She pushed past the remaining Red Masks on the line and ignored them as they tried to focus her elsewhere.
“Father’s orders,” she snapped.
Kerrigan looked around herself in terror, as she must have realized that she wasn’t completely out of danger. The prince had fallen to his knees next to her. He didn’t look like much as he was now. Not like the last time she’d gone up against him. She’d been practicing too. Maybe she’d forfeit both of their lives. Two less half-Fae sympathizers was all the better.
Kerrigan scrambled to her feet. She saw Isa coming toward her and put her hand on Fordham’s shoulder. He shook his head. He couldn’t get up to help her.
Good.
“Miss me?” Isa called to Kerrigan.
Kerrigan stiffened. She didn’t have to see Isa’s face. It was clear she recognized the voice. “Isa,” she snarled.
“I do love that I made such an impression.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“It’s fun, darling,” she trilled.
“Who are you working for?”
“Father, of course.”
Kerrigan’s eyes narrowed. She brought her fists up, as if that would save her. “What do you want?”
“You dead,” Isa told her flatly.
And then she stopped walking as she heard the flapping of wings.
Kerrigan looked up at the same moment as a giant black beast landed in the space behind them. Dragons were in the skies. Dozens of them heading in their direction, answering the call of their city.
Isa wiggled her fingers at Kerrigan in a mock wave. Maybe next time, she’d kill her but not when Father could see her misbehaving.
35
The Arrest
“Isa!” Kerrigan screamed into the night as the girl got away. As she always did. “Gods!”
Fordham groaned next to her, but his head was tipped up in fear. “Kerrigan, look.”
She’d only half-recognized the dragon who landed behind them. But now, she turned fully away from the assassin and to the man striding toward her in black Society robes—Lorian.
“No,” she whispered.
“Look what we have here,” Lorian said with a smile that practically glowed. Here was his excuse to have her kicked out. Here was his excuse to get rid of the half-Fae while his Red Masks terrorized the city.
“Fordham, you have to go for help,” she told him.
“I can’t. I’m drained.”
“You’re not,” she insisted. She didn’t know if it was true, but it had to be. “Go get Helly. Or Bastian. Just go to the mountain. You can do it. I know you can.”
“I won’t leave you.”
She looked down at him with determination in her eyes. “You can’t carry us both that far. Now, go!”
He squeezed her hand. The only confirmation she needed. Then, his black magic enveloped him one more time, and he vanished into thin air. She released a breath of relief. Lorian might have seen Fordham, but he couldn’t prove it. So, even if he couldn’t get help, he wouldn’t be in the thick of it. It would only be Kerrigan facing down the head of the Red Masks.
“I always knew that you were more trouble than you were worth,” Lorian taunted.
“Funny, I could say the same thing about you.”
Lorian bristled. “You dare talk to your superior like this!” His hand went to the pommel of his sword.
“Yes, I dare!” Kerrigan threw her hand to the carnage behind her. “Look at what is happening on the streets of Kinkadia. And you’re here, talking about how much trouble I am. People are lying dead, and you care more about me than that.”
“That is being taken care of,” he snarled.
That was when she saw the Society Guard rushing into the bottlenecked streets. A strange vapor emanated from their water magic. People were coughing and falling over.
“What are they doing to them?” Kerrigan gasped. “They’re innocent.”
“No one is innocent in a riot.”
“The Red Masks started this! Not the protestors.”
“A convenient answer. I don’t see any Red Masks, do you?”
Kerrigan rubbed her still-burning eyes and looked around at the destruction before her, but he was right. She didn’t see any Red Masks. He’d let them get away. By the time the Guard had returned, all of the masks had been safely hidden. No one the wiser. She wanted to scream.
Just then dragons rained water down on the burning buildings. Society members were in the skies, taking care of what the Guard hadn’t cleaned up in the streets. Kerrigan could already see shackles coming out. Arrests were being made all over the place. It was wrong. So wrong. This wasn’t even their fault.
“You can’t do this!”
Lorian scoffed. “What? My job? You’ll find that I can.”
Then, with her senses still addled from the smoke and his superior footwork, he whirled her in place, kicking her knees out from behind. Kerrigan gasped as she fell forward—hard. Gravel and bits of building dug into her knees. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she watched the devastation.
Lorian wrenched her arms behind her back. “By authority of the Society, I am placing you under arrest.”