House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

“Did you hear about what happened last night?”

“Beyond your inebriation?” Fordham asked.

“Basem was found dead in the dungeons.”

His head snapped to her. “What? When?”

“Last night, when I got back in, I went down to speak with Helly and Bastian about it.”

He withdrew into himself. “There is a plant inside the Society.”

She nodded. “That’s what I think too. Helly told me not to get involved.”

He rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that.”

“I guess it’s good that we’re going away for two weeks.”

“Perhaps,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll have caught the person by the time we return.”

Or we could not go.

But she didn’t offer the alternative. Fordham needed to go home, and she needed to see the tribe that she had sworn herself to.

“Let’s hope,” she said. “I’d like someone else to step up once in a while.”

He just sighed. “Get on your dragon.”

She laughed at his exasperation. “So, where exactly is the House of Shadows?”

The archives of the thirteenth tribe had been stricken from record. Their magicked home erased from maps and memory. Only high-ranking Society members had access to that knowledge and unsuspecting humans who wandered across the spell line.

“North,” Fordham said before vaulting onto Netta’s back.

“North,” she muttered. “Right. Super helpful.”

“You’ll know when you need to know.”

“I’m a member of the House of Shadows now,” she grumbled. “You could just tell me.”

“You’re not actually.”

Kerrigan froze with her hand on Tieran’s leg. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re not a member of the House of Shadows.”

“But you said to the council …”

“What they wanted to hear.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You cannot be a member until you swear fealty to my father, King Samael Ollivier.” He paused, looking momentarily forlorn. “And he accepts you into his court.”

Kerrigan gulped. “You didn’t say that your dad had to accept me.”

“What would have been the point?”

“What if he rejects me?”

Fordham shrugged. “We won’t let that happen.”

Kerrigan blinked up at him, her headache now the least of her worries. She put her foot into Tieran’s leg and hoisted herself into the saddle. She wobbled slightly and felt her stomach clench. She tightened her grip on the pommel.

If you throw up on me, then you will be walking to the House of Shadows, Tieran said irritably.

“Noted,” she grumbled.

Netta took the lead, gliding toward the exit and then flying out the entrance. Tieran followed behind her. Normally, this was Kerrigan’s favorite part—the first free fall into oblivion before they leveled off—but today, it was the last thing she wanted. She should have given up a few extra minutes to run to the infirmary for something to settle her stomach. But it was too late now.

“Take it easy,” she pleaded with Tieran, but he either didn’t hear her or didn’t care.

He vaulted off of the stone opening in the mountain. He tucked his wings in tight to his body as they plummeted hundreds of feet toward the surface of the valley. Kerrigan’s stomach rose to her throat. She closed her eyes and held on for dear life, hoping that she wouldn’t unleash the drink from last night onto her dragon. She didn’t doubt that he wouldn’t let her ride the rest of the way.

Then, at the last second, his wings exploded out of him, and they rose as he caught the wind. Going up might be worse, as it jolted her stomach down toward her toes. She leaned hard against the saddle, running her hands along his cool scales to try to settle herself as they pulled up into a glide off of Netta’s right wing.

“That was not nice,” she groaned.

Tieran’s body rumbled, as if he was laughing at her. Ass.

If they were bonded, as they were supposed to be, he would have been able to feel her discomfort. He wouldn’t have tried something like that because he would have suffered too. But nothing had gone how it was supposed to.

At the bonding ceremony, they had both drunk the potion that would connect them for life. She went under and saw a vision of her father being beaten by a large man in a white toga. She’d never seen anyone like that before, and when she tried to get the man to stop, he looked at her. She had no idea what any of that meant, but as soon as she returned to herself, she knew it had gone wrong. She and Tieran hadn’t bonded.

They couldn’t tell anyone either. He would have been sent back to the Holy Mountain without getting a dragon rider, and no one had wanted her to have a dragon in the first place. They’d use any excuse to kick her out. So, they had to keep this secret to themselves and hope they survived dragon training together.

Kerrigan had doubts about that, but first, she had to survive the House of Shadows.

4

The Journey

Netta says that we’re close, Tieran informed her.