Page 32 of House of Embers
Kivrin jerked to his feet, holding a crutch under his arm. “They’ll killanyonewho threatens their power. If they get a whiff of this, you’re dead. They’ve had thousands of years to practice their powers. You cannot throw untrained humans and half-Fae against that might. We need this as a backup, not as the first wave.”
“They’d be fodder,” Fordham said.
“Yes,” Wynter said, tilting her head. “That’s how our father would have used them.”
“This is an amazing development,” Kerrigan said gently. “But I agree it should be used strategically. Go back to Kinkadia, and work on developing the amulets. But the people need to be trained.”
Clover nodded once, but Kerrigan could see her dreams had been dashed. “Sure thing.”
“If Gerrond is amenable, we should send him back to the Society. Take Clover and Hadrian as far as he can, and then we use him within the Society. He can keep tabs on the Red Masks and help us build out our allies.”
“And who exactly are our allies?” Dozan asked with a smirk. “Besides the people in this room. Possibly the humans and maybe Galanthea? It’s not much to go on.”
It was a good question. One she hadn’t discussed openly with everyone because the truth was she didn’t know exactly who was on their side. She had guesses, but until she spoke to them, she wouldn’t know.
“Well, not Isa,” Clover said with a laugh.
“No,” Kerrigan said. “I can’t believe you ever trusted the assassin. She tried to kill me. Multiple times!”
“She saved my life,” Kivrin said.
“And is also the reason you’re paralyzed,” Kerrigan pointed out.
Kivrin sighed. “We were desperate for hope that someone close to the Father had turned.”
Like Valia.
Kerrigan sighed as she thought about how the Father had cut down one of his own daughters for betraying him. Would he do the same to Isa? Or was her double cross always part of the plan?
“Audria,” Kerrigan said at once.
While Audria might be a Bryonican royal and a thorn in her side, she had been in Society training with Kerrigan and shown up when it mattered. She had taken on the Red Masks for her. She’d even broken with Roake, another dragon rider, who had been infatuated with her but turned out to work with the Red Masks, to help Kerrigan.
“If…if she’s alive,” Kerrigan said with a lump in her throat.
Clover winced. “She’s alive all right and still in the Society.”
“But she fought with me on the battlefield the night of the arena massacre.”
“She was in the dungeons for a while,” Kivrin confirmed. “But they let her out for good behavior.”
Kerrigan bit her lip. “She was probably biding her time.”
“Or she was turned into one of them,” Clover argued.
“I think she’s with us,” Kivrin said quietly. “I overheard her speaking to Roake and him begging her to put aside her principles because Kerrigan was dead and he wouldn’t be able to protect her much longer. Soon afterward, she was out, but it was a big argument.”
Fordham nodded. “Audria then. And Noda in Concha. She has family that are Society members. I think she’d be on our side.”
Noda had dropped out of the Society training program with Fordham and Kerrigan, but if she was on their side, it would be valuable to have the support of the Concha dragons.
“Yes. And Alura?” Kerrigan asked. She had trained their lot of dragon riders, and though her father, Lorian Van Horn, had been falsely accused of being the Father and sentenced to death for it, Kerrigan was fairly certain they were on the same side.
“I could speak with Anya,” Kivrin said softly. Anya had been hisfirst love, but she’d chosen another man, Lorian. With his death, Anya and Kivrin had been reunited.
“If we could get Galanthea and Venatrix, then we’d have two of the three warring houses and the House of Shadows,” Hadrian said. “We’d be in a much better position.”
“And Mendy,” Fordham added. “The people in Erewa would come to our defense.”
