Page 101 of House of Embers
***
“You live for the drama, don’t you?” a voice said.
Kerrigan’s eyes fluttered open, and she looked up into the face ofher old mentor, Mistress Zahina. She had gray at her temples and lines around her eyes. Fae so rarely aged that it was sometimes disconcerting to see it in her ancient face. She was shorter even than Kerrigan, as if the years had weighed her down. But she had changed out of her dragon rider black robes and into the bronze cloaks of House Herasi, indicating she had become the leader of the house.
“Zina,” Kerrigan said on her dry, overused throat.
“Don’t talk yet. You pushed yourself much too far. What did I teach you about spirit magic, girl?” Zina shook her head. “Well, probably not enough, but surely I said something about not burning out your magic.”
“You mentioned that once or twice,” Fordham agreed.
“And you,” she said, pointing at him. “Can’t you stop her from doing stupid shit?”
Fordham chuckled. “Trust me, it’s my life’s work trying to get Kerrigan not to do stupid shit.”
“He’s bad at it,” Kerrigan confessed.
“Basic directions: no talking,” Zina said. “The healer is working, and we don’t need to make her life harder. You’re good at that.”
Kerrigan cracked a smile, and even that hurt. “Tell me what happened.”
“If you’re quiet, then fine.”
Kerrigan smacked her lips together and nodded.
Zina sighed. “You opened the portal to Bain Bay. Luckily you tied the thing off before you collapsed, or else you wouldn’t have had my help. Unluckily for you, it was tied off, and your magic is still draining.”
Fordham reached for Kerrigan’s hand and squeezed. “It’s still there. Open between Ravinia and the island.”
Scales.
“You can close it later,” Zina said. “It requires too much energy to do it now. Your dragon wassmartthough. Tieran picked you up and carried you straight through to me. I had a healer on hand who I’veworked spirit magic with before. I can channel spirit into her healing.” Zina gestured to the tall Fae female at her side. Kerrigan had to tilt her head to get a good look at her. She had black skin, short, curly hair, and angular features with chiseled cheekbones. She too wore Herasi bronze with a tunic fashioned to look like dragon scales. “This is Vindraya.”
“Hi,” Kerrigan whispered.
Vindraya tipped her head at her. “We’re almost done.”
“Anyway,” Zina said on a sigh as she stood, “we’ll finish this up, make you eat something, and then we’re going to close the portal. Then we’re going to talk about these dragons you brought me.” Kerrigan opened her mouth, but Zina held her hand up. “Not until after you’re well, and that’s final.”
Kerrigan had almost forgotten what it was to be babied. She’d had to be the leader of everything for so long that even Gelryn and her father were looking up to her. She could only let her guard down with Fordham. But this was something else. This wasauthority.
“Can I ask something else?”
Zina sighed and looked back at her. “What’s that?”
“Do you know anything about a magical artifact called the metal crown?”
Zina’s eyes widened a fraction before shooting to Vindraya. The healer took the hint and got to her feet. “I can check on you again later if you like.”
“Thank you, Vindraya,” Zina said. It wasn’t until Vindraya was out of the room that Zina spoke up again. “Where did you hear about the metal crown?”
This was the other reason that Kerrigan and Fordham had decided to personally meet with Zina: she was one of the oldest Fae in Alandria, certainly the oldest who was on their side. She had more knowledge in her pinkie than most people did in their entire being. And while she was eccentric, she was their best hope at finding the thing. Not to mention Kerrigan trusted her.
Kerrigan explained how she’d seen the Irena Bargain from the perspective of Ferrinix at the Holy Mountain with Tieran. “And I realized I’d seen it in a book that Bastian gave me when I was his apprentice,” Kerrigan said. “There wasn’t much information on it, just that it was missing and dangerous.”
Zina lifted her feet and hovered around the room—the ability to use complicated air magic so effortlessly still shocked Kerrigan—as if floating around the room with her legs tucked under her was a better thinking position than pacing.
“Dangerous is an understatement. It’s the most powerful artifact that has ever existed in Alandria. Even that Ring of Endings you stupidly gave to Bastian is nothing in comparison.”
