Page 126 of House of Embers
“Kerrigan, we have to go!” Fordham shouted.
She didn’t respond, just stared slack-jawed at the dead figure in Fordham’s arms. Her father was dead. Kivrin Argon was dead. He’d just regained use of his legs, been reunited with the love of his life, and gotten the dragon he had always wanted—the most fearsome dragon who had lived more than one lifetime. And now…they were both gone.
“Kerrigan!”Fordham shouted down the bond.“Reinforcements!”
But she couldn’t come out of it. She was as frozen as Viviana had been.
It was only because of Tieran flying them far away from Kinkadia that they escaped at all. It felt like she had left a part of herself behind as she slouched on her dragon’s back and stared back at the shrinking city.
Chapter Forty-Three
The Traitor
Isa
Isa’s shoes were silent on the cold, hard stone of the prison. The iron would have been oppressive against her magic and skin, her entire being, if not for the solid collar at her throat that dampened everything except the need to complete her mission. Water dripped onto the floor from an unknown place. Fall chill was turning to winter, and soon it would turn to icicles unless a guard heated the prison. They usually didn’t.
The prison was fuller than she had ever seen it, what with the Red Masks rounding up and eliminating droves of humans and half-Fae for meaningless offenses. But none of them or their slights were her concern today.
The Father had given her one mission. This one, there was no wiggle room.
“Hello, Gerrond,” Isa said, leaning against the iron. It tingled where it hissed against her bare skin. She hardly noticed the burn.
His eyes were wide and wild at the sight of her, the Father’s assassin. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to have a conversation.”
Gerrond backed up farther in the small cell. “You’re here to kill me.”
She turned the key in the lock and stepped inside, closing it behind her. Gerrond shrank back even more in fear.
“The Father has questions, Gerrond. He wants me to get answers.” She tipped her head to the side as she slid a blade out of her sleeve. “I’m very clever with a knife. I was taught a dozen ways to make a man bleed without killing him. Would you like to see what they are?”
“No!” he said on a strangled gasp.
“Good. Good. We won’t have to do it that way.” She shoved the blade back out of sight. “We can do this the easy way then. I’m pleased. You want to please me, don’t you, Gerrond?”
“Y-yes,” he stammered.
“We’re on the same page. Tell me what you know of Kerrigan Argon,” she said.
“I already told Bastian everything I know about her. I met her when the call went out. I convinced her we were allies. I listed everyone who was at the House of Shadows. And then I got her and her little friends into the city with my drifters. I wanted protections for the drifters before…”
She clicked her tongue against her teeth. She tugged another longer knife from her belt and tapped it twice against his throat. “No more negotiations. No more demands. It’s just you, me, and my knife. We don’t want to get off topic.”
“I told him they were coming. I gave them the information I was provided.”
“Why did you not tell them about the dragons?” she asked. “Or the armory raid. We lost a lot of good weapons andtwodragons with their riders. Good Society members. Good Red Masks. Good dragons.”
Gerrond shrugged helplessly, eyeing her knife with abject fear. “I didn’t know the whole plan. I did everything Bastian asked. I swear I did.”
“So she didn’t trust you as much as you claimed.” Isa twirled the blade. “Pity.”
“She trusted me!”
“And you were useful for that.” Isa kicked Gerrond back to the ground and slammed the blade into the palm of his hand. Gerrond screamed. “Then you revealed yourself, which made any agreements or negotiations or talks with the Father null and void. You are no longer valuable as a mole. You are no longer valuable.”
“Please, please, please,” he stammered. His other hand gripped the knife, trying to pry it free of the ground.
