Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136009 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
“I thought I’d be fine.” Viviana laughed. “I actually thought that the dragons did all the work. I didn’t realize we needed to be a team.”
“I get it,” Kerrigan said. “You should retreat. We all should.” Then she reached out to Tieran in her mind. “Tieran,” she said.
“Already calling everyone back.”
“Good.”
Kerrigan stayed with Viviana as they headed out of the main valley of Kinkadia. Fordham and Wynter were handling their remaining dragon. It wasn’t until she heard a scream that she whipped around to check on her father.
He and Gelryn were fighting like a well-honed unit, as if her dad was always meant to be in the skies. And Gelryn the Destroyer was living up to his name. He was ferocious in battle, fighting like she had never seen a dragon fight. Together, they should have been unstoppable.
But there was a blade in Kivrin’s side.
A rider had gotten too close and been able to pull down his shield.
“No!” Kerrigan screamed.
Tieran was already flying as fast as he could to return to Gelryn’s side. They could take out the dragon near him, flee this battle, and get Kivrin to a healer.
Fordham was at her side, Netta pulling in close to take out the other dragons who were fighting Kivrin and Gelryn. Tieran was faster. He pulled ahead. Kerrigan braced for impact. Tieran was going to collide with the other dragon.
They were almost there when Kivrin fell.
Kerrigan watched her father slide from Gelryn’s back as if he were moving in slow motion.
She reached out, wanting Tieran to switch trajectory midflight and catch her father out of the air. But there wasn’t enough time to change, and Tieran hit the dragon with full force. The rider cried out as a chunk of their dragon was clawed out of their side by Tieran.
Kerrigan jerked forward with a gasp at the impact. She lost her father in the mayhem for a mere second and saw Netta diving for him. He was so close.
And then Gelryn fell.
She just stared at the mighty dragon. The one who had believed in her when no one else had, who had pushed her through training when he’d seen her abilities. He’d always felt as big as a mountain and as old as time. Infallible.
Now he plummeted out of the sky.
He weighed so much more than her father, so he passed him easily, falling heavily into the square at the heart of Central. The sound of his collapse was like a Kinkadian earthquake. A crater now existed where the square had once been.
Gelryn was dead.
Which meant one thing:
Her father was dead.
Fordham snatched Kivrin out of the air right before he too would have landed in the square with his now-dead dragon.
“Kerrigan, we have to go!” Fordham shouted.
She didn’t respond, just stared slack-jawed at the dead figure in Fordham’s arms. Her father was dead. Kivrin Argon was dead. He’d just regained use of his legs, been reunited with the love of his life, and gotten the dragon he had always wanted—the most fearsome dragon who had lived more than one lifetime. And now…they were both gone.
“Kerrigan!” Fordham shouted down the bond. “Reinforcements!”
But she couldn’t come out of it. She was as frozen as Viviana had been.
It was only because of Tieran flying them far away from Kinkadia that they escaped at all. It felt like she had left a part of herself behind as she slouched on her dragon’s back and stared back at the shrinking city.
Chapter Forty-Three
The Traitor
Isa
Isa’s shoes were silent on the cold, hard stone of the prison. The iron would have been oppressive against her magic and skin, her entire being, if not for the solid collar at her throat that dampened everything except the need to complete her mission. Water dripped onto the floor from an unknown place. Fall chill was turning to winter, and soon it would turn to icicles unless a guard heated the prison. They usually didn’t.
The prison was fuller than she had ever seen it, what with the Red Masks rounding up and eliminating droves of humans and half-Fae for meaningless offenses. But none of them or their slights were her concern today.
The Father had given her one mission. This one, there was no wiggle room.
“Hello, Gerrond,” Isa said, leaning against the iron. It tingled where it hissed against her bare skin. She hardly noticed the burn.
His eyes were wide and wild at the sight of her, the Father’s assassin. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come to have a conversation.”
Gerrond backed up farther in the small cell. “You’re here to kill me.”
She turned the key in the lock and stepped inside, closing it behind her. Gerrond shrank back even more in fear.
“The Father has questions, Gerrond. He wants me to get answers.” She tipped her head to the side as she slid a blade out of her sleeve. “I’m very clever with a knife. I was taught a dozen ways to make a man bleed without killing him. Would you like to see what they are?”