Page 16 of House of Embers
Kerrigan swallowed at those words. “I’m not going to run off. It’s not about that. I just don’t want him to get any stronger. You heard what Amond said. What if I can’t beat him?”
“He’s not the only one getting stronger. You have more magic than you had before, which was already formidable.”
It was true. When she’d learned that she was a demi-Doma, it had unlocked something in her. As if explaining everything that had never made sense about her power. Why was she so much more powerful than other half-Fae? Why did she have visions? Why could she enter the spirit plane? Why couldn’t she bond with her dragon? Suddenly it all fit together.
Then she’d gotten her magic back in a blessed pool of water under the starlight. She’d had a vision of her mentor, Cyrene, and seen a room full of past Doma women who had agreed to return to her what was stolen. She’d been visited by a goddess of starlight, who had let her take more than her share but stopped her before it killed her. She had woken in the water transformed to a pool of starlight, forever changed.
Her mother’s bangle was one thing, but whatever the starlight had given her, the Doma women had given her, whatever she hadtakenfor herself—it was more than formidable.
“And you won’t be alone.”
“Neither will he,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s true,” he said slowly. “Bastian, the Father, the Red Masks, they don’t have anything but hate in their hearts. They don’t have what we have. They don’t have a reason to fight thatserves them. We believe in human rights for everyone. We believe in humanity.”
“That doesn’t seem to be enough,” she countered. “We believed in all that before, andstillhe won.”
That was the crux of it, wasn’t it?
No matter what happened, he still won.
Despite all logic, the villain had come out ahead with his vitriol and hate speech and “tell it like it is” mentality. The people had rallied behind him, Fae fearful of change and desperate to stay on top in a world where they saw diversity as a problem. They didn’t care if others were hurting, the people they saw as beneath them. That didn’t matter when their interests were threatened and they believed the propaganda that fell from Bastian’s snake tongue.
“He won,” Fordham agreed. He came to his feet and gestured around the crypt at all the dead Olliviers. “My father ruled here for more than a millennium with even worse beliefs than him. Sometimes the bad guys win.”
Kerrigan’s shoulders dropped. “Yeah.”
“But despite my father,” he said, staring at his father’s tomb, “we went to war to end slavery a thousand years ago. There are still people who believe that was the correct way. But they’re not as vocal anymore. They’re not in the right. We shouldn’t own people. So sometimes it takes longer to change minds. To make people come to the side of right. It took me time.”
“It took you meeting me to come around,” she said, turning to face him. “Also, you fell in love with me.”
He smirked. “And I don’t plan to share.”
She grinned. “So how do I change everyone else’s mind?”
“We should focus on the people who don’t agree with him. He was elected fair and square, but then he killed all his dissenters. That isn’t someone who is secure in his position. It means he knows that they could rally against him.”
“How do we reach them?”
“Step two,” Fordham said.
“Step two,” she confirmed.
“Right now, our allies are spread out. We have your friends and family in one place, but that’s not enough.”
Kerrigan ran her hand along the first Fae’s crown. She might feel demoralized, but at least she had her friends here and safe. People who would rally behind her no matter what. Bastian didn’t have anyone.
“Let’s get through the coronation and work with our current allies to figure out the rest of the plan. We don’t need to figure it out tonight,” Fordham said.
Kerrigan’s mind was whirling. For a plan with so few steps, it sure felt daunting. “I know you’re right. I know that we have a plan. That wecanwin this. But inside, it feels like I’m just one girl against the world.”
“You’ve never beenjustanything.”
Kerrigan smirked. “That’s love talking.”
“No, I’m serious. When have you ever been just one girl against the world? You’re Kerrigan Argon,” Fordham said, pushing away from his father’s tomb to come to her side once more. “You’re a fighter. You’re a loyal friend. You’re strong and resilient and well-spoken. You’re the youngest dragon rider in history, the youngest Society member, the youngest council member. You don’t back down from what you believe in, and people listen to you. If you’re just one girl, then the world should shake in fear.”
“Thank you,” she whispered as tears pricked her eyes. “How can I feel small when you see me like that?”
