Page 155 of House of Embers
She had wanted to extract them and anyone they thought was part of their cause if they could. Her entire war council had argued against it. No one could know if people from Elsiande were still loyal to Bastian. But she wasn’t taking fighters; she was taking refugees. People she wanted to keep safe.
“Kerrigan,” Ellerby said, drawing her into a hug. “My dear girl, thank you for getting us out.”
She sniffled. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“I brought you a present too,” he said eagerly.
Then he brought forward a small Fae female with gray at her temples. “Hello, dear. My name is Eira. Ellerby mentioned that you were asking around for people who knew Bastian when he lived in Elsiande?”
“I am,” Kerrigan confirmed. “Were you familiar with him then?”
“I was never close with him,” Eira admitted. “But I was friends with his wife for a time. Poor dear. Terrible thing that happened to her.”
“Would you mind telling me about it once I’m through with my work today?”
“Well, of course,” Eira said.
“Thank you,” Kerrigan said, ushering Eira through the portal with the rest of the refugees. She waved at Hadrian and Fallon from across the portal. “I love you. I’ll see you on the other side.”
“Good luck,” Hadrian said, and then she snapped the portal closed.
Which meant Bryonica awaited.
Kerrigan breathed out before opening her portal to their eastern allies. The portal opened in a clearing outside Rosemont. Audria waited there as planned. Her hand was on her heart, and she looked heartbroken.
“My bond,” Audria said as if she were going to burst into tears.
Kerrigan stepped through and pulled Audria into a hug. “We can fix it.”
“Thank the gods. What happened?”
Kerrigan gave the same explanation to Audria as she had the rest of her soldiers and showed her how to make a crux bond. Audria only settled down when the bond was in place and Evien was once again in contact.
“Some forewarning might have been good,” Audria said.
“I wish I’d had some,” Kerrigan said.
“That explains why you were always so strange in dragon training.”
“Right?” Kerrigan said with a laugh. “It explains everything.”
Audria shook her head. “I can’t imagine how you were able to mask it for a whole year.”
“They put me on probation and then kicked me out, if you remember.”
“Yeah, well, that had more to do with their prejudices than your performance.”
Kerrigan shrugged. “A little bit of both?”
“Fair,” Audria said. “I did the other thing that you requested.”
“Roake?”
“Fully on Bastian’s side,” she said with a crack in her voice.
Kerrigan’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”
“You were right to ask me to do it though,” Audria said, glancing down at her cracked nails. “I thought…”
