Damn. He really had decided she was no threat.
He spent an insurmountable amount of time pacing the small quarters. So much so that she actually had to close her eyes to stop from getting dizzy. She felt herself drifting again. She hadn’t slept enough last night. Not restful sleep at least. It never was restful after a vision. As if it had sapped all of her powers straight out of her body and left her with a sense of unease… and impending doom.
She jerked awake at the scratch of a quill against parchment. She blinked a few times to adjust to her surroundings and found Fordham seated before the desk. His handwriting was long and elegant. The sound of the quill a lullaby.
“What are you writing?” she asked, straightening so she wouldn’t pass out again.
“I thought you’d fallen asleep finally.”
“Did you make me go to sleep?” she asked, momentarily terrified.
What sort of abilities did a prince from the House of Shadows have?
His smirked at her suggestion. “And how would I accomplish that?”
“I don’t know. Some sort of spell.”
He arched an eyebrow.
“You’re from the House of Shadows,” she said as if that were obvious. “You used dark magic to enter the tournament.”
“Did I?” he asked with that same insufferable smirk.
“Black smoke,” she reminded him. “I don’t even know how the council approved you.”
Fordham arched an eyebrow and then said, “Half-Fae simple-mindedness,” before returning to his paper.
She clenched her hands into fists. She knew he was goading her and still she couldn’t back down. “We’re not like that, you know?”
“And you’re a half-Fae,” he said with malice in his voice. His quill screeched against the paper, ripping it. His eyes found hers, swirling with darkness. “Do you know what we do with half-breeds where I’m from?”
She gulped but met his stare. “I’ve heard stories.”
“I assure you, it’s worse than your imagination has been fed.”
Kerrigan glared but sank back into her chair again. This conversation was going nowhere.
“Do they always take this long?” Fordham asked what felt like hours later.
“Oh, so now, you want my counsel?”
He scowled at her and returned to the paper. He’d discarded a handful of them already.
She sighed. “I don’t know how long it normally takes. There are a lot of potential competitors this year. More than the last time there was a tournament. With five dragons up for grabs, there are better odds of joining the Society. Last time, there were only three, and… well, you know.”
He arched an eyebrow in question.
“You… do know, right?”
He said nothing. Either he was playing coy or he actually didn’t know what had been happening in Kinkadia the last five years.
“Only one Society member attained a dragon and moved forward into the year of training. The Society is eager to have a larger entering class.”
“Your perspective is enlightening,” he said with a note of sarcasm.
Ah, so he had known. She glared right back at him.
A knock sounded on the door disrupting their stand-off. Kerrigan jumped to her feet and wrenched it open. A Society member dressed in their long black robes stood before them—Mistress Cressida.
“Fordham Ollivier, you have been called for testing.”
Fordham was already on his feet. Fire danced at his hands as he obliterated whatever he had been writing. He left the last embers to burn and strode toward the woman.
“Wait here for the outcome,” Cressida said to Kerrigan. “If he is dismissed, you will escort him out.”
Kerrigan nodded and then sat back down. Her knee jiggled anxiously as she waited for the outcome. She couldn’t stand it any longer. She stood from her seat and paced over to the table. Most of the pages had been burned to a crisp. Only a thin layer of black ash remained behind. But there was one page where the flames had gone out too soon, curling the edges of the paper. He must have released his magic before it could complete his work.
Only a few lines were visible. And she furrowed her brow in confusion as she read them once, twice, three times through.
Red rivulets run down his spine.
Her tears gouge canyons into her cheeks.
Black eyes watch, unceasing.
Unceasing.
Kerrigan shuddered at the imagery. Was this… poetry? Did the princeling write dark, vivid poetry?
It felt wrong somehow to read this. She hadn’t known what he’d been doing, but she certainly hadn’t imagined him to be an artist. Could someone from the House of Shadows find art in their darkness?
It made her feel a little sick.
She snapped her fingers, and a small flame appeared in her hand. She cupped the remaining page. The fire burned it down to ashes. As if it had never been.
“Kerrigan,” Mistress Cressida said.
She whipped around as if she had been doing something wrong. “Yes?”
“Fordham passed through to the tournament. I am going to escort him. He is the last. You can return to the House of Dragons.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
Mistress Cressida nodded at her and then continued down the hallway.
Kerrigan was alone once more.
She stepped out into the empty hallway. The sounds of Cressida’s footsteps echoed faintly. Kerrigan knew that she should return to the Dragon Blessed, as she had been told to do. She was already in enough trouble as it was. She had to clean up after the dragons for a week, and she was assigned to Fordham… who had just been allowed to enter the tournament.
At least, in a week’s time, she would be through her ceremony and be part of a tribe. She would get to watch the rest of the tournament from the safety of the crowd. She wouldn’t get in trouble for not being there to help with preparations. She’d be just a normal member of society once more.
Still, she didn’t go back.
Her eyes flicked to the testing door.
What was behind it? No one knew all the secrets of the tournament. Her curiosity was like a living, breathing thing inside of her. What would happen if she just took one peek? No one would know. It wasn’t like they would ever let her compete anyway. Only full-blooded Fae could enter the tournament unless they had a Society sponsor… and even then, with the way things were now, she couldn’t imagine anyone ever allowing a human or half-Fae in again.
Kerrigan stepped up to the door. She looked left and right to make sure she was truly alone.
Then, she opened it and walked through.
6
The Testing
Kerrigan stepped into darkness.
The door swung shut behind her. She lunged for the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. It had locked itself.
Scales, what had she gotten herself into?
There had to be another way out. Just because the competitors all went in and out of one door didn’t mean there wasn’t another way to access it. She’d learned that on dozens of occasions while she snuck through the mountain with Lyam at her side. Always Lyam finding new and more dangerous ways around. Darby and Hadrian coming up in the rear after they scoped ahead. That had been a long time ago. But it didn’t change the circumstances now.