Shareen stopped smiling, crossing her arms.
“Not as we expected, unfortunately. Someone took it before us.”
Kairen’s anger on his face scared even Cassandra, who had no idea what was going on. She slowly stepped aside, as Krai kept nudging her with its head, growling softly, repeatedly asking for her attention.
“Who?” asked her Prince, not hiding his anger.
“Not one of our siblings. Vrehan was furious and Sephir had no idea. Anour even tried to help me retrieve it, but someone else got into the vault first. They left a clue though.”
She stepped to him and gave him a little diamond. Kairen’s anger seemed to calm down, as Shareen smiled.
“Bitchy as ever, isn’t she?”
“Better her than anyone else.”
Cassandra, who couldn’t take it anymore, stepped forward again, glancing at the little diamond in Kairen’s hand.
“My Lord, could you tell me what’s going on? Something was stolen? From the Emperor’s vault?”
“It doesn’t belong to our father, but to you, sweetie.”
“To me?”
Cassandra was confused. Why would something of hers ever be in the Emperor’s vault in the first place? She had no idea what was going on. Shareen smirked and stepped closer to her with a cunning expression.
“You don’t know, do you, sweetie? What’s in our Imperial Father’s vault?”
Cassandra shook her head, a bit lost. Behind her, Krai growled at Shareen, annoyed, but the Princess ignored it, playing with a strand of Cassandra’s hair around her finger.
“Our Imperial Father keeps everything in a very secret place, especially everything about dragons. That vault is kept by Glahad, our father’s dragon, because it’s connected to the Dragon’s Nest.”
“A nest?”
“This Empire’s most precious things are Imperial Dragons,” continued Shareen, “and their eggs. When a dragon is ready to have its egg, it goes to the nest, lays its egg, and protects it. So our father always knows when another dragon will be born.”
Cassandra was completely astonished. She had no idea. She turned to Krai, putting the pieces together.
“You’re saying… Krai went back to the Palace to …”
“Lay an egg,” said Kairen.
She was starting to understand, looking at the black dragon. But, dragons were linked to Imperial Family members? So, Krai laying an egg meant…
“Congrats,” said Shareen with that little smirk of hers. “You’re having my brother’s brat.”
Cassandra was floored. She was pregnant? With her Prince’s baby? And Krai having an egg was proof of that? She turned to the dragon, which was still acting all clingy, asking for scratches from her. Kairen was still frowning though.
“But…What happened to Krai’s egg, then?” she asked, worried.
“Somebody stole it before I got there,” explained Shareen. “Once an egg appears, it becomes a race to see who will get to it first.”
“Why would someone steal an egg?” asked Cassandra, confused.
“To try and destroy it,” explained Kairen. “If our son’s dragon is killed, he won’t be acknowledged as an heir to the throne.”
“No one wants Kairen to have an heir. Everyone knows Father would pick him as the next Emperor right away,” sighed Shareen. “So, as soon as Krai had it, it was obvious everyone would try to get that egg. Someone got there before me though.”
Cassandra glanced at the diamond. Who then? And what did they want with it?
