Page 107 of The Fifth Heir

The four heirs had spread through the common room without discussion—Torren at my right, Leander behind the table, Rafe near the outer door, and Sebastian guarding the study entrance. They left Malcolm an unobstructed path to me while making it impossible for him to forget I was not alone.

I pushed back my sleeve.

The scale remained invisible.

“It’s here,” I said, pointing near the pulse at my wrist. “Sebastian noticed it under concentrated rune light.”

Malcolm approached. “When did it appear?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did you examine the area after the assessment?”

“No.”

“After the Trial?”

“The healer checked my hands and shoulder.”

“Not your wrist?”

“I don’t remember.”

The senior healer joined us. She was the same woman who had examined me outside the mountain. Her gray-streaked hair had been braided tightly against her head, and a leather case hung from one shoulder.

“I inspected both arms for burns,” she said. “There was no visible scale.”

“It isn’t visible now,” Torren said.

The healer opened her case and removed a small light crystal.

“May I examine your arm?”

“Yes.”

She placed one hand beneath my wrist and directed the crystal over it. White light moved slowly across my skin.

The scale appeared.

Color spread over the healer’s fingers.

She stopped breathing for a moment.

Malcolm leaned closer. “Increase the light.”

The healer did.

The scale became easier to distinguish but remained completely transparent. Its curved surface split the white beam into several thin bands that traveled up my forearm.

The headmaster watched from the other side of the table.

“Is it dragon scale?” he asked.

“It has the structure of one.” The healer shifted the light. “The edge is rooted beneath the epidermal layer. There is no wound, foreign material, or sign that it was attached externally.”

“Could the torc have produced it?” Malcolm asked.

“I cannot determine cause from a single scale.”