Page 99 of House of Embers
Fordham nodded. “Congratulations,” he said as he shook Kivrin’s hand. “Then that’s where we’ll send you.”
Kerrigan was proud of her dad. It was so visceral that she ran over and hugged him again. He had wanted this for so long. He’d been demoralized at losing the tournament and had been adrift for years since. He’d gone to Domara because of it. She was born because of his dissatisfaction with his life. And now things were looking up again. He had a dragon. He was going back after Anya.
For the first time in a long time, he had hope.
And it was contagious.
Chapter Thirty-Five
The Allies
Kerrigan opened her third portal of the day. Her bones felt like they were going to crack. Her nerves were fried. Her energy was tapped. She had one more to do after this, and then she was done. The way her fingers shook made her question if she’d even be able to do it.
“This is too much,” Fordham told her as he cast his gaze across the open valley floor where a doorway had just materialized out of thin air. “You’re shaking.”
“I can do it.”
He didn’t contradict her. He knew her well enough to know that she would push herself to the brink if she had to. He’d only stop her when it was most necessary.
“We could still fly to Herasi,” Fordham suggested instead.
He was right. Herasi was the closest house they were allied with. They were just past the Holy Mountain, to the west of the House of Shadows. Sayair was directly to the east. And though they had an ally in Sayair in Gerrond, he was still working undercover in the Society. They couldn’t risk him trying to reach someone in that house right now.
The hardest part of portaling had been that Kerrigan could only open portals to places she had been before, which was relativelylimited for someone who had grown up inside Draco Mountain, a place that she couldn’t open a portal into. She had tried it on a whim while practicing earlier in the week to prep for this moment. It was as if the mountain—all the mountains—had natural defenses that kept her from opening directly into them.
She couldn’t get into the Holy Mountain or Ravinia either. Tieran suggested it was because of the presence of tendrille, but she thought it was strange that she could open portalsoutof Ravinia but notin.
“We should portal. It’s faster and safer,” she argued.
“It isn’t safer if you burn out,” Fordham said.
“I’m not going to burn out.” She sighed as he looked at her with his stoic expression. “I’m okay, just contemplating why I can’t use the portal into the mountains.”
“Tendrille,” Fordham said.
“I know that’s what Tieran believes, but why can I portal out of Ravinia then?”
He shrugged. “Maybe because the portal is opening to a place without tendrille?”
“Maybe.”
Her portal wavered, and Fordham put a hand to her wrist. “Concentrate.”
She narrowed her focus back to the present—getting dragons to their allies.
After all her practice had proven fruitful, they had made a map of locations Kerrigan had visited so they could move dragons unbeknownst to the Society. Her first portal had opened to the outskirts of Noirwood Forest. It was a black forest where everything within was poisonous. Kerrigan and Fordham had been portaled there during the tournament, and it was within Venatrix territory. Gelryn and Kivrin had flown through with a contingent of dragons. He’d meet Fallon and Hadrian at the Galanthea border before returning north to meet with Alura and Anya.
Her second portal had been to Erewan territory in northern Alandria. The freezing, rocky environment was home to hard people who were distrusting of outsiders. When it had come out that they were familiar with Mendy and her house within Erewa, Aurelie, Celeste’s daughter from the Blanchard family, stepped forward. She had bonded a dragon, Orit, who had been bound to an Erewan leader for some time. She suggested that they should try to track them down.
Kerrigan had been uncertain, but it was Gelryn who had turned the tide. His first rider had been from Erewa too, and he believed that Orit and Aurelie could do it.
Luckily for them, Kerrigan had been there. She’d opened a portal directly into the mountains and sent them on their way.
There were other dragons who offered their expertise for the other houses, but not only had Kerrigan never been to those places but they had no confirmed allies there. So she wanted to remain cautious while also knowing they needed all the help they could get.
Now, she had the third portal forming before her—the biggest portal. This one would open outside Rosemont, the capital of Bryonica. She’d considered sending it to Waisley. She wanted to check on her ancestral home, Benton and Bayton, and everything happening there, but it was more central Bryonica, and they needed a closer area to meet Noda coming across the Strait of Ursi from the Isle of Song, where House Concha resided.
“Almost ready,” Kerrigan said as the portal grew and grew. With a huff, she reached the brink of what she could do and tied the portal off. It still required some of her magic, but it was much less than opening it in the first place.
