House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

A good question. But there was an easy answer.

“You did it to save face. If you tell us who it was, then maybe we can still plead your case. Get you sent t…”

“Prison for life?” he asked. “No, thanks.”

“Think of Oria,” she snapped.

He dipped his head. Surely, thinking about how his dragon would also suffer the same cruel fate today.

“I have thought of her. Speak with my dragon. She will tell you my heart.”

“The council already did.”

“Then, leave me. I have no information for you that I did not have for the council.” His head tipped up, and he looked at her with those same eyes that had always haunted her steps in the mountain. “I am innocent.”

Kerrigan didn’t know why she had bothered. He wasn’t going to give her anything. She trusted her gut. And her gut had said that she needed to talk to him to find out if what he had said was true. But he was determined to see this through.

“The gods be with your soul,” she whispered and then stepped out of the prison.

Guards passed her on her way back up to retrieve him for the execution. It was going to be a private affair due to his high role in the government. Only council members and family would be allowed to be present. It was a luxury, considering the treason charge.

Kerrigan didn’t want to be in the mountain when it happened. She’d told Ben and Bay she’d be back any moment, but she couldn’t go to those rooms and be okay when nothing was okay. Yes, she had her position and a good in to get a nomination to run for council. But Fordham was gone. The refugees were a mess waiting to happen. Humans and half-Fae still had limited rights. And something told her that Lorian was not the end of the violence he had started. That this was only the beginning.

She meandered away from the center of the mountain toward the eastern grounds. She could have gotten lost in the city, but today was not the day for a half-Fae to be wandering. Already, there were counter protests for Lorian’s death. He had been beloved in the city. Instead, she headed toward the greenhouses.

She touched the door and then retreated, moving away from the interior, where she had shared a heated kiss with Fordham. She walked the grounds, and a tug came from Tieran, checking on her. They’d gone flying the last two days to help her escape her thoughts, but it hadn’t been enough.

She sent a pulse back to let him know that she was wandering today. He seemed increasingly concerned, but she couldn’t deal with it right now. She shut down her side of the bond and felt the sinking failure seep over her. Tieran thought they had won. She didn’t want to continue to bring him down when she couldn’t process her own emotions.

With a heavy sigh, she stopped in the shade of an overgrown tree along the hillside. A figure approached her along the same walk. That was unusual, considering that no one came this way. Only the naturalists ever really ventured outside of the city limits like this. She pulled her magic in taut, fear clouding her judgment.

War had changed that. She reacted now without provocation. Screamed herself awake in the night as she was caught in another nightmare of slaughtering Fae before her eyes. It had been necessary. That did not mean it didn’t haunt her.

But as the figure came into view, she released her unease in measures. “Valia,” she said in surprise. “What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you,” she said, tucking a strand of her honey hair behind her ear and looking back the way she had come. “I thought you’d be in your rooms. Your attendants sent me to the dungeons.”

Kerrigan flushed. “Yes. Did you need something?”

Valia looked around again, as if she expected someone to jump out at them.

Kerrigan pulled her magic in once more. “What is it? Were you followed?”

She gulped. “I don’t think so. But I need to speak with you.”

“About what?”

Then, to Kerrigan’s shock, Valia burst into tears. Kerrigan gaped at the stoic girl who had been nothing but fierce the entire time she’d known her.

“Valia, what is it?”

Valia shook her head. “I can’t tell you. They’ll… they’ll kill me.” She hiccupped.

“Who?”

“The Red Masks,” she whispered.

Kerrigan swore she hadn’t heard her. “Who?”

“Please don’t make me repeat it.”

Kerrigan stepped away from the girl in horror. “Who are you?”

“I’m so sorry, Kerrigan. I was placed here. I was supposed to… I was supposed to gain your trust. Then, I was going to kill you.” She said it so matter-of-fact and somehow, without malice.

Then, it came back to her. That night in her room during the tournament. A vision had warned about a person with honey-wheat hair in her room. Kerrigan had thought nothing of it, because it had only been Valia. She’d been worried for no reason. But the warning had been real, and Valia was a threat. “That night during the tournament.”