Page 173 of House of Embers
“You could have killed me a hundred times and you haven’t. That tells me which side you’re on. The rest I can deal with.”
Isa’s eyes cut across the fractured arena. “They’re going to hunt me down and kill me. I’ll never be safe.”
Kerrigan frowned. Isa was right. “There’s another way.” Kerrigan jingled her mother’s bracelet.
Isa caught the meaning with a lifted brow.
“If you ever want to see a different world.”
Isa considered it before jumping off the platform. “If I do, I’ll know where to find you.”
And Kerrigan watched as she disappeared into the chaos.
“You can’t just let her go,” Alura argued. “She was his right hand.”
“I know,” Kerrigan said.
“Then stop her!”
“She’s as much a victim as you and me at this point, Alura.”
“We should put her on trial and let the world decide her fate.”
Kerrigan sighed. “If they can catch her, then we will.”
“Youcan catch her.”
“But I won’t,” she told Alura.
Alura shook her head. “You’re making a huge mistake. She’s going to come back and kill you.”
“I don’t think so,” Kerrigan said, returning her attention to the cowering council members. Fordham and Alura had used the trap Bastian had deployed against them around the council members. None of them had a jumping ability, so they were secure for the time being. They would need to pay for their crimes. “You’re all under arrest for treason, sedition, and acts against the government. You’ll be held in the dungeons until we form a new council to determine your fate.”
They all spoke as one, but Kerrigan was already turning away from them.
“Alura, you’re in charge of the council now. I’ll send in some soldiers to back you up.”
“Are you sure about Isa?” Alura asked one more time.
Kerrigan had already lost the assassin, and she was confident that if Isa didn’t want to be found, no one could root her out. “Yeah.” She tipped her head to the side. “Fordham?”
“Way ahead of you,” he said, eerily calm. Then across the bond.“You did the right thing with Isa.”
“They’re not going to see it that way.”
“Then they can answer to me.”
A moment later, Tieran and Netta landed in the arena. Kerrigan patted Tieran affectionately before climbing on his back. There was still much ground to cover for this war to be officially over. The battle had been won, but she didn’t yet know what it looked like on the other side of these walls.
They flew over the arena and back into the fray. Dragons were still fighting in aerial combat, but the ground forces were decimated. Clover’s magical artifact minefield had done more damage than she had anticipated. Dead guards littered the ground as far as the eye could see.
“The dragons are surrendering,”Tieran explained.“Zina is negotiating their full surrender, and her dragon, Vox, is putting down those that do not concede.”
Kerrigan breathed a sigh of relief. “Direct some to help Alura in the arena, since the aerial forces look like they have it under control. Then I want to check on Clover’s army. That blast looks bad.”
Tieran circled twice before landing amid the rubble before the arena. A moment later, Netta landed next to him.
“Things look taken care of up there,” Fordham said.
