Page 1 of House of Embers
Chapter One
The Throne
This was the wrong dress to take down an empire.
But it would have to do.
Kerrigan’s emerald eyes were haunted as she stared at her wan expression in the trifold mirror. She was under a mountain again. Inside the House of Shadows. Safe. For now. She should have felt confident, ready, anything other than the melancholy that had descended as she stepped inside Ravinia Mountain in preparation for Fordham Ollivier to reclaim his throne.
“You look like you’re going to your death,” Darby said as she stuck another pin in Kerrigan’s bright red hair in an attempt to control the unruly waves.
Kerrigan forced a smile for her oldest friend in the world. “It’s been a long day.”
Darby met her eyes in the mirror. “A long year.”
She looked like she wanted to say more. Like she wanted more than the barest explanation of what had happened to Kerrigan in the land of the gods, but Kerrigan didn’t feel ready for that. Her mission was most important. She’d deal with everything else later.
“This is step one,” Darby reminded her. She reached for anotherpin on the vanity, her onyx skin highlighted in the flickering candlelight. “You just have to survive today, and then you can go back to beating people up.”
That earned a real laugh from Kerrigan. “I don’t want to just beat people up.”
“Don’t you?”
Kerrigan grinned. “Maybe a little.”
She had turned to politics to fight for the humans and half-Fae who didn’t have anyone to fight for them. But she was not a natural at it. She had always preferred to let her fists and magic talk for her. It would be better to leave the rest of that to Fordham.
Soon she’d be on her dragon’s back again, flying into battle. Soon, but not yet.
“I think that’s it,” Darby said as she shoved in a final pin.
Kerrigan twirled in a circle, feeling the black-and-silver silk slide around her legs. The dress had been prepared for her the last time she was in the House of Shadows. Since there had been no forewarning about their arrival, she’d had to make do with what was available. Namely an out-of-date dress with a corset that pushed her breasts up nearly to her chin and poofy layers that extended past her hips. It wouldn’t have been her choice, and she definitely couldn’t fight in it.
“You look ridiculous.” Clover appeared from the balcony, dressed down in pants and a fitted tunic. She took a draw on her cigarette as she eyed Kerrigan’s dress with skepticism.
Kerrigan turned to her friend. “Tell me about it.”
“Don’t smoke that in here!” Darby said as she headed for her girlfriend.
“Loch isn’t even illegal here,” Clover said as she puffed a circle of it into Darby’s face.
Darby waved her hand in front of her face. “But we’re in short supply.”
Clover frowned at that. She had a chronic illness with debilitatingpain, and the only thing that had ever helped had been the illicit substance. Now that they were out of the city, it was going to be hard to get more.
“Don’t fight,” Hadrian called from the balcony.
“She’s decent,” Clover said on a relieved exhale. “You can come in.”
Hadrian appeared then. His light brown skin was nearly the same color as Clover’s, but it was the blue of his hair that made him stand out. He wrinkled his nose at Kerrigan when he walked in.
Hadrian shrugged. “You look…” His hands widened. “Uh…classy?”
“I know. I know,” she said to the trio. “It’s not the best dress.”
“They’ll like it though,” Darby said, folding into Clover’s arm. Hadrian wrapped an arm around Clover’s shoulders.
The trio still baffled Kerrigan at times. In some ways, it made perfect sense. Darby and Clover had always had a thing for each other. Hadrian and Clover had always been at each other’s throats. The fact that it worked for them to be together was amazing, and Kerrigan was happy for them.
