by K. A. Linde
49
The Rally
Dozan arched an eyebrow. “You’re ready for this?”
“Don’t I look ready?”
They waited inside his office for Thea to work her magic with her contacts. Getting a sizable enough crowd together on such short notice was a feat in and of itself. The fact that Kerrigan had demanded that it take place just outside of the Wastes was another matter altogether. Thea had tried to argue that it wouldn’t reach the Fae and members of the Society that most needed to hear her speech, but Kerrigan was tired of speaking for those who wouldn’t listen. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it for herself, for the humans and half-Fae, for the Dregs.
Dozan leaned back against his desk, seemingly unperturbed by the demand in her voice. “Last night, you were yelling at me that you’d never be ready. I’m trying to make sure you know what you’re doing.”
“Last night, they hadn’t kicked me out of the program!”
“Fair. I can’t say that I’m upset by the circumstances. You are better than they will ever be.”
“Let’s get this over with.” She rubbed her hands together to bite back the chill. Spring was well on its way, but she’d forgotten how much colder it was outside of the mountain.
Dozan stood and came to her side. He brushed her hair behind her recognizably half-Fae ear. “That fire in your eyes makes me remember why I fell for you in the first place.”
She scoffed. “You never fell for me, Dozan. You saw power. That’s all you love.”
“This look holds all the power in the world,” he said, tracing her jawline. “I cannot wait to watch you conquer it.”
She pulled away from him, her face flushing. His words kindled something deep within her and made her forget for a moment at least what she was about to do. Likely his desired effect anyway.
Kerrigan turned to the door. “Let’s go find Thea.”
“As you wish,” he said, coming to her side with a smirk on his face that said he knew how much he affected her.
Kerrigan stepped out of Dozan’s office and across the hallway to a large conference room, which she’d never used before today. Thea stood among the rest of the Rights For All leaders as well as Clover and Hadrian. To Kerrigan’s surprise, they were holding hands.
She arched an eyebrow in her friends’ direction. Clover shrugged, all nonchalant as she drew a loch cigarette to her lips. Hadrian looked chagrined, but he didn’t pull back. Well, that was new. How little had she seen her friends if she didn’t even know when or how this had happened. She’d have all the time she needed now, and she’d make up for it.
“Kerrigan,” Thea said, drawing her into a hug. “How are you feeling?”
“Ready whenever you are.”
Thea nodded. “We’re almost ready. My runners have been all over Kinkadia for the last couple hours, and look.” She drew back the curtain on Dozan’s window.
Kerrigan could see the growing crowd beyond. Her jaw dropped. “So many.”
“All for you, my dear,” Thea said, beaming. “I’m so glad that you’ve agreed to speak out. I am sorry for the circumstances.”
“It’s time,” Kerrigan said. “Long past time. Though I was afraid no one would come…”
“Yes, well, attendance has been much lower at our events since the riot. We’ve been keeping a lower profile. Plus, I can hardly blame them. This was what happened when Cyrene won the tournament. They always try to put us down. It’s how they remain in control. But we’re not going to stop this time around.”
“No, we’re not.”
The volume outside was growing increasingly louder. A chant had been taken up by those nearest the front, and it moved backward through the crowd. She pushed the window open slightly to try to hear what they were saying.
“Kerr-i-gan. Kerr-i-gan. Kerr-i-gan.”
She straightened her shoulders. She’d gotten the people here. They were chanting her name. It was time.
Thea must have seen the change in her demeanor. “Shall we? I’ll introduce you.”
“After you.”
Clover appeared then, grasping her hand briefly. “Good luck out there.”
“Thanks.” Kerrigan tilted her head at Hadrian. “How long has this been going on?”
She shrugged. “Since the riot.”
“Ah,” Kerrigan said. “Does Darby know?”
Clover’s head bobbed. “It didn’t go over well.”
“Do you love him?”
Clover glanced over at Hadrian and back. “I feel like I could love them both.”
Kerrigan arched an eyebrow. “More power to you. If I tried that, someone would end up dead.”
Clover snorted. “So true.”
“It’s time, Kerrigan,” Thea said gently.
Clover released her with a nod, and then Kerrigan was walking through the Wastes. Dozan led the way, and Thea stood at her side. He opened the door to his private entrance, and Thea went to warm up the crowd.
She stood in the small space with Dozan. Tension was high as she waited for the moment of a lifetime.
“Kerrigan…”
“Don’t,” she whispered. She met his amber gaze. “Just… don’t.”
He smiled, an almost-genuine gesture. “You know you owe me big time for all of this, don’t you?”
She snorted. “And there’s the Dozan that I know.”
“And love?” he countered.
She shouldered past him and out the door without a reply. She did owe Dozan for this. He was providing the space both inside and out of the Wastes without talk of payment. And he’d bolstered Thea’s numbers by sending out his own birds to all of the taverns in the Dregs. He hadn’t had to do that. And she still hadn’t thought that anyone would come to hear what she had to say.
“May I introduce to you, Kerrigan,” Thea said to the sound of uproar.
As she climbed the few steps that led to the wooden stage, she kept her face neutral instead of the utter shock that she felt. Not just at the half-Fae and humans who had attended previous Rights For All events and were here again. They were primarily the well-off bunch. The ones who had the means and spare time to spend fighting for their own rights. Those few were drowned out by the working class in attendance. Her people—the literal Dregs of Kinkadia—had come out to see her. The ones who had cheered her name in the Dragon Ring, who gambled with Clover, who had bought her drinks for her victory. They had shown up, and they had shown up in droves. The sea of people vanished in the distance to a ripple of bodies. And every one of them was here for her.
Thea had shown her the air magic to use to amplify her voice, and she spun the magic as she took center stage. She held her hand up, and eventually, the noise quieted.
“Today was a day like any other,” she began, her voice carrying to the farthest reaches of the crowd with ease. “You woke up. You broke your fast. You went to work. You came home, expecting to wake up and do it all over again, weighted down by the judgment and prejudice against your existence. You feel it in the jeers about your ears and the pittance in your wages and the lack of respect afforded to you by the very people who are supposed to govern you. I have called you here because we cannot go on like this.”
Kerrigan raised her hands as a cheer rose up. She waited until it crested before continuing, “Nearly a year ago, I was named a member of the Society. To all eyes, it appeared a step in the right direction. Today, they showed how truly threatened they were by that step forward. Any achievement by one of us is a threat to their power, and they will react in turn. So, they responded by kicking me out of the Society.”
A gasp rang through the crowd. Apparently, word had not gotten out about what had happened. It had been a closed-door meeting. Kerrigan was supposed to have been “debriefed” by a council member and then shunted off somewhere to disappear. Oh, how wrong they were about her.
“Yes, it’s true,” she said with fire in her heart and eyes. “A half-Fae ascended to their government, and their response was to find the first avai
lable reason to get rid of her. The same excuses they use to keep you down, to keep you in your place.”
She met the gazes of those near her. “I see the hurt and pain that has been done to you over the years. The oppression that has not only made you suffer in poor jobs for less pay, but has also broken your spirit. There is a life in Kinkadia for the rich. The rest can be swept away to the Dregs, where the Society doesn’t have to pay attention.”
People were nodding through the crowd. They knew this life. They’d lived it.
“Where the Society doesn’t have to face the truth. And I think that time has ended.”
More cheers and cries. She could hear her name rising up from the crowd once more.
“I am Kerrigan Argon. I was born a Fae noble. I was abandoned at the age of five for having the audacity to be half-Fae. I rose up in the ranks of the House of Dragons, their very system, and still, they cast me aside because I was perceived as less than. Still, I joined the Society. You all watched me come back with a dragon. Finally, a voice for us that we have always deserved. And now, they expect us to be silent? We can no longer be silent!” Kerrigan cried. “We have demands. We demand a seat at the table. We demand representation in the government. We demand equal treatment and pay in our work. We demand equal treatment by the Guard. We demand to be known and heard as equals in the great city of Kinkadia.”
She increased the air magic, making her voice practically boom across the crowd. She wanted it to be loud enough that the mountain trembled.
“Only then—when all humans, half-Fae, and Fae live together as equals—will we rest. Only then will we be free!”
She threw her fist into the air to punctuate her closing statement. The crowd followed, pumping their arms and calling her name over and over again.
50
The Aftermath
Thea came back onstage then and directed the massive crowd on where to begin the march. Kerrigan ducked back inside and pressed her back to the door. They’d argued about whether or not Kerrigan should lead the march down out of the Dregs to the base of the mountain. She’d wanted to do it, but considering that she’d just escaped, they didn’t want to risk her being arrested again.
On the other side of the door, she heard the rallying cries of the beaten taking up for themselves for the first time in so long. And she was the one who had gotten them out there. She was glad to be part of the movement and terrified that she would walk a new group of people to their deaths.
She pushed off of the door. She couldn’t let that weigh on her conscience any more than the last rally. It hadn’t turned into a riot because of her. The deaths weren’t hers either.
When she stepped out of the darkened hallway, Dozan Rook waited for her. “Bravo.”
There wasn’t an ounce of jest in his voice. And for a split second, they were back in time. He wasn’t yet a king. She was just a girl, not a symbol. One word of praise from him would have meant the world. She let it fill her then and smiled back at him.
“Thank you for your help in this.”
“Aye, princess,” he said, slipping his hands into his pockets. “You’ll have one more thing to thank me for.”
“Oh?”
Fordham appeared out of the shadows.
“I didn’t kill him when he set foot on my property,” Dozan said.
He looked as formidable as ever. He was wrapped in black silk. Those storm-cloud eyes swirling like a tornado. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight. They’d been on such unsteady ground ever since Geivhrea. She wanted to fling herself into his arms but held herself back at the last moment. “What are you doing here?”
“I helped you escape, and you didn’t think that I’d come find you?”
“What’s happening at the mountain?”
Fordham shrugged. “Lorian is in an uproar. He swore that he would catch you and try you publicly for what you’d done. Helly managed to talk him down. She also kept from showing her pleasure and the fact that you’d gotten away. But she couldn’t hide it from me. She asked me to check on you once things calmed down. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lorian is knocking down these doors soon as well.”
“Let him try,” Dozan boasted.
Fordham shot him a venomous look. “You can’t hold back an assault from the Society.”
“You have no idea what I’m capable of,” Dozan drawled.
“He has a dragon. He is on the council.”
“He has no warrant to search the place.”
“As if he needs it,” Fordham said with a scoff. “This place is a heathen’s den, and Kerrigan is a known quantity here. If he suspects that she’s here, he’ll walk right through the front door with or without permission.”
Dozan eyed the prince up and down, as if he thought this was a fight he could win. “Is that a threat?”
“A promise,” Fordham said. “Which is why we need to move Kerrigan today before he gets a whiff of that.” He pointed to the sounds of the rally outside.
“She stays here. She’s safe with me,” Dozan said.
“You cannot protect her.”
“Enough!” Kerrigan spat at both of them. “I will determine my own fate. All of your posturing is making me sick of you both.”
But neither of them seemed to be listening. It was as if she had completely disappeared and the tension between Fordham and Dozan had finally boiled over. If she didn’t do something, then it would come down to fists. And truly, she didn’t want to see the outcome to that.
“I said, enough!” Kerrigan yelled.
She forced her way between them. Her already-erratic magic answered her call with zeal. She gasped as the energy from her spirit magic welled and shot out of her hands. Both of the boys were thrown across the room. Their backs hit the wall with a thud, and they skidded down the walls to the floor. Neither looked wounded beyond their pride. Both looked shocked by the outburst.
Kerrigan panted as the wave of energy took everything out of her. It had hardly felt like anything, and now, the magic sickness was taking over again. She could feel her vision dimming at the edges already.
“Oh gods,” she whispered.
Her knees hit the ground. Despite what she’d just done, Fordham and Dozan rushed back to her side at once.
“Kerrigan?” Dozan asked.
“Is it happening again?” Fordham said.
She nodded. “Get… Amond.”
Then, she toppled over as her world went black.
Mei pushed her back flat against the war tent. As if she could make herself invisible by force of will. All around her were men and women wearing the black robes of the Society. Commanders in the dragon riders army with pins denotating their rank. The best she could hope for was that no one would notice her.
But she was not that lucky.
Trulian’s gaze shifted to hers so briefly that nearly no one would recognize that it had happened. Master Roan noticed though. He noticed everything.
“Girl.” He snapped his fingers, and Mei jumped.
“Sir,” she said, bowing slightly at the waist.
“Come forward.”
Mei did as he’d said and stopped before the table. All eyes were on her now. She wasn’t timid, but there were no right answers here. Only problems.
“You are the ambassador to the Dark Court?”
Mei cringed. “Tribe Charbonnet,” she countered. “Or if you must… the House of Shadows.”
The Dark Court was what the Society had decided to call her court for disagreeing with how humans and half-Fae were treated within. They weren’t perfect, but it wasn’t like the Society treated them any different. And a civil war wasn’t exactly improving the conflict between Fae and the others.
Master Roan waved his hand dismissively. They were the enemy. He would call them whatever he chose.
“Point out the entrances to Ravinia Mountain.”
Mei blinked and then narrowed her eyes. “Why?”
“That isn’t your concern.”
“I think it is.”
Trulian stepped forward, clearing his throat. “I think explaining the tactical advantage to her would be helpful, Commander.”
Master Roan nodded at Trulian. A man, so thus someone he saw as an equal. Oh, how far the Society had to go.
“The war has dragged on long enough. If we can seal off the mountain, how long do you think it’ll take for the bastards to starve?”
Mei didn’t let shock show on her face. No, she was from Charbonnet after all. She would reveal nothing to these people. Only cold, hard fury.
“The stores are nearly boundless. A couple hundred years at least,” she said with confidence. “If they don’t dig themselves out before then.”
Roan nodded. “Then, it’s settled,” he ground out. “Dismissed.”
Settled. It was settled. What did that mean?
“What is settled, sir?”
He met her gaze. “If sealing them away won’t work, then we’ll bring the mountain down on them.” He said it with not one ounce of remorse. This was war. He made decisions about who lived and who died. And today, he was condemning the lives of her people.
“There are civilians in the mountain, sir. Women and children,” she said levelly. She knew he wouldn’t respond to hysterics despite how she felt.
“All the better to end the war sooner by destroying their escape route.” Roan raised his eyebrow, as if waiting for her to object.
Trulian intervened. “I’ll escort the ambassador out.”
“See that you do. And keep her quiet, Master Trulian.”
Mei turned on her heel and stalked out of the tent. She knew what “keep her quiet” meant. Roan wanted her put down in a shallow grave. What would that mean for Zahina? She’d joined this ridiculous Society as well. Despite her best interest.
“Mei…” Trulian began.
“Don’t say it, Tru,” she barked. She continued forward, stomping through the mud. “I’m going to talk to Zina, and then we’re leaving.”
“I cannot abandon my people.”
Mei shook her head. “It’s a short trip.”