Page 92 of House of Embers
“Isa.”
She stilled with her hand on the doorknob.
“Look at me.”
She ground her teeth before meeting his eyes. So full of wrath and love and a million horrors. His severed hand left an absence. The Ring of Endings rested on the other hand.
The red mask sat on the table. He was wearing it more than not these days. The thing that only he could remove, and the lines between who he was and who the mask made him were past blurring to fully defined. Once, he’d worn it because of the burns all those years ago. When he had saved her from the fire that had consumed her mother’s life and led him on this path of destruction. She cursed the mask that had once been a symbol of hope in her life. Now it was only a symbol of death.
“You know why we do this, don’t you?”
Isa remained still at the question. She had lost sight of the mission. Of course he could see that.
He rose to his feet and came toward her. She couldn’t move when he brushed his hand down her jaw. “It’s for her.”
“For her,” Isa said blankly.
“All this is for her.”
Isa trembled. Was he talking about her mother? He had not mentioned her in all the years since the accident, since humans had burned down their home, leaving him permanently scarred. He’d walked out of the burning house with a bundle in his arms and nothing more.
He’d championed a new world out of those burns. A new world for Fae at least. No one had believed that he would be the leader of the Red Masks. Not when he had done so much good in the world.
But they did not know why.
They did not know the truth.
“I wish she was here,” Isa whispered.
Bastian clenched his hand into a fist. For a moment, she thought he would shatter her pretty face once more for speaking of her, but he let his hand drop.
“Wishes are for wells,” he said as he sank back into his chair. “We do the work in her name.”
“Yes, Father,” she said.
He waved his hand as if dismissing the conversation about her mother. “I’ll need you back to observe the planning for the Society Ball.” He arched an eyebrow. “Do not be long.”
She nodded, trying and failing to hide her enmity.
Then she fled his chambers. This Society Ball was absurd. Why invite all his enemies here? What was his goal? Was he trying to win them over? Or did he envision something more sinister? Would she be forced to kill everyone present? Would it finally claim her life?
She hoped so.
Either way, it was going to be one hell of a party.
Chapter Thirty-Three
The Resistance Leader
Clover
Fallon held his hand out to Clover. “We’ll leave in the morning for Galanthea. Thank you for the intel.”
Clover put her hand in his uncertainly. “I still can’t believe that Kerrigan managed it, but I should cease thinking that she won’t do the impossible.”
“More dragons,” Fallon said with a shake of his head. “I thought that my time in the tournament was over. To think that I could still get on one… Well, it’s unexpected.”
“You think you’ll bond?” Hadrian asked.
