House of Dragons (Royal Houses 1)

“Kerrigan is spunky and spontaneous. She loves weapons training and reading. She is fiercely loyal and fiercely competitive. Who here has chosen Kerrigan?”

Her heart raced as her eyes scanned the crowd for Ellerby. He’d been standing off to the right when it all started. But as the ceremony had gone on and worry crept through her, she’d lost him to her blurry vision and fear.

Now… she couldn’t find him.

He… he wasn’t there.

He wasn’t there at all.

11

The Offer

No one came forward.

Kerrigan’s hands were sweating at her sides. Her throat felt like she’d stuffed cotton balls down it. Her body was frozen in place.

And then she heard it. Laughter. People in the crowd were laughing at her.

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as shame and humiliation followed sharply. Like pinpricks turning to knife wounds. She didn’t want to cry. No, she couldn’t cry. Not here. Not before these people.

Her ears were ringing. This couldn’t be right. What had happened? Why would Ellerby have left?

“Now, now,” Moran admonished the crowd.

But Kerrigan was still standing there. She was still looking out at the sea of faces. And no one stepped forward. No one claimed her.

One word cut through the crowd—half-Fae.

Half-Fae.

Was that the reason this was happening? Had someone decided that half-Fae shouldn’t enter a tribe? Did Ellerby think that? He’d never made it seem that way in the past. He’d always been perfectly fine with her short ears and not even cared about magic. Everything had calmed down so much in the last five years; she’d been sure it wouldn’t matter.

Or… was she wrong? Had things just appeared to calm down?

Hadn’t she been attacked by Basem Nix in an alleyway for having the audacity to be half and beat him? Hadn’t he called her a leatha?

And of course, she’d known. She’d certainly known it wasn’t great. She hid her magic and her ears enough to know. But it was one thing to know and another thing to know.

To be standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people and not get chosen. To be laughed at.

“I…” she muttered.

She needed to get out of here. She didn’t want to be their amusement. Her father stepped forward, and she shook her head once. Because if this wasn’t humiliating enough, having her father vouch for her might be worse. She didn’t want to be shackled to him for any reason.

She was ready to rush off that horrible stage when the doors to the ceremony room burst open. Everyone wrenched away from Kerrigan’s fate to see who had just entered.

It was a disheveled Helly. Her eyes wide. Her hair out of its tight bun.

“The protests have turned into riots. We need more security to hold them back. Quickly!” Helly cried.

The party fell apart in a matter of minutes. Dragon Blessed were left behind by their new chosen family. Society members burst through the crowd toward Helly. Even Moran, who was hardly a fighter, hastened off the stage.

Kerrigan was left standing all alone. At least now, no one was paying attention to her.

She strode away from her friends and off the stage. She didn’t know where she was going or what she had in mind. She just needed to get away. Away from the life she’d thought she knew and the humiliating laughter from the crowd and the slimy feeling of standing onstage and no one choosing her.

But then she heard her name, and she stalled.

Helly ran to her side. “Kerrigan, the protest…”

“Yes,” she said at once before Helly could ask the question about her visions. “I wanted to find you when I first got here.”

“And the Red Masks?” she asked, pitching her voice lower.

“I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s the same protest as what I saw. But… it could be, Helly,” she whispered.

Helly nodded in understanding. “At least I know it is one and the same. It must mean that this is the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?”

“That, we will see,” Helly said evenly. She shook herself. “You were still onstage with Moran when I burst in. Was the ceremony not complete?”

“Oh, it was finished,” she said viciously.

Helly cocked her head to the side. “What happened?”

“No one chose me.”

Helly frowned. “That’s impossible.”

Kerrigan shot her a deadly look. “I do not jest.”

“Helly!” a voice called from the hall. “We need you to direct people.”

She waved at them. Her gaze was still on Kerrigan. “We will figure this out,” she told her confidently. “After this is complete, we will find a place for you.”

“Helly!” that voice yelled again.

She sighed and brushed a hand on Kerrigan’s shoulder before rushing out after the other Society members. The doors were closed and barred from the inside as the protests raged on in the night beyond.

Kerrigan only made it a dozen feet away from the stage before her friends caught up with her. Hadrian put his hand on her sleeve, but she pulled away. She didn’t want comfort like this. If anyone asked about her well-being, she might not be able to hold in her tears. The shape of humiliation still raged through her stomach, and she didn’t wish to unleash it until she was well and truly alone.