Page 141 of House of Embers
“This is my debt,” Titania said.
“And you believe a wedding will make up for that?” Fordham all but snarled.
“Ford.” Kerrigan put a hand to his arm. They needed to remember who they were dealing with. If Fordham wasn’t careful, he was going to explode and Titania was going to flatten them, her champions or no.
“No,” he said. “This is…this is absurd. You tell us that the Irena Bargain and the dragons and the binding, it’s all because of you. And you think disappearing from the world is sufficient penance?”
Titania looked down at him over her nose. “I destroyed my lineage. It is only fair that I suffer solitude.”
Fordham turned away. “These are the gods. I expect them to deal with us like we’re puppets on a string. I didn’t think that you would be the same.”
“Why not?” Titania asked. “Am I much different from a god to your people?”
“Stop,” Kerrigan said. “This changes nothing. It doesn’t matter where we place the blame. All that matters is that we can fix it.” Kerrigan eyed Titania. “Which is the real reason I believe you invited us here.”
“You have the blood of the enemy in your veins,” Titania said.
“I can use the crown?”
“No,” Fordham said. “No, we’re not doing this again.”
“It didn’t work with Irena because she was fully Fae. She was one of my line. You are something else entirely. You descend from him.”
“That’s what I said,” Kerrigan told Fordham. “I can control it.”
“We don’t know where it is, and even if we did, I no longer think we should use it. You said there would be a price, but you didn’t say itwould burn out her goodness.” Fordham pointed his finger at Titania. “That was the price, was it not?”
Titania nodded. “One of many prices.”
“It won’t do that to me.”
“It might!” he raged. “We can win this war without it.”
“What of the one after that?” Kerrigan challenged. “And the one after that? Our history is all wars dating back as far as recorded history with the dragons. Let us end this once and for all.”
“Then I’m glad that we do not have the crown, for I could not agree to this.”
“I know you are angry, son of Samil, but what would you have done differently in your ancestor’s place? Irena did the best with her circumstances.” Titania put her hands behind her back. “I believed that she could control the crown, and I was wrong.”
“You could be wrong about Kerrigan as well.”
“She isn’t,” Kerrigan said. She looked back to Titania. “Do you know where it is?”
Titania hesitated a moment before saying, “No.”
“She cannot lie,” Fordham said.
“But you have a guess?”
Titania lifted one perfect shoulder. “As do you.”
“The same one, I’d wager.” Kerrigan turned away from them both. “This crown has been plaguing us since we discovered it from Ferrinix’s memory. It has already caused me irreparable damage. It has already stolen my father from me. If we must go after it again, then we should remember that it is likely to cause pain. Even if it does not steal my goodness, it is likely to steal something else.”
“Well said,” Titania said.
“Thenyouuse it,” Fordham told the mother of the Fae.
“I cannot. We know that a Fae cannot wield it properly.”
