House of Dragons (Royal Houses 1)

Dozan’s eyes glinted dangerously. He was not a man who was told no very often. He had expected her to grovel at his feet, to prostrate before him for the mere suggestion of it. And maybe, five years ago, she would have. He had been the one to save her, and in her youth, she had worshipped him for it.

But five years ago, he had been the son of the king of the wastes, and within a summer, he had murdered his family to take the throne. She had realized rather quickly that no matter how much she idolized Dozan, he could only love one thing—power.

“Come on, Clover. I should buy you a drink to make up for that black eye you’re likely to have,” Kerrigan said.

She held her hand out to her friend. Clover warily took it, uncertainly darting her eyes between Dozan and Kerrigan.

“I’d think about this carefully,” Dozan told her.

She smiled back just as dangerously as she wrenched the door open. “Oh, I already have.”

Then, she slammed the door in his face and went to get rip-roaring drunk with her friend.

15

The Bargain

Getting drunk might not have been the best idea she’d ever had.

Her head throbbed as she wandered into the mountain before dawn. She ambled back to her rooms within the House of Dragons, rooms she had shared with Darby for as long as she could remember, and still, it surprised her that her friend was up and… packing when she got home. Clothes were strewn everywhere, and a handful of boxes lay at her feet.

“What are you doing?” Kerrigan asked. She removed Fordham’s cloak and tossed it against the back of a wooden chair.

Darby jumped. “Kerrigan! There you are.”

“You’re packing already?”

“Well… yes,” she said sheepishly. “Where did you go last night? Hadrian and I looked everywhere.”

“To the Wastes.”

“Kerrigan, it’s dangerous.” Darby sighed heavily. “But you don’t care about danger. It’s in your blood. I shouldn’t even be surprised.”

“After the catastrophe of last night… probably not.” Kerrigan flopped back on her bed and held her head. “I have to go talk to Helly.”

“Looking like that?” Darby shook her head. She rummaged through Kerrigan’s clothes and tossed her pants and a shirt. “Change, and let me brew you something for your head.”

“You’re a dream, Darbs. Your healing magic should always be used for hangover cures.”

Darby snorted as she began to mix something together.

“Seriously, shat am I going to do without you?”

The words were supposed to be playful, but they came out mournful. She hadn’t meant for it to happen, but then the real thought came crashing down. What was she going to do without Darby at her side?

“You’ll make do,” Darby said evenly. “Tell me your plan.”

“Well, Helly said that we’ll figure something out. I assume that means that she’ll want me to stay an extra year,” Kerrigan said bitterly. “But I can’t do that. There’s no way that I can endure another year of meetings with potential tribes or get on that stage again with the year below us, hoping it’ll be different than this year.”

“No, that would be… impossible.” Darby struck the fire starter together once, twice… and on the third time, Kerrigan just gave her a flame.

Darby looked at her ruefully. “And where would I be without you?”

“Still trying to light the fire.”

Darby laughed and put the water on to boil. “So, what do you plan to do about it?”

“I’m going to figure out what happened with Ellerby. Surely, it was a mistake,” she said doubtfully.

“What if it wasn’t?” Darby whispered.

Kerrigan couldn’t think of that, so she jested to keep from her terror. “Well, Dozan did offer me to be his queen.”

Darby rolled her eyes. “As if you could ever be someone’s puppet queen.” She looked slyly at Kerrigan. “Even someone you were obsessed with when we were younger.”

Kerrigan’s cheeks turned red. “I was not obsessed with him.”

“Oh, you can’t fool me,” Darby said, tending to the water as it hissed. She dropped some herbs into it and then handed a mug over to Kerrigan.

“Fine. He was rather handsome when I was twelve.”

“He’s still handsome,” Darby said.

Kerrigan raised an eyebrow.

“Not for me! Obviously, I like girls,” Darby said shyly. “But… it doesn’t matter. He’s handsome and a snake. You know better.”

Right. She knew better.

Kerrigan finished her drink and then passed it back to Darby. Her headache was much improved. She was going to need to drink less if she wouldn’t have Darby as a roommate to put her back together.

Kerrigan quickly changed into the clothes that Darby had picked out and discarded the clothes Clover had let her borrow the night before. Her ceremony dress was still tucked into Clover’s small room, forgotten. She hoped to never see it again. Burn it for all she cared.

The mountain was teeming with life. Servants bustled through the corridors, preparing for the first day of the dragon tournament. Society members in their ceremonial black cloaks stood together in twos and threes, discussing what was to come. Though, of course, no one knew what the first task would be, save for the three tournament masters this year.