Page 56 of House of Embers
“If you just comply—”
“Audria, do you think I should just comply? Do you think they wouldn’t immediately kill me and hang my dead body on a pike at the entrance to the mountain?”
“I…” Audria hesitated. “I think they’d kill you.”
“See there, Roake? Audria is sensible at least.”
Roake floundered. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Correct. It can be so much better. It can be a world made for all, not just Fae, not just the ones that the Red Masks believe should exist. And if you had been listening any of those times I went to protests—not riots—or made any political speeches, you’d realize that what I wanted was equity for the people and Fae alike. But instead, all you and your kind hear was that we wantlessfor you, that your privilege in government, your privilege as Fae, made you above us and we wanted to destroy that. When what we wanted was a world where we had equal rights, not at the expense of yours but at your side.” Kerrigan shook her head. “Instead, you believe that your privilege should come at the expense of the many, and I cannot condone that.”
“Always coming back to my privilege as if I can control the fact that I was born a Fae,” he growled.
“Privilege isn’t inherently negative, Roake. It’s just something you have based on your birth. Yes, you’re a wealthy Fae male. That gives you privilege in our society. It’s only a problem when you weaponize it against the people who you see as beneath you or those who youthink threaten your place in our world. It’s a problem when you start to believe your own propaganda.”
Roake looked like he was going to burst from indignation at Kerrigan’s words. She hadn’t meant to dive into these feelings right here and now. But once she got going, she couldn’t seem to stop. Her anger coupled with his immense naivety had set her off.
“She’s right,” Audria burst out before Roake could erupt. “She’s right, Roake, and you know it.”
“What?” His gaze swept between them. “You can’t be siding with her. She has you at knifepoint.”
Kerrigan grinned and released Audria. “About that.”
Audria rolled her shoulders back. “Not exactly.”
His jaw dropped as he looked between the two women as if just realizing the trap he’d walked into. Kerrigan was pretty sure that the rest of her mission was almost over, which meant they didn’t need to keep Roake occupied. She’d promised Audria that she wouldn’t kill Roake, but did that mean she had to leave him uninjured?
Roake swore and then thrust his sword toward Kerrigan’s throat. She had her sword in her hand, parrying his move with ease. Roake was an excellent swordsman, but he wasn’t Fordham Ollivier. He wasn’t Constantine. And since she had been trained by the best, he wasn’t even as good as she was anymore.
Kerrigan retreated two steps as Roake put all his force behind his swings. He’d always been that way—more interested in the blade than his feet—but footwork was the core of swordsmanship. He certainly knew the moves. They’d had to go through them enough that he could follow the Ravendin series she was drawing him into, but it didn’t appear that he’d continued practicing enough to see when she slipped into and out of Kristoffer like breathing.
His next swing went wide. She had an opening. She could have gutted him like a fish and splayed him open from neck to navel. It would have been so easy.
Instead, she tapped his chest, opening a gash against his black Society robes. He gasped in shock before taking a step back in alarm.
“You…you got better,” Roake said, eyeing her suspiciously.
“Thanks for noticing.”
“You could have killed me.”
“Aren’t I so nice?”
His eyes narrowed, his glare contemplative. “You don’t want to kill me. What do you…”
But he broke off as his eyes slid past her to the camp below. His dragon must have been speaking to him urgently. Audria’s was likely already gone from her position. For the first time, he’d realized that this was more diversion than actual fight.
“Sorry, Roake,” Kerrigan said without an ounce of remorse.
“No! No!” he roared and thrust forward. “You wouldn’t.”
Kerrigan went purely on the offensive. And when she let go, she found Roake was no match for her at all. It was only a handful of moves before his blade went flying off into the brush, her blade under his jaw, tipping it upward. He trembled with rage and fear.
“Do it,” he snarled.
“Kerrigan,” Audria warned.
“No, we had a deal, see?” Kerrigan told Roake. “Audria still thinks you can come around, however misguided she may be.”
