House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

“What was that?” Fordham asked.

“I don’t know.”

She’d never had a spell react to her like that. And she’d had plenty of strange magical things happen to her.

Five years ago, she’d discovered that she had visions of the future. Gelryn the Destroyer, the formidable dragon of the Great War, called her a harbinger. After her series of visions during the dragon tournament, which brought her and Fordham together and led her to win the tournament, Gelryn had discovered that she was a spiritcaster. There hadn’t been one in a millennium, and when she returned to Kinkadia, she would have to find a way to control her spirit magic or else be consumed by it.

But this didn’t feel like her visions. This felt like the spell was alive. Not just alive, but mad. Could spells have emotions? She’d never heard of such a thing.

“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Fordham nodded. “The lore is that the people who cast the spell all perished after casting it. Its strength is gained by their sacrifice.”

“Scales,” she murmured. “How terrible.”

Fordham made a noncommittal sound. He’d been so stoic the entire morning that she hadn’t quite noticed he was in distress until that moment. That he wasn’t mad at her because of the hangover. He was taking out his own unease about coming home on her.

“Are you ready?” she asked him gently.

“Yes,” he said, straightening his shoulders.

“Fordham, it’s me. You don’t have to pretend.”

But his eyes never wavered to her face. He stared straight ahead, as if he were facing down an enemy.

“Do you think you’ll be able to come back through?”

He didn’t respond, just lifted one shoulder.

Kerrigan came to his side and stared forward. “Together?”

He tipped his head down. She closed her eyes briefly, working up the courage to take his hand. When her fingers touched his, he didn’t yank them away, just twined them together. Then, as one, they crossed the border that led into the House of Shadows.

Kerrigan opened her eyes in a new world.

She’d grown up in a palace, surrounded by lush Bryonican gardens, and then lived inside Draco Mountain since she was five with the entire city of Kinkadia as her playground. But nothing prepared her for this.

The mossy valley led to a rustic village. It sat on the edge of a lush forest, leading to a trio of peaks reaching for the sky. Purple wildflowers blossomed along the stone walk, which was just big enough for a carriage. Horses grazed in open pastures, birds trilled in the trees, and everything was fertile and blossoming. The air was colder than home, and snow still lingered on the mountains. The view was picturesque. Not at all what she had thought the House of Shadows would be like.

“Wow,” was all she could manage.

Fordham’s face was conflicted, as if he’d finally come home and he wanted to be anywhere else, all at the same time. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” she breathed. “As if it were stuck in time.”

“It is. We haven’t any of the advancements of the outside world. Much is still run as it was a thousand years earlier.”

“Kinkadia must have been a huge shock.”

Fordham’s jaw tightened. She remembered the look on his face when she’d first taken him to the Square and how he’d devoured the meat pies as if he’d never tasted anything like it. He likely never had. Or when they’d gone to Carmine’s for a poetry reading. The light in his eyes. She hadn’t understood what it really meant to him until this moment.

“We should test the border,” he said instead.

Kerrigan faced the valley. Already, Tieran and Netta had vanished into the skies. If they were bound, she’d know in exactly what direction he was. But they weren’t, so she didn’t.

“Should we walk back through?”

“I’m sure you can. You’re half-Fae.”

She scowled at him. “Thanks for the reminder. I had no idea.”

She pushed forward, back through the oppressive border that held the House of Shadows within. When she looked over her shoulder, the little village had vanished. Just like that.

“Whoa,” she breathed as she stepped through. “That’s creepy.”

Fordham swallowed, not acknowledging her.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

He glanced at her, the words painted on him in a way he rarely let her see. The worst was that he’d be stuck here all over again. The barrier would recognize him as a Fae of the House of Shadows, and he wouldn’t be allowed back out into the new world he was beginning to love.

“It’s going to let you through,” she told him.

“It is.”

She didn’t ask if he wanted her to go with him. He had to face this particular demon alone.

With a deep breath, he put one foot in front of the other and stepped back through the barrier. She thought he would disappear, as the village had done on the other side, but no, there he was. A prince in every aspect. Her heart lurched at the sight of him, the elation on his face. He’d passed the test that had been weighing on him. He could now come and go as he pleased. Whether that was because of his exile or some other new trick of the magic, it didn’t matter. He’d be going home with her to start dragon training.