Page 69 of The Shadow Heir

Cas shook his head. “She can’t be in the dragon’s lair. Nor in the tunnels that lead to it. I’ve had people in and out of there this week, in preparation for—never mind. Take me to her.”

We hurried down the hall, then down three flights of stairs, and finally arrived at the library’s entrance. Ariana lay where I’d left her, still and pale as death. Her freckled skin had a blueish hue that made my stomach roil.

Cas dropped to his knees and carefully scooped her into his arms.

I reached forward to support her head as he adjusted her weight. Her neck was so limp.

Cas met my gaze. “She’s in a suspended state. It is a poison.”

“Do—do you have the antidote?”

“I do.”

He moved up the steps as easily as if he carried a stack of papers rather than a limp woman. I was breathing harder than he was by the time we returned to his quarters.

My eyes lingered on Ariana as he set her gently on the floor, though I recalled having come through here after my attempted escape.

Cas stepped over Ariana and sat down at the desk, pulling a book onto his lap and resting his chin in two fingers as he pored over the contents.

I opened my mouth. “Is she…going to die?” That was the only thing that mattered right now.

He tilted his head back and forth as if considering how to answer. “Not if I administer the right antidote,” he said.

“Then help her!” I shouted, pointing forcefully at Ariana.

“I need to check the quantity,” he replied. “Magical antidotes can kill as easily as poisons if administered incorrectly.” He dropped his fist and the book on his desk. “I’ve personally never seen this poison employed, as it is useless on fae. But the remedy will be in here.” He pulled the book back onto his lap.

My brow pinched. “If it’s useless on the fae, why did they use it? I thought the poisoner was trying to uncover whatyoucouldn’t heal.”

He shot me a sideways glance then returned to flipping through his book. “Why, indeed. It seems this time, the poison was meant to keep this woman out of the way. Had she spoken to you about anyone involved?”

I shook my head, though Cas wasn’t looking at me. “No. She showed me the secret passage, and that was all. Or at least, she showed me where it was, but it took me a while to work out how to open it.”

Cas tapped the page before him, then stood and strode to his shelf. “So, whoever did this assumed she wasaboutto reveal a secret.”

“Why not just kill her then?” I said, staring down at Ariana’s lifeless face.

“Good question. Humans who betray fae do usually end up dead.” He pulled a vial from the top shelf and calmly moved to kneel once more beside Ariana.

I dropped to my knees on the other side of her. “They wanted me to find her,” I said. When Cas flicked his eyes at me, I continued. “They knew she’d led me to the door, they likely knew I was trying to open it, and for some reason, they wanted me to find her like this.”

Cas ran his hand down Ariana’s front and side.

“What are you doing?”

“I think I know why someone left her like this.” His hand paused at Ariana’s right hip. He felt through the folds of her skirt at her waist, but before I could shout at him to get his hands off her, he withdrew a small yellow gemstone, cloudy and uncut. He held it up. “Someone is stealing from the dragons. This stone was hidden by a masterful concealment spell, which only a few fae can detect. Even my own magic didn’t sense it, but I suspected a stone would be on her somewhere. Whoever left her like this wanted this stone to be foundby a human, and they wanted Ariana to still be alive when it was discovered.”

“Why? Why not just put the stone somewhere easy to find?”

“Because then anyone could find it, and I believe whoever did this wantedyouto find it.” He popped the cork off the vial with his teeth.

I clumsily lifted Ariana’s head with one hand and tipped her chin up to open her mouth.

As Cas brought the vial to her mouth, he said, “No one here but you would care enough about this woman to hunt her down after a disappearance, even one so sloppily masked by a feigned illness. Fae can’t lie about what happened to her, so by administering this particular poison, she was technically only made ill. And only a few fae know you well enough to know you would do this.”

He poured the antidote into her mouth, his hand slipping into her matted hair, as if he’d performed this same motion many times. I pressed her jaw closed with my free hand and held my breath. I wiped a stray drop of elixir from the side of her face.

“She will live,” he said, setting the vial on the floor and easing the servant’s head back to the rug beneath her.

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