Page 71 of The Shadow Heir

“Reckless is what I’m thinking right now.” He reached forward, and for a single panicked breath, I thought he might try to kiss me.

I squeezed my eyes shut and for some unearthly reason didn’t try to stop him.

Then I peeked one eye open. He was standing right beside my shoulder, his arm extended to the now open door. Black lines stretched up his wrists toward his elbow and pain stood out in his clenched jaw.

“What is that?” I whispered, nearly touching his arm, before I caught myself and clasped my hands behind my back.

“My recklessness,” he answered, his tone gruffer than it had been a moment ago. “I need you to leave now.” His face was close, and his breath hit my neck in a way that made me almost forget I was supposed to hate this man.

I took a step backward, through the open door. “What am I supposed to do about the dragons?”

He lifted his arm, where the veins stood out like dark ropes against his skin. “This trial was meant to be simple. You’ll be given weapons to defend yourselves, and your skill is enough that most dragons wouldn’t bother you—they prefer easier game that doesn’t fight back. But I chose that before I knew the dragons would be angry. And like I said, they hold grudges.” His face tipped forward, and he stared at the ground. “You cannot let yourself get burned. I will find you a stone to repay them. Now leave. We are short on time.”

Then he shut the door and left me standing in the dim hallway, the only sound my slow exhale.

29

Zara

“Ivy!” I shouted across the hall as I spilled down the stone steps that emptied into the cramped hallway outside the small kitchen reserved for mortals to use in daylight hours, when fae were scarce. We’d agreed to eat in here before our trial instead of in the main dining cavern, with the bloodthirsty fae. Tins of dates and roasted nuts called to me, as did the smell of hot tea in Ivy’s mug, brewed with the eternally hot water emptying from a small hole in the rock into a carved basin.

My friend looked up from her tea and a half-wrapped pastry. “Mm,” she muttered, standing up from a small wooden table, her mouth full. “I waited for you,” she explained, “but—”

“Dragons,” I said, breathless from running through the halls. “We have to face dragons.”

A crumb fell from the side of her mouth as she stared with wide eyes.

“And the dragons are angry because someone’s been stealing from them.” I closed my eyes to try to settle my whirling thoughts. But every time I did so, Casimiro’s face flooded mymind’s eye. His name echoed in the back of my mind like a drumbeat.

“Zara?”

I opened my eyes.

“How did you find out?” asked Ivy.

My cheeks instantly heated. “I—Casimiro told me. I found Ariana—she was poisoned—and he healed her.”

Now Ivy’s eyes widened so far that white shone around her dark irises.

“But forget that. Do you have anything magical on you?”

“Magical?”

I withdrew the ruby. “Like this. A stone. Or a geas. Or a spell of some sort?”

As she stared at the stone, her expression fell. “So you do have one of those. The others were wondering about it after the last trial. Did he give that to you too?”

“I’m not taking it into the arena tonight. Dragons hate the smell of fae magic. I’ve already secured servants’ attire for all of us for the trial. I’m not going to risk wearing these enchanted clothes.”

Ivy’s head bobbed as she stared off to the left. “Not long after I arrived, a woman approached me offering me protection if I simply remained silent about the—about—” But Ivy’s tongue couldn’t seem to form the words. The muscles in her neck strained, and her cheeks reddened, so she quickly gave up, exhaling loudly as her shoulders drooped. “And I guess I can’t wash the enchantment off.”

“No. I suppose not.” We stared at each other for a long moment. “We’ll make it through this,” I said, grasping her shoulders. “We made it through the last one.”With the fae’s protection. This time, anyone with a fae’s magical protection would make us the dragons’ target. Casimiro had better returnwith a stone before the trial began, but even if he did, he was only bringing one stone. And there were five of us.

We were led out into the cold night an hour before dawn would break. The fae clearly didn’t think this trial would last long. Samuel had to assist Eudoria up the steep outdoor steps, her ankle still causing her pain. Each of us wore a servant’s white tunic, which had initially put a frown on Erik’s glamoured face as he’d assembled us, but then he merely laughed and said it would make us all the more visible to the dragons.

Great.

Even though Ivy and I had raced to the bathing chambers to attempt to dull the smell of magic on our skin—and, hopefully, so that I could wash off any lingering scents of Ariana—I didn’t know if scented soaps would do the trick.

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