Page 110 of House of Embers
“Do you think he has spies even among my people?”
“Probably.”
Kerrigan bit her lip. She didn’t want to think so, but maybe. “My spymaster is formidable but not infallible. It’s possible.”
Anya glanced out the open window that was letting the late fall chill in. “Well, at least you have a clear head about it. Explain the portals to me again.”
“Well, originally we were going to shadow-jump into the mountain, but as Alura pointed out, the mountain will be shielded.”
“Aren’t you so glad to have me inside?” Alura quipped, twisting her cane.
“Yes,” Kerrigan told her truthfully. They had Gerrond, but Alura was on the council. “So Fordham won’t be able to shadow-jump in or out.”
“Which is probably the reason Bastian is doing it,” Anya said.
“Probably,” Kerrigan agreed. “My portals don’t let me jump into mountains because of the tendrille.”
Anya considered that. “The magic dampening works at that distance?”
“Right. That’s our theory.”
“But you can jump out?”
“It works in Ravinia,” Kerrigan told her. “Fordham thinks because I’m opening the portal to a place without tendrille.”
“Interesting.” Anya glanced between Kerrigan and her daughter. “What about the portal in the mountain?”
“We thought about that,” Kerrigan said. It was how she and Fordham had jumped to Domara in the first place.
“It was destroyed,” Alura said. “Bastian had it taken down after Kerrigan left through it.”
“Oh,” Anya said with wide eyes. “I didn’t know itcouldbe destroyed.”
“I’d had a vision that it would be actually,” Kerrigan admitted. “So this doesn’t surprise me.”
“All right,” Anya said. “So the plan is…”
“You, Alura, and Sonali get us past the shields and inside. Fordham gets us into the vault. I jump us back out once we have the crown.”
“Hmm,” Anya said.
“If all goes well,” Kerrigan said.
“That’s a big if,” Anya said.
“Well, here’s our chance,” Alura said as the carriage rumbled up to the front of the mountain.
The carriage door opened, and Alura stepped down. She helped her mother down next, and then an attendant assisted Kerrigan out of the carriage. She took Anya’s arm with a vapid smile.
She followed them into Draco Mountain, the giant rock closing over her head as the shield was pulled down to let them through. She should have felt at home in her mountain, but it was the last thing on her mind.
She had made it inside. The first part of their plan had worked. Now the hard part started.
They navigated the halls of the mountain, following behind a line of attendees in similar dresses and masks, Fae males in suits and cravats and top hats. Chatter was both excited and terrified. She could hear it in the forced laughter and tittering conversation. No one was comfortable here.
Bastian had done this.
It made her even more confident that she would end it.
