Page 41 of House of Embers
Fordham got straight to business. “Wynter, talk to Dozan about his spy network, and see if he can figure out how this got out. I’m going to have Adelaide discretely question the guards and servants.”
“And me?” Kerrigan asked.
Fordham tipped her chin up with a finger the way he’d done with his blade moments earlier. “You need to get a very Kerrigan-esque ball gown.”
She huffed. “We’regoing?”
“We have to,” he said with a shrug. “We can’t snub them. We need their power too much.”
“Yes, but we’ve established that it’s a trap,” Kerrigan said. “Why would we walk into a trap?”
“Because otherwise, the Olliviers look weak,” Prescott said.
Wynter nodded. “If we all stay hidden away and forgo the party, it makes it look like we’re afraid of the other families.”
Fordham looked resolute. “I may be king, but the three families each control a third of the populace and the army. If Laurent and Blanchard turn their backs on us, we won’t have a strong enough force to take on the Society. We must attend and have a show of strength.” His shadows sparked around his hands. “I have some ideas for that.”
“As do I,” Wynter said in the same gleeful tone she’d had while interrogating Gerrond.
“I’ll be there too. So try to publicly humiliate me or something,” Prescott said with a shrug. “If I find out what he’s planning, I’ll find you. Otherwise, I should be scarce.”
“Understood,” Fordham said. “Anyway, I want to see what Barron has planned for us.”
“You don’t think they just want to kill us?” Kerrigan said, hazarding a guess.
“Probably just you,” Wynter said on a shrug.
Kerrigan shot her a look. “Great. And the spirit magic?”
Fordham winked at her. “We’ll make our excuses. Trust me. I’m not giving up my training any more than you are.”
“Let’s hope I can prove that you’re bad atsomething.”
He laughed and pressed a kiss to her lips. “I’m bad at staying away from you.”
Chapter Fifteen
The Trap
“Now,thisis a dress.”
Fordham’s eyes traveled down the length of her as she twirled in place. The silver ball gown looked like liquid metal as it slid against her skin. The bodice cut to a severe V nearly to her navel with a matching plunging back as well. It wasn’t a Parris original, her favorite fashion designer in Kinkadia, but it was much better than the poofy monstrosity she’d been stuffed into before.
“Well, I did say a Kerrigan dress,” Fordham said as he slipped an arm around her lower back and drew her red-painted lips in for a kiss.
“You don’t like?”
“Like is the wrong word. Prefer it on my floor?” he suggested. “You’re going to shock the traditional crowd.”
“That’s the point.”
She pushed her bright red hair off her shoulders. Instead of going for a slicked-back look that her hair absolutely detested, she’d gone for natural waves and curls with big volume. If she had a target on her back, she wasn’t going to hide. She’d be ready.
“Did anyone have information on how Barron found out about our plans?” Kerrigan asked.
Fordham shook his head. “No. And I haven’t heard anything else from Prescott. We’ll just attend as prepared as we can.”
“Everyone is in position?” she asked.
