House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

Kerrigan grinned from ear to ear.

Alura had dropped Kerrigan off at a spot an hour outside of the city and said to call her dragon to her. She moved into the spirit plane and spent the next hour stretching herself to locate the smell of cinnamon and that feel of hearth fire. She told Tieran her location and he’d flown right to her. They’d beaten everyone’s time except Fordham. They might have done it, too, if she hadn’t still been learning how to find him on the spirit plane. This would work.

“Thank you, sir.”

Tieran bowed his head low. Mistress Alura.

“Go. Both of you. Kerrigan, the air lesson has been moved to the top northern aerie. Mistress Zahina left for urgent business, and you’ll be working with Master Carr instead.”

“Of course.”

Urgent business. Which basically meant she was missing and no one knew where she was. Kerrigan knew why, but she wasn’t about to reveal that information. She had no idea what had made Zina fly off into the distance and not look back. Her mother had been dead for a thousand years. How could she learn more about it now, except through Kerrigan’s visions?

Kerrigan left the arena and found Helly waiting for her on the sidelines. She applauded. “Well done.”

Kerrigan beamed. “Thanks. What are you doing out here?”

“I heard that you were having trouble, and I wanted to watch for myself instead of waiting for word.”

“Oh,” Kerrigan said faintly. “Well, I passed.”

“Good. I’m so proud of you.” Helly gestured for her to walk as they headed back up the hill toward the mountain. “I did want to ask you about Zina. I have reports that she left Kinkadia altogether. Weren’t you training with her last night?”

“Yes. I had a vision while we were together,” Kerrigan confessed.

“Really?” Helly asked. “I hadn’t told her that you had visions. Just spirit magic. It must have been a shock.”

“Yes. I, uh, saw her mother.”

Helly stopped, her eyes wide. “A vision of the past? Because Zina’s mother is long dead.”

“Yes, it was in the Great War when Zahina had just joined the Society. They argued, and then Mei left. It was the last time she saw her. She said, ‘That bastard,’ and then just left. Left me there.”

“Gods,” Helly whispered. “What a mess. Well, at least that explains why she vanished. Thank you for the insight. And if you have any more of these visions, let me know.”

Kerrigan nodded. She felt guilty that she hadn’t told Helly about the one about Mei putting up the wall. But her gut told her that she wasn’t ready to let anyone know that she might have the ability to take it down.

Kerrigan waved good-bye and then hurried to her afternoon lesson. Her friends actually cheered when she walked back into the room.

“You did it!” Audria cried, throwing her arms around Kerrigan.

“I did. We figured it out. I really must have been blocked.”

“I’m glad you passed,” Fordham said.

“Wouldn’t be the same without you,” Roake said with an eye roll.

She laughed and settled into her seat for history. While Movanna rattled on about the foundation of the Society, Kerrigan scribbled out a note to Fordham and dropped it onto his desk.

RFA event tonight, princeling. Join me?

He secretly glanced over at her and then opened the note. He scratched something out, scribbled a note, and then passed it back to her.

He’d scratched through princeling. She almost snorted.

Someone has to keep you in line.

She grinned down at the paper. Her toes curled as she imagined him keeping her in line. She was so relieved to not be kicked out of the program that she might even do something crazy and kiss Fordham Ollivier tonight. Might be stupid. Might be worth it. Only tonight would tell.

“Do I look ready for subterfuge?” Fordham asked when Kerrigan opened her bedroom door.

Her breath caught at the sight of him in all black silk. His black hair loose and tumbling into those ever-changing eyes. A half-smile on his sensuous mouth. His body so big and tall that he took up her entire doorway. He towered over her, and she loved it.

“You look ready for a ball,” she teased.

His smile dropped. “Our last one was quite eventful, wasn’t it?”

Despite sharing the library space frequently over the last months, they’d never brought up her betrothal to March again. She didn’t want it to be real. She hoped her father had figured out a way to break it. Because she had no intention of marrying that man even if he had changed into the upstanding gentleman that he appeared to be. The only gentleman she wanted was the sinister and domineering one in front of her.

“It was,” she said. “Let’s not repeat that night, okay?”

He nodded. “I’d like that.”

“Then let’s get going.”

She veered left instead of right, and he fell into step beside her.