Page 91 of House of Embers
She stared down at her blood-soaked hands as she stepped into the Father’s office and waited as silent as a wraith. She wished she could blend into the background and be forgotten, to no longer have to endure this.
“I do not care to hear more of your failure,” the Father snarled at his prodigy.
Roake clenched his jaw. “They kidnapped her. Audria is gone with the dragon speaker, and we’re not even doing anything to rescue her.”
“She is collateral damage at best,” the Father told him blandly. “She had already turned against us. I am not even convinced that it was a kidnapping. It seems more likely that she was already working with Kerrigan as I feared.”
Roake’s features turned furious, but there was a hitch in his voice as he said, “She would never.”
“You trained with them,” the Father said as he rose to his considerable height. Roake had been a Dragon Eggs champion before joining the Society, and still somehow the Father made him look small. “You know her allegiance to the girl. She foughtagainstus. The fact that I allowed your feelings for her to supersede the mission was a mistake.”
“I believe we can still extract her.”
“Why do you believe that? They have the dragon speaker. Do you not think they have discerned my plans and are on the way to the Holy Mountain already? It was too late to intercept them after you returned. I have sent another emissary to the mountain to see if we can still acquire more dragons, but if I know Kerrigan Argon, she has already done it herself, and that is onyourhead.”
Roake gulped. “I was outmaneuvered.”
“That much is clear,” the Father said dismissively. “We will speak of this no longer.”
“But, Bastian…”
“We arefinished,” the Father snarled at the use of his name.
Roake retreated a step. Isa could see something there. A bit of defiance. He loved the girl. That was dangerous. The Father should eliminate him.
No.
She silenced the insidious voice that sometimes echoed what the Father was thinking rather than her own thoughts. Roake should be careful. The Father suspected him, and it didn’t go well for the ones he suspected. Isa was proof enough of that. If there was a way to warn him…
But there wasn’t.
Even if she wanted to.
She hung her head as Roake stomped past her in annoyance.
“Isannah, come here.”
And against her will, her feet moved across the room. She stopped before him, keeping her eyes down. She didn’t want to see his face. Each time, it was worse.
“Do you believe him?”
“No,” she said bluntly.
“Mmm,” he said. “Nor I. I’ll keep an eye on him. I have a mission for you.”
He offered her a piece of paper, and she took it. She opened it to reveal an already familiar address. Her gaze dropped.
“I want you to kill the leader of the human rebellion.”
Isa’s heart stuttered. The leader. No. It was too much. Politicians, nobility, mobsters. The ilk that needed to fall in line. But this?
“Will that be a problem?”
“No,” she said immediately as if she could say anything else. “Consider it done.”
“Good,” he said, sinking back into his seat with pleasure.
She headed toward the door, thinking she had gotten away with it.
