quietly breathing form did I realize Casimiro’s fingers were overlapping mine in the tangle of Ariana’s hair.

I slid my hand out quickly, looking for somewhere to wipe the amber liquid.

Cas stood and offered me a cloth that I took without question. But as I rubbed away the yellow droplet, I noted the buttons and sleeves on the cloth he’d handed me. It was one of his wrinkled white shirts.

I tossed it back at him. He caught it against his chest, and for a moment neither of us spoke.

My heart was pounding, the only sound in the quiet room. I told myself the presence of the unconscious woman was making my pulse race, not the man staring at me.

“No one steals from the dragons without paying the price,” he said, tossing the shirt onto his chair. “They are miserly creatures, and they hold grudges. They can also smell magic, which is why my courtiers employ mortals to steal the stones from the dragon hoard. Whoever employed Ariana to steal this stone wanted you to find her—and the stone—and knew they would be asked directly about Ariana’s whereabouts during her absence.” He stroked his chin as he set the vial on his messy desk.

“But who would want that? Why keep Ariana silent, and why now, and why would they want me to discover her?” I pressed my hands to my tired eyes. Tomorrow was the next trial, and the reality weighed on my shoulders, my only comfort the small ruby in my pocket.

Cas sighed and propped himself on the edge of his desk. For the first time that I’d ever witnessed, his posture slumped ever so slightly. “Dragons never forget a thief’s scent, and in the same way they can smell our magic, they will now smell Ariana on you. I would have said this isn’t much of a problem, but…” His words trailed off and he ran a hand through his hair not once but twice. “But your next trial involves dragons.” His dark eyes met mine across the room, Ariana’s body a silent barrier between us. The reminder that death lurked everywhere here.

“Are you saying someoneframedme as a dragon thief right before a trial where I have to face dragons?”

Cas stood up. “That’s exactly what I’m saying, Zara. Someone who knows how I—someone who wants you dead.”

My eyes narrowed. “Don’t you all?” He’d left something unsaid, but I didn’t dare press him.

“Not all of us,” he said, pinning me with his gaze.

My cheeks flamed, and I looked down at Ariana. I needed to remember who he was, and where I was. Staring at the pale woman on the floor cooled the rising heat in my blood. “Can’t I just give the dragons their stone back?”

Cas shook his head, tossing a few long strands of hair into his face. “No, that stone has been depleted of its magic. Likely by whoever poisoned your servant.” At my confused scowl, he sighed and continued. “All gems have magic in them—natural magic—the kind infused into the worlds when they were first made. It has leeched out of most substances by now, but jewels can hold on to magic much longer than other natural objects. It is for this reason, not their beauty, that dragons hoard them.”

“Oh,” I said, utterly unschooled on the subject of dragons and their hoards.

“Gemstones are one of only a few items we fae can infuse with our magic, which is what makes them valuable to us, but it is their inherent power that is most valuable, for that is a kind of magic we cannot reproduce. That stone’s magic is gone now. The dragons won’t want it.” The heir shrugged. “You’ll have to give them another one.”

“I only have this one.” I withdrew the small ruby Cas had given me.

His lips turned down. “Not that one. They hate fae magic. They’ll only want one with inherent magic, and”—he ran a hand over his mouth—“we’ve mined all the gems from this mountain.There are none left here.” Cas stared at me with unblinking eyes long enough that I felt a burning desire to fidget.

Finally, I could stand his heavy gaze no longer. “What do the dragons do with the magic in the stones?” I asked, trying not to worry about the fact that in a matter of hours I’d be facing the very dragons that thought I’d stolen from them.

He let out a low chuckle. “They don’t do anything with it. They just keep the magic from everyone else. Dragons are not sentient in the way we are, but they are some of the smartest creatures that exist. To them, a jewel full of magic is to be protected from those they do not trust. Over the millennia, dragons have learned not to trust any creatures but themselves.”

“Have you really never tried to earn their trust?”

Cas laughed again and looked up, giving me ample opportunity to stare at his stubbly jaw. “When they torch anyone who smells of fae magic, it’s rather hard to do that.”

“Don’t some of youridedragons?” I’d seen the fae flying from the mountain on the backs of the beasts.

Cas nodded. “The ones we steal as eggs, we cut the nerve that serves their fire ducts. They can’t breathe fire at all.”

“Oh,” I said, grimacing at the thought.

“My kind likes power,” he said with a small shrug. “We don’t like knowing they have the ability to kill us.”

“Then why live here, in the dragons’ mountain?”

Cas stroked his chin as he answered. “My ancestors built the palace on top of this mountain long before this became our permanent home. Back then, all the worlds were still full of magic, and the dragons didn’t hoard jewels the way they do now. We shared the space peacefully for centuries. It wasn’t until the war between Shadow and Sun, the war that depleted much of the world’s inherent magic and forced my ancestors into endless darkness, that we moved inside the mountain and the dragons began stockpiling gems. We needed darkness, whichthe mountain provided, and the dragons wouldn’t abandon their home, stubborn creatures that they are. For a time, the shadow fae stole from the dragons, but if there’s one thing that can kill an immortal fae easier than a poison, it is dragon fire when it is infused with the magic of untapped stones.” Cas smirked at my look of shock. “When a dragon really wants to inflict harm, it will swallow a stone still full of inherent magic, and you don’t want to be around for the fire that results. Flames like that can burn through rock and bone.”

I tapped my fingers against my lips. “So you live incredibly close to the one thing most dangerous to you. Sounds a little reckless.”

Cas’s eyes flashed wide, and for a heartbeat I was afraid I’d offended him. Then he stepped over Ariana toward me. I walked backward until the door was close enough to touch.

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