House of Shadows: Royal Houses Book Two

by K. A. Linde

  A different world?

  “Yes, I found it difficult to believe as well. She agreed to train me in spiritcasting. We’re to meet at midnight at the next full moon to begin training.”

  That is in four days, and we fly into battle.

  “Well, I didn’t know that when I met her.”

  Tieran’s body rumbled. Of course not.

  “I did ask her about dragon bonding though. There are dragons in her world.”

  He lit up at that. Another world with more of my kind?

  “Yes.” Not that she wanted to tell him that it sounded like they weren’t the same kind of dragons at all. He likely wouldn’t take kindly to knowing that they were just beasts. “And she told me how to use a bond through my spirit magic. She called it a crux bond. Should I try?”

  Might as well see if it works.

  Kerrigan gulped and sat back up, letting the chill from the clouds rush around her. She focused on reaching for her magic. It was still depleted, thanks to her blackout, but it rose to her. She sifted through it until she found that spot where her spirit resided. It wasn’t readily available, but at least she could locate it. It was what allowed her to slip onto the spirit plane, which she would have thought would be enough energy to keep the magic sickness at bay but apparently not.

  Then, she focused all of her energy on creating the small golden ball of light that Cleora had shown her. To her relief, it materialized as easily in the real world as on the plane. She took a deep breath and then stretched the ball into a long, thin line of light. It pulsed a little in her hand, and she shivered.

  Cleora had made it seem like crux bonds were entirely one-sided. She would be in total control of the dragon she tethered this to, but she didn’t want that. She wanted a two-way connection with Tieran. A makeshift bonding like the ones that the Society used. Even if Cleora had thought it was barbaric.

  She focused her intention, shaping the bond. She had no idea if it was working, but she filled it with all the good feelings she had about being bonded. The sarcastic voice he used with her when she was being reckless. The wind in her hair as they flew as a perfect unit. The hours spent at Waisley fighting together. The relief at seeing him after their expulsion. She wrapped it all up in one perfect intention on the crux.

  Now, she was supposed to tether it to her dragon. She had no practical idea of what that meant. She tried throwing one end of it down at him, but that did next to nothing. She tried wrapping it around the saddle, but that was futile. She frowned and considered why it wouldn’t do whatever Cleora had said. Maybe because the intent was for them to both be connected, she needed to tether it to herself as well. She looped the end of the crux bond to her wrist three times and then stretched the end and wrapped it the same number of times around Tieran’s neck.

  What are you doing? he demanded.

  “Tethering it to the both of us,” she said as she finished the loop.

  Then, she released both sides of the crux bond, and the gold light vanished. She gasped. “Oh my gods. Do you feel any different?”

  No.

  She tugged experimentally at her wrist and gasped again. Even though the tether was invisible, she could actually feel her connection to Tieran.

  “Did you feel that?”

  He pulled up slightly in surprise. I did. It was like you were tugging on me.

  “You try!”

  Tieran moved his head slightly, and she felt it all the way down to her wrist. Tears came to her eyes. It wasn’t a real bond. Not like the ones that the Society had, but it was the most she had ever been connected to Tieran. And so long as it was in place, she would always feel him. She never had to remove it.

  “I felt that,” she said, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him. “We’re bonded, Tier. We’re bonded.”

  Hours later, they flew around the three great mountains that made up the House of Shadows. It was shocking to just be able to see the mountains. All those years, they had been hidden. When Kerrigan had flown here last time, she’d felt sick, just being near the mountains, and she couldn’t even see them. Now, that was all gone.

  The wall was truly down. No trace of Mei remained behind. It made her sad to think that she was gone entirely. But of course, she continued in her daughter.

  The dragons veered east toward Lethbridge, and Kerrigan’s heart sank to her stomach.

  “Oh no,” she whispered.

  Smoke rose high in the distance. She couldn’t quite smell it, but they all knew what that meant. Night was falling, and Lethbridge was under attack.

  The dragons landed in a clearing just west of Lethbridge. Scouts continued on to figure out what had happened. Alura was one of them. She’d landed long enough to deposit her bags and then burst into action again. They watched her fly away, knowing tomorrow, it would be them.

  Kerrigan went about helping to set up the camp. She hoisted tents with Audria, who seemed grateful for the last year. She’d never seen a tent before they went through battlefield conditions in one of Lorian’s lessons. He’d ridiculed Kerrigan intensely even though she and Fordham were the only ones who knew what they were doing. And now, none of that mattered.

  All that mattered was the battle to come. Not that she and Fordham were members of the House of Shadows. Not that there were people on the other side of that wall that she knew. Not that she might not be allowed to continue with the Society after this. Just tomorrow.

  Trulian appeared himself after they ate dinner. “You,” he barked at Fordham. “Come with me.”

  “Yes, sir,” Fordham said. He didn’t even ask questions. He’d defaulted to his military training.

  Kerrigan wasn’t so well trained. She jumped up too. “What’s going on?”

  “Maybe you should come with us too. If you have half as much strength as my Mei did, then you’ll be an asset,” he said. Then, he jerked his head and stomped back toward the largest tent at the center of the small camp.

  Kerrigan fell into step next to Fordham. She hadn’t had a chance to talk to him as they flew. He must be in turmoil at the thought of what was coming.

  “Ford,” she whispered.

  He shook his head, and without a word, he tromped forward at a faster clip. He was a full head taller than her, and she had to all but jog to catch up. They didn’t say another word. Trulian threw open the tent flap, and they followed him inside.

  Kerrigan stalled, as if going back in time. The war camp in her vision had been larger, stabler, and full of men in black Society robes. But this was much the same. There were fewer people, and women dotted the space. A welcome change to a thousand years ago. Mei had been one of the only women in that tent. But this was still a commander’s war tent.

  Helly stood at a table. Who knew where they’d gotten it? Lorian was on her right. Zina floated in an almost trance in the back of the tent. Kerrigan recognized one of the other people in the room—Mistress Corinna, Head of the Guard. The rest of the faces were strangers. No other council members were in attendance.

  “What is she doing here?” Lorian demanded. “Arrest her!”

  Trulian waved the accusation away. “She’s here at my command.”

  Lorian balked. “You are an esteemed warrior of the Great War, Master Trulian,” he said, starstruck, “but I am a council member. She was ejected from our service and has no place here.”

  “I am also a council member,” Helly said. “I invited her under Trulian’s advice. Considering Trulian is the only other member here who has been on the council—and head of the council at that—I believe that we outnumber you.”

  Lorian glared at Helly. “This is uncalled for.”

  “We’re in the middle of a war,” Trulian snarled. “Arguing over one girl is pointless. We have exactly forty-two dragons and riders present and no foot soldiers. We are at least a two days, maybe more, away from any reinforcements, and you’re arguing about one girl? She is trained in the art of warfare. We will use her as I see fit. Do you understand?”

  Lori
an looked very clearly like he wanted to argue with Trulian. But how could you argue with a legend?

  “Understood,” Lorian finally said.

  “Good. Then, let’s get on with it. One of the scouts is back. Alura, would you like to give your report?”

  Alura stepped forward, her hands held stiffly behind her back. She didn’t glance at her father once. “Yes, General. The city has fallen. The walls are barred. I counted roughly six thousand soldiers.”

  Kerrigan’s stomach dropped. Six thousand soldiers? They’d moved them that fast? Holy gods!

  “Any weaknesses?” Trulian asked.

  Alura ground her teeth together and then shook her head. “None that I saw. They’re carting large wooden crates and depositing them around the walls. I couldn’t get near enough to see what was in them.”

  Trulian nodded and then looked to Fordham. “Well?”

  Fordham inhaled sharply, as if realizing for the first time what Trulian wanted with him. He must have guessed from the start, but actually hearing it aloud was something else. “Sir?”

  “They tell me you’re the crowned prince of the Dark Court.” Fordham clenched his jaw at the old insult. “Society before tribe. Tell us what we need to know.”

  “Sir, respectfully, we shouldn’t be in this fight,” Fordham said plainly.

  “Explain.”

  “I believe that we should hold off on an attack and send in someone for negotiations.”

  “You believe they’ll surrender?”

  Fordham shifted on his feet, which was how Kerrigan knew that he was going to lie. It was his only tell. “Yes. I think they’d listen to me.”

  Trulian scoffed, “That doesn’t sound like the court I remember.”

  “That was a thousand years ago, Trulian,” Lorian interjected. “Perhaps the boy’s information is more up to date.”

  “I’m well aware that I was fighting the Great War long before any of you were even a glimmer in your parents’ eyes. What I want is the truth. What does negotiating bring us?”

  “No more death,” Fordham said.

  “They started this fight. They understand casualties.”

  Fordham squared his shoulders. “I’m well aware. But it is their first taste of freedom. I would think that they would like to live to see it last more than a few days.”

  “I have to agree with him,” Lorian said. “You fought them. You have your old prejudices. But are they really all that different than you and me? They’re Fae. They want land. I can understand that. We can settle this without bloodshed.”

  Helly snorted at Lorian. “He has old prejudices? Last I checked, he was fighting for the end of the human and half-Fae slavery that you still support in your outdated ideals.” It was the first time Helly had actively spoken out against him in public, but there were no other council members here. It was just her versus Lorian, and Trulian was backing her. She had the power.

  “I don’t support slavery,” he said, offended by the accusation.

  “Indenture is common in the Dregs among half-Fae and humans. Many are homeless. They don’t feel like they have a voice. The Red Masks are running free. And now, you want to negotiate with the people who would put them in more danger? Are you out of your mind?” Helly turned to Fordham. “No offense to your people, but the last thing we need is more bigotry in Alandria.”

  Fordham stiffened but said nothing.

  “Then, it’s settled,” Trulian said. “No negotiating with the enemy. Tell us if Alura’s judgment is accurate.”

  Fordham balled his hands into fists. “It’ll be closer to ten thousand soldiers. We’ve been fighting since we were old enough to carry a sword, and we know precisely what we’re doing. These aren’t young bucks. They’ll stop at nothing. They’ll slaughter us.”

  “They don’t have dragons,” Trulian countered.

  “Oh, shut it, all of you,” Zina said, jerking out of her trance. “Leave the boy alone. Six thousand or ten thousand. Dragons or no dragons. We’re all about to walk into literal hell. Let them get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll figure it out in the morning.”

  “Zahina,” Trulian barked.

  “You know we have the advantage, General. If you’re not going to give them the option of backing out, then what does it matter anyway?”

  Trulian sighed at his daughter’s words. “Fine. Fordham, you’re dismissed. Kerrigan, I want you to work with Zina on your casting.”

  “Of course, sir.” Kerrigan bowed and then followed Zina out of the tent.

  Fordham stomped off away from them.

  “He’ll be fine,” Zina said. “He just learned a hard lesson about war.”

  “Yeah. Your dad is…”

  “An asshole?”

  Kerrigan laughed. “Um, I was going to say intimidating.”

  “He’s just too stubborn to go into the abyss.”

  “I am sorry that you had to hear about your mother the way you did.”

  Zina shrugged. “He should have told me about her when it happened. Not a thousand years later. It was selfish. And look, it brought us right back to another battlefield.” Zina hopped into another hover. “Anyway, I’m not training you. I used it as an excuse to get out of that tent. You know all that you need to know for tomorrow. Just follow that boy before he does something stupid.”

  Kerrigan’s gaze landed on Fordham, still heading back to the tent. She was afraid that Zina was right.

  56

  The Negotiations

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Kerrigan asked when she found Fordham staring blankly into the fire.

  Audria arched an eyebrow, but Kerrigan just shook her head. There was no point in getting her involved. Fordham’s hurt couldn’t be understood by someone who had never seen him with his people.

  It was complicated. He hated the House of Shadows in a deep and personal way. He also loved his home and his people just as deeply. He was their crowned prince. He had always planned to serve as their king. Only everything had changed with his exile. He’d learned the hard way that things were both better and worse than he’d known.

  “No,” he growled.

  “Okay. I can just sit here then.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be training?”

  “Zina said I knew everything I needed to know.”

  He shrugged. “Probably true.”

  “And anyway, she didn’t want you to do anything stupid.”

  He jerked his head toward her, and there was anger in his eyes. “Like betraying my people by giving information to defeat them to the Society?”

  “Like betraying the Society and giving information to the House of Shadows.”

  “I would never do that,” he snapped. “Society before tribe.”

  “In the abstract, yes. In reality, they’re still your people.”

  He didn’t say anything, just crossed his arms and stared into the endless flames. Finally, when she didn’t speak again, he asked, “Did you take the wall down?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe? I was still connected to the wall through Mei.” Kerrigan looked down and then met his mercurial gaze. “She was one of you, you know?”

  “One of what?”

  “She was from Charbonnet. She was the ambassador.”

  Fordham looked back at her, all defiance in his expression. “No, she wasn’t. I would have known that. Our people wouldn’t have done that to us.”

  “The Society was going to bring down the mountain and kill everyone inside,” Kerrigan told him. “Men, women, and children.”

  He stilled. “They were going to destroy Ravinia Mountain?”

  “Yes. Mei believed the only way to save you was to make the Society forget where the House of Shadows was. There were unintended consequences, and truly, I believe it lasted longer than she’d thought it would.”

  “It was done as protection… and not punishment,” he said, as if tasting that for the first time.

  “Yes. And when I learned that, I was connected to the wall, to her me
mories.”

  Fordham nodded solemnly. “It’s good that it’s down. People should have a choice.”

  “They should,” she agreed. “I wish it hadn’t come to this.”

  He nodded, and then without a word, he stepped into his tent and shut the flap. She closed her eyes with a sigh. She’d tried. He knew everything she did now. What he did with it was another thing.

  Kerrigan wasn’t sure what woke her up.

  The camp was alive at all hours of the night. Everyone was on a rotating watch. Scouts were moving in and out. Not to mention, the rustling, groaning, and snoring that made up a war camp. It was dirty, smelly, and loud.

  But something was different, and it wasn’t the camp that had woken her in the middle of the night. Well before dawn—when they would convene for their opening attack. She grabbed her cloak and scrambled out of the tent. She stepped silently to the next tent. As gently as she could, she pushed the flap open to nothing but air.

  Fordham wasn’t here.

  She knew it.

  She and Fordham weren’t bonded by anything more than trust and love and more. But she had felt connected to him long before they met in the hot springs. Whatever had brought them together, whatever part of her that had visions about him during the tournament, had pinged. And that usually meant one or the both of them were in trouble.

  Kerrigan’s gaze swept the camp. He wouldn’t be in there. He’d be where the shadows were the darkest. And following that tug, she moved away from the heart of camp and toward the surrounding forest. She made it to the tree line when she heard the rustling of wings.

  Her eyes caught on a falcon rushing down into the trees. She stalked across the forest as quiet as a mouse until she came upon Fordham with the bird on his arm.

  His face shifted at the barest touch of her foot upon the ground, and then the shadows settled around his body.

  “Wait, it’s me,” Kerrigan hissed, coming into plain sight.