House of Dragons (Royal Houses 1)

She headed down the steps and stopped before a potted plant nearly out of sight. With a backward glance at the rest of the festivities, she emptied half the liquid in the pot.

Nothing happened. What had she been expecting anyway? It was likely just a particularly potent brew of the faerie punch. She’d had her fair share of dangerous concoctions in her life. Her heart clutched as she remembered more than one occasion with Lyam where they’d gotten so drunk from the faerie punch that they passed out before they even made it back to their rooms.

Just as she was about to turn her back on the entire ordeal, the pot began to… smoke. The dirt had been reduced to ash, and the liquid was actually disintegrating the stone.

Her eyes widened in horrified alarm. If it could do this to stone, what would it have done to her stomach? Kerrigan hastily tossed the rest of the liquid, thanking the gods for her visions. Under any other circumstances, she wouldn’t have thought twice about taking a sip of an offered drink. Holy scales.

“Careful there,” a voice said with a tinkling laugh as a hand clamped down on her wrist. “Don’t want to stumble back into the pools.”

Kerrigan halted in her steps. She hadn’t even realized that she had been walking backward, away from the horror of the poisoned drink. Someone was here. They were here and they knew she was here and they had just tried to kill her. Again.

Was it Basem? Did he somehow know her ploy to get him here and confront him?

“Are you all right?” the girl asked gently.

And that was when Kerrigan realized who was touching her. She hadn’t noticed at first with her in a dove-gray gown that hugged all of her curves or the blonde hair in a perfect, aristocratic coif. But she would know that voice anywhere, especially coupled with the bright blue eyes and pink-painted lips.

It appeared that Audria recognized her as well. “Kerrigan?” she asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh… hi, Audria,” Kerrigan said, losing her ability to form coherent sentences around the girl.

“I thought that you were confined to the mountain,” she whispered. She flicked a lock of Kerrigan’s brown hair. “I like the color.”

“I, uh… well…”

Audria looped their arms together. “You don’t have to tell me. I’d want to get out too.” Audria glanced behind her. “I’ve just ditched Roake actually. Boy is as hard to get rid of as a leech.”

Kerrigan laughed lightly as Audria directed them away from the noise of the pools and deeper into the gardens. She should have felt unease creep in as they escaped the party together, but somehow, she couldn’t feel that with Audria. The last thing she wanted was for Audria to realize who she had once been, but she couldn’t deny that Audria’s presence, as terrifying and confusing as it was, felt natural.

“Where are we going?” Kerrigan asked.

“Just trying to keep Roake at bay,” Audria said with her easy laugh. “The party is a little… much, isn’t it?”

Kerrigan nodded despite herself. “Kivrin does like to go over the top.”

Audria slanted her eyes toward her. “He does have that tendency.”

“I should really… get back.”

“Are you here with Fordham?”

“Uh… no. I came alone.”

Audria looked disbelieving. “Just stay with me a minute longer. I’d like to keep Roake’s grubby hands far from my silk dress as possible.”

“Why do you put up with him?” Kerrigan asked.

Audria shrugged. “He’s not so bad. Not all the time. But when he’s drunk…” Audria sighed and gestured in a you know what I mean sort of way.

“Ah.”

They entered a small, circular garden lined with benches that would likely be occupied for more devious things later in the evening but were as yet unoccupied. Audria sank gracefully into one and patted the chair next to her for Kerrigan to follow. Kerrigan reluctantly did so.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Uh… sure,” Kerrigan said.

“Have you ever heard of the story of the lost princess of Bryonica?”

Kerrigan froze in place. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Oh gods.

“I think… I think everyone has,” she said faintly.

“Of course,” Audria said lightly. “Well, I actually knew Lady Felicity. We were so young and we became fast friends. Our parents visited frequently, and when we were together, the world was ours for the taking. We were practically sisters. But then, twelve years ago, Lady Felicity disappeared.” Audria turned to look at her. “Lord Kivrin was bereft over his only daughter’s apparent vanishing. The entire kingdom searched for her. The capital city, my lovely Rosemont, was turned over to find the small girl, but not a single trace was found. She was poof. Gone.”

Kerrigan said nothing. Just met Audria’s questioning gaze.

“Lady Felicity Argon, First of the House of Cruse, a Bryonican royal, and the lost princess of our people was just… gone.”