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)
And her ears. Well, her ears were now longer and sharper—full-blooded Fae ears and not her daintier little half-Fae ears. She hated them.
In the drab green dress she’d procured, she could have been anyone. Anyone but herself.
Fordham had also been changed to look inches shorter than he was and like he had shoulder-length blond hair and plain brown eyes. He wore a navy suit to match the Bryonican colors and had left earlier to enter the party with Sonali of Bryonica.
Kerrigan hated the glamour even if it was necessary. Since the Red Masks were throwing the party, the thing was a masquerade as well. She slipped on the silver mask over her new features and was glad for that last layer of protection.
“The glamour isn’t going to last as long as you want,” Viviana told her. “So you are going to have to be as quick as possible. I won’t be there to top you off.”
“We’ll be fast,” Kerrigan assured her.
“Done,” Viviana said. “You look excellent if I do say so.”
Kerrigan glanced at herself one more time and made a face. “I look perfectly ordinary.”
Viviana laughed. “So no change?”
“Wow, thanks,” Kerrigan said as she pushed her shoulder gently. It was a joke, and Kerrigan couldn’t believe she was actually joking with Viviana. Bonding with Ordrax had completely altered her personality or perhaps just given her enough purpose to put the rest of her schemes aside.
“I wish you could have brought Darby,” Clover said on a sigh.
“I’m sorry,” Kerrigan said, taking her friend’s hand. “I know you wanted to see her, but do you want me to bring her into danger?”
“No,” Clover said softly.
Viviana tapped an imaginary watch. “Time is ticking.”
Kerrigan clicked her bracelet, and a small door opened in the middle of Anya’s sitting room. It led Viviana back to where the dragons were waiting.
“You’re getting better at this portal thing,” Viviana told her.
“Uh, thanks,” Kerrigan said.
Viviana lifted a shoulder as if she hadn’t paid her a compliment. “You could always jump Darby here and back.”
“It takes a lot of effort.” Then Kerrigan saw the sadness in Clover’s eyes and reconsidered. “But we can try, okay?”
“Sure.”
Viviana stepped through the portal. “Good luck.”
The portal clicked closed with another twist of the bangle, leaving Kerrigan alone with Clover, who reached for a loch cigarette. She’d found a supplier in the city and had offered to send some back for Amond if he needed it, but he’d been fully clean since he’d been almost too drugged up to heal Kerrigan’s injury. She hoped he meant it this time.
“Anya will kill you if you smoke that in here,” Kerrigan told her.
Clover groaned, stuffing the cigarette back away. “Just be careful in there. Gerrond has me convinced this is a trap.”
“Gerrond probably isn’t wrong, but we still need to go.”
“I know.” Clover tugged her in for a hug. “He’s going to give you the all clear once Bastian has left. Don’t move until you get his go-ahead.”
“I know the plan, Clover,” Kerrigan told her with a smile. “And you’re heading into danger too. So look out for yourself.”
Clover waved her hand. “Nothing like the belly of the beast.”
Kerrigan couldn’t argue that, but Clover was leading drifters and her human recruits into a battle they’d never faced before. Kerrigan trusted Fordham with her life. She wasn’t sure about all these new magic wielders. It was going to be a good test.
Clover tipped her head to the side, and Kerrigan followed her out of the room and down the hall.
“How are you holding up anyway? I’m sorry about Thea,” Kerrigan said.
Clover sighed. “It’s been hard alone. I have all these recruits, and I worry I’m only training them to die.”
“Tell me about it,” Kerrigan said. “All these new dragon riders, and they’re all on my shoulders. It’s terrible.”
“The worst. Why should we have people’s lives in our hands?”
“I try not to ask the question too much or else I get paralyzed.”
“Yeah. It’d be easier if I was near you.”
“And Hadrian and Darby.”
“Yeah,” Clover said as she finished her cigarette. “That certainly wouldn’t hurt.”
Hadrian and Fallon had stayed in Galanthea. Fallon had bonded a dragon back home, forging the alliance anew. Kerrigan would check in with them again after tonight was over—so long as it went well.
They stopped at the base of the stairs to find Alura Van Horn standing in wait. She was a tall, onyx-toned Fae who was formidable on a good day, and today she looked every inch the military general in a silver metal corset in the style of a dragon’s scales and fitted trousers, a matching silver cane in her right hand that she leaned against. She had a Society emblem on her breast that indicated she was a council member.
She and Kerrigan both were. Well, before Bastian had stolen Kerrigan’s magic and tried to kill her. Before that, Alura had won the dragon tournament and then trained Kerrigan’s contingent of riders. They’d flown into battle together. She had saved Alura’s life, leading to her permanent injury. They were as close as riders could be.