Chapter 2
Charcoal coated my fingertips as I crouched to the ground, brushing pebbles and dirt away from my specimen.
Squinting, I tried to make out the color of the sheen glinting in the pale sunlight shimmering through the cavern ceiling.
Underneath the rocks was a gemstone, but I couldn’t tell what mineral it was.
I brought my free hand to the amber necklace at my throat. Immediately, the voice of Azure, my dragon, resonated in my head.
“Another quartz, perhaps?”
I shook my head. “No, this is too dark.”
“There are darker forms of quartz.”
My mouth twisted as I tried to dig my fingernails further into the rocks, but they wouldn’t budge. “Damn it. I can’t get to it.”
“Mind if I try? My talons are much sharper than your frail human claws.”
I rolled my eyes. “They aren’t claws. If they were , you can bet they’d be sharper.”
Azure’s long, serpentine form appeared by my side, her pale blue scales glinting in the faint light. Her talons scraped against the rocks on the ground, making a loud crackling sound.
“Step aside, feeble human.” The humor in Azure’s voice drew a smile from my lips despite her teasing.
This was a frequent debate between us: which of us was the superior species?
Azure argued that with her wings, size, and talons, she was clearly stronger.
But with my royal connections, fae magic, and wit, I claimed I could best her.
So far, neither of us had won the argument. But, as I watched her sharp talons effortlessly cut through the impenetrable rock, I had to concede she had bested me this round.
I crossed my arms and clicked my tongue. “Stones, you are such a show-off.”
Azure let out a low huff, which I interpreted as a chuckle. Sometimes, even when I wasn’t touching the amber stone at my throat, she could still understand me. Perhaps it was the tone of my voice. Or perhaps it was because she knew me so well.
Ordinarily, my fae magic could only work when I was directly touching the gemstone that granted me power. In this case, the amber stone was the only way I could communicate with my dragon. She wore a collar with a matching amber stone embedded in it.
But sometimes I wondered how much we actually needed the amber at all. I had a feeling that, if I lost my supply of amber, we would still be able to read each other quite well.
Azure let out a low rumbling sound, and I immediately pressed a hand to my amber necklace.
“Interesting,” she mused. “It looks like a dark form of quartz, but I can tell it’s something different. It’s a stone I’ve never encountered before.”
My eyes flared wide at that. Azure was the only being I knew who was more familiar with gemstones than I was.
It was what originally brought us together.
As a child, I found her wandering our deepest caves in search of the same minerals I was looking for.
When we both stumbled upon a trove of amber embedded into the cavern walls, we thought it was a sign from Fate, guiding us toward a lifetime of companionship .
I frowned, waiting for the dust to settle from her digging.
“It does look like black quartz,” I said. “You’re sure it’s not?”
“I am quite sure.” Her tone was haughty, as though offended that I even asked.
With a chuckle, I stretched a dirt-crusted hand to run the pad of my thumb over the rocks surrounding the gem, careful not to let my fingers touch the black stone.
Then I glanced at the geology reference book lying open a few feet away.
The worn leather tome had been our most useful resource guide during our explorations. “Onyx perhaps?”
“I have encountered onyx before as well. It does not smell like this.”
“What does this one smell like to you?” I asked. As a dragon, Azure had access to sharpened senses that I could only dream of. Even if I were full-blooded fae instead of half human, my fae senses still would have paled in comparison.
Azure’s wide nostrils flared, and her eyes closed. Another low hum escaped her snout. “Shadows and poison.”
I jerked my hand back as if the rocks had burned me. “Shit.”
“Relax, human. If it were dangerous, I would know.”
“Oh, really?” I challenged, climbing to my feet and backing away from the stone. “You just said you had never encountered it before. How are you supposed to know if it’s dangerous or not?”
“I can smell the magic on it. The Blue Amethyst blood within me calls to enchantments. This one is harmless.”
Despite her words, a chill skittered down my body, and I rubbed my arms. “I don’t want to risk it. Anything connected to those dark shadows is asking for trouble. Come on, we should leave.”
I turned to the cave entrance, but Azure didn’t move.
Pausing, I glanced over my shoulder. “Az?”
“Do you know how rare it is for me to see a stone like this?” she asked. “I would like to keep this one. ”
I swallowed hard. My skin pebbled from the cool cave air, and my heart was racing. “I’m not touching that stone.”
Azure snorted, twisting her large blue head around to look at me through half-lidded eyes. “Coward.”
I lifted my chin, offended. “I am not a coward. I’m just… being cautious.”
“Aren’t you meant to go to the Shadow Court soon? What are you so afraid of? Before long, you’ll be surrounded by those toxic shadows anyway.”
I closed my eyes, and bile crept up my throat. “Don’t remind me.”
“Sybelle.”
At the sound of my name, my eyes opened and fixed on hers. They gleamed with understanding and sympathy, erasing all signs of her earlier teasing.
“You have a plan, remember?” she said. “You will not be alone in that horrible place. I promise you.”
I nodded. “I know. I’m not afraid. Well, I’m afraid of the shadows I cannot control. But I’m not afraid of the Wraith King.”
Azure tilted her head, studying me. “What if this stone provides a way to control the shadows?”
I chewed on the inside of my lip, considering this.
I had encountered dangerous gemstones before: an explosive form of tanzanite and a rare moon garnet, both of which had emitted a shocking burst of electricity that nearly burned my hair off.
With my abilities, I knew danger was a risk anytime I unearthed a new jewel.
“What if it brings the shadows closer?” I whispered, tucking a lock of chestnut hair behind my ear.
The Wraith King’s shadows were already on our doorstep.
Father had increased the patrol and the watchmen, ordering them to alert him the moment the shadows crossed our borders.
They could already be seen from our watchtowers, and the eerie mist was ever so slowly creeping closer every day.
Every generation, a princess from the royal family was given to the Wraith King to marry. After the arrangement, the shadows always receded some, as if our gift of a human bride appeased him and he felt merciful enough to withdraw his shadows.
No one knew why the Wraith King hadn’t come for his bride yet. From what I’d heard, the shadows had never gotten this close before.
“Place it in the amethyst bag,” Azure suggested. “I can dig it out the rest of the way, and if you can capture it inside the bag without touching it, you’ll be safe.”
My heart lurched. The bag—or rather, pouch—was made from Azure’s steely blue scales, which warded it from any magical influence. Once a gem was inside the bag, I couldn’t use it to fuel my powers.
I set down my pack and dug through it until I found the tiny blue drawstring bag. Azure got to work digging the stone out. I slid the bag open, and when she nudged the loose gem with her talon, it rolled into the bag. I sealed it shut.
“Nice work,” I told her.
“You will let me study that later, right?”
Half my mouth quirked into a smile as I slid the bag into my pack and shouldered it. “We’ll see.”
Terrona Castle was nestled in a large cavity between two jagged mountains. As a child, I had grown up yearning for the dreamy princess castles I’d read about in fairy tales, with lush fields, sparkling rivers, and ornate metal towers that gleamed in the sunlight.
Our palace was forged from the strongest steel in the realm. Its square structure looked more like a gloomy fortress than a castle. It was built for practicality, not beauty. The impenetrable metal not only blended in with the rocky surroundings, but it also protected us from invaders.
Unfortunately, nothing could protect against the Wraith King’s shadows.
But Father often reminded me that we were lucky we only had one enemy to face: the Shadow Court.
Other courts were often at odds with two or three kingdoms at a time.
And, since our court was populated mostly by humans, it made us an easy target.
I wasn’t so sure, though. Perhaps it was our impressive fortress that frightened other kingdoms away, but I had a sneaking suspicion most of them were wary of our close proximity to the Shadow Court.
If I lived in a different court, I certainly wouldn’t be eager to seize a kingdom soon to be overtaken by deadly shadows. It would seem like a lost cause.
Azure and I navigated our way out of the tunnels, using her claw marks on the cavern walls as a guide. Over the years, we had explored so many places that it was easy to get lost along the way.
When we reached the mouth of the cave that opened up to the winding pebbled path leading to the castle, I turned to Azure and brushed my hand along her lengthy snout. I pressed my fingers to my amber necklace and whispered, “Be safe. You know how to reach me.”
“Can I take that black stone with me?”
I snorted. “Not a chance. I want to be there when you experiment with it. Let me do some research first, to see if I can dig up any information about it.”
Azure huffed in dismay. “You wanted nothing to do with it earlier.”