by Linde, K. A.
“Kerrigan, there you are. You disappeared.”
“I was… ill,” she said softly. “But I feel better now. I was just going to take the scores up to the box.”
“I am glad you are better. Next time, let us know, so a healer can be sent.”
“Of course.”
If she’d been able to move, she would have certainly sent for a healer. Fordham clearly hadn’t thought of it.
“Now, hurry along and come back quickly. We’ll discuss your role back inside the shade of the mountain.”
Kerrigan nodded, glanced once more at Fordham, and then turned toward the steps. She would deal with Fordham when she got back.
She took the steps two at a time. Her breathing coming out heavy as the oppressive heat weighed down on her as well. Some of the crowd had already begun to file out of the boxes, but the majority wouldn’t leave until the final scores for the day were announced. Then, it would be a mad dash back to their homes and to the parties that happened each night. The tournament was in the heart of the festival season. Parties and parades and masquerades were all part of the fun.
Kerrigan finally reached the very tip-top of the arena. She leaned forward, gasping for breath. A stitch had formed in her side. She really wasn’t that out of shape, but she was still recovering from the vision.
Finally, when she could straighten again, she stepped into the box for the master of ceremonies. Kerrigan immediately exhaled in relief. By some magic, the box was as cold as a spring night right after the ice melted off the mountains. It cooled the sweat on her neck and sent a soft shiver down her spine. The box itself was lavish beyond measure. Platters of fruit, bread, and cheese were set up on a table along with chilled wine, and attendants were available for any needs. Cushioned chairs sat in rows before the open arena window with the entirety of the arena and the rest of Kinkadia shown before her. This was as good as any view of the city Kerrigan had seen inside the mountain. The entire thing was a far cry from the dusty, drab competitors’ box she’d just walked out of. The luxury of the rich at its finest.
She recognized most of the faces, most notably Master Lorian with his family at the front of the box, but that was to be expected. His wealth in Venatrix was only rivaled by his choke hold on the council. To her surprise, her eyes snagged on Darby, seated demurely next to her new mistress. She wore a navy Bryonican dress in the finest silk, embroidered with lace and seed pearls. She looked truly stunning. How Kerrigan had always seen her.
With a wistful sigh, Kerrigan strode up to the attendant beside the master of ceremonies. The attendant nodded gratefully and handed the slip of paper to his master.
Kerrigan backed out of the room as the master of ceremonies wove an elaborate speech about where the teams and contestants had finished on the first day of the tournament. She wanted to escape before the crowds. But just as she exited the cool beauty of the top box, another person darted out of it.
“Kerrigan!”
She turned back and found Darby waiting there on the top step. “Darby, what are you doing?”
But her eyes were wide with concern. “I couldn’t find you after you left to speak with Helly. I didn’t know what had happened to you.”
“I’m fine, Darbs,” she said as her friend flung herself into her arms. “I’m right here. I’m working with the tournament.”
Darby pulled back and swallowed. “Good. I’m glad you’re safe. Have you seen Lyam? Was he with you?”
“Lyam? No, why would he be? Wasn’t he packing to go with Kenris?”
“That’s what I thought,” Darby said, “but he never showed up. Hadrian hasn’t seen him either. Kenris came looking for him, but no one knew where he was. I thought that he must have been with you. But now, you’re saying he wasn’t with you.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“He wouldn’t miss this,” Darby said resolutely. “This isn’t like him. I think he’s missing.”
“Missing? Where would he have gone?”
“I don’t know.” She sounded frantic and a little terrified. “But as wily and adventurous as Lyam is, he has never had us worry about him. We always know where he’s going, and he always comes back… mostly on time. Kenris is in the box next door, and Lyam’s not there. He’s been gone for hours.”
“Okay. Okay,” Kerrigan said softly. “I have to return to the tournament for directions. Why don’t we meet back in our rooms and we can figure out what’s going on? There must be a reasonable explanation.”
“All right,” Darby said. “I’ll meet you. And I’ll tell Hadrian too. But I don’t like this. Lyam loves the tournament. There’s no way he’d miss it.”
Darby was right. There was no way. Even when they had all made fun of the tournament, the excitement and parties made all the hours and days and weeks cooped up with tutors worthwhile. Lyam wouldn’t miss this. Which begged the question… where was he?
Kerrigan squeezed Darby’s hand. “I’ll meet you.”
Then, she hastened back down the stairs just as the dam broke, and the flood of the crowd burst from the stadium seating. Kerrigan was carried down through the stream of people like a herd of cattle. She couldn’t even veer to the left to head back down to the competitors’ box. There was no escape from the masses, only onward. She couldn’t even stop moving until she was outside of the arena—on the opposite side of where she needed to be.
She sighed heavily. This day was not going at all how she’d thought it would.
“There you are!” a voice called from the crowd.
Kerrigan turned to find a tall figure pushing her direction. Clover materialized then, out of Dozan’s red vest and in an all-black tunic and pants. Her bob was as severe as ever.
“I’ve been looking all over for you,” Clover said. “You left way before I woke up this morning. I went to find you in the mountain before the tournament started, but even I couldn’t sneak by the guards. They’re on high alert.”
Clover fell into step with Kerrigan as they picked their way back toward the mountain entrance.
“It’s been an interesting morning.”
“Tell me about it. Dozan is in a rage in the Wastes. I got out as soon as I could.”
“A rage about what?”
She shrugged. “Didn’t stick around to find out.”
“Sounds like Dozan.”
“What about you? Did you make your deal with Helly?”
Kerrigan nodded. “Sort of. She offered me a place in the mountain.”
Clover wrinkled her nose.
“I know. I asked for a month… until the end of the tournament to find a tribe that will accept me.”
“You could just stay with me,” Clover said with a wink.
“You know I don’t want to be beholden to Dozan.”
Clover sighed. “I know. I don’t particularly enjoy it either. So, you think you can do it? Find a tribe in a month?”
Kerrigan shrugged noncommittally. “Going to have to try.” She brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and then habitually moved it back to hide it once more. “Anyway, Darby is worried about Lyam. He never turned up this morning.”
“Ah, Lee is probably drunk somewhere. He’s a lightweight,” Clover said with a laugh.
“Probably,” Kerrigan agreed. “But it’s not like him to miss something this important. His new tribe sponsor showed up and no Lyam? Seems odd. And I don’t like the idea that he’s missing.”
“Yeah. That’s not good.”
“I can get you into the mountain. Meet me in my rooms. I have to report to the tournament administrator first.”
Clover perked up at that. “Why do you have to talk to him?”
“Helly said I still had to work for my keep,” she admitted. “So, I’m working for the tournament… since that’s my timeline.”
“Damn.”
“Yep,” Kerrigan said, popping the end of the word.
The guards waved them in as they passed back into the shade of Draco Mountain.
“All right
, I’ll meet you in your rooms,” Clover said, veering off in the opposite direction of Kerrigan, who jogged toward the tournament rooms.
She was running behind again. Bastian had told her to hurry back, but she hadn’t anticipated getting caught in the melee. She was breathing heavy again when she finally made it into the hall, which was strangely empty. Usually, people were bustling around, enjoying meals, and chitchatting. Voices and the ring of steel could be heard from the training facility. After the beating today, Kerrigan couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to train, but to each their own.
Administrators kept rooms near the competitors during the length of the tournament, and Kerrigan headed that direction. She was nearly there when Valia materialized.
“You don’t quite know the meaning of hurry, do you?”
Kerrigan bristled. “I got caught in the crowd.”
A smile split Valia’s face. “I’m kidding. I don’t care how long it took you. Bastian is just annoyed and takes it out on me.”
“That’s frustrating,” Kerrigan said. “Should I go speak to him?”
She shook her head. “Better not. I swear it must be a full moon tonight. Everyone is acting so incredibly strange.”
“I’ve noticed that,” she admitted.
“Anyway, here you go.” Valia passed her a note. “I wrote out Bastian’s instructions so that you could avoid a few moments of pain.”
Kerrigan took the note from the girl. “I appreciate that. My friend is missing, and I really need to figure out where he went off to.”
Valia frowned. “I’m so sorry. I hope that you find him.”
“Thanks,” she said, waving the paper at her in retreat. “Me too.”
Kerrigan headed back through the hall, and as she was about to enter the corridor that led back to her old apartment, Fordham appeared before her. She didn’t even have a chance to think before he slammed her back against the stone wall.
“What the hell?” she growled, struggling against him. But it was no use. He was a good foot taller than her and corded with muscle. She might have the magical advantage, which she drew in close to her body, but she truly didn’t want to have to use it. “Release me.”
“Who is your contact?”
“My contact?” she asked in confusion.
“Who told you to tell me that? How did you know it would be hand-to-hand combat with just one element?”
“No one told me.”
It sounded weak, but she couldn’t tell him about her visions. Gods, she had been stupid. She had thought the visions were telling her to tell him… to help him. Instead, he was furious and thought she was out to sabotage him.
“You lie.”
“I’m not a liar,” she growled, shoving against him uselessly. “No one told me. I swear it. I swear it on my mother’s grave.”
Fordham pulled back slightly at that. “Your mother is dead?”
Kerrigan squirmed out from under him, massaging her aching shoulders. “Yes. Most human women don’t survive bearing Fae children.”
She didn’t know why she had said it. Why she was confiding any of it. Why she was even helping him. Except that her visions had kept drawing them back together. That much was clear. And she didn’t know what they meant or how to ignore them.
“I was trying to help you,” Kerrigan said. “And it seems to have worked. You won your match. You’re near the top of the leaderboard.”
“Yes,” he said flatly. “But why would you want to help me?”
A valid question, all things considered. He had done nothing but insult her since the moment she had met him. And she couldn’t tell him the truth… so she’d settle for a half-truth.
“I feel like we’re… drawn together,” she admitted.
His eyebrows rose sharply. “You and I? That’s impossible. Why would you think that?”
“I don’t know, all right? And I’m aware it sounds ridiculous, but I can’t shake the feeling. So, I thought instead of letting you die today, I would help you.”
“You called out to me when Kamari was going to attack me with the flaming sword.”
“Kamari? The girl from Aude?”
He nodded.
“Yeah… I did.”
“I heard you even though the crowd was screaming, like all of it had turned to background noise.”
“Are you saying I’m loud?”
He sighed heavily as if she such a nuisance. “I meant that… perhaps we are connected in some way. But I don’t understand it nor do I like it.”
“You and me both,” she said, crossing her arms across her chest. “And here’s a hint, princeling: shoving people against walls and accusing them is not how you make friends.”
“You’re insufferable.”
“Why, thank you.” Kerrigan stepped back. “Now, I can’t deal with this”—she waved between them—“anymore. My friend is missing, and I need to figure out where he’s gone.”
Fordham’s eyes shuttered at that. Everything in him went very, very still. “What friend?”
“Why would you care?”
“Is he about this tall?” Fordham asked, gesturing to a height slightly shorter than his. “Brown hair, tan skin, a little annoying, pompous, self-righteous.”
“You’re one to talk, you know,” she chided.
“Is it him? The one who follows you?”
Kerrigan stopped her jest at those words
“Yes… that’s Lyam. But… how do you know?”
“Because he followed you out of the party last night.”
“What?” she gasped.
Her heart beat furiously. She hadn’t even seen him. Normally, she noticed him tracking her. But she hadn’t even felt him. Had she been that far into her own head, or had he gotten lost?
For the first time, she wondered if perhaps something had happened to Lyam rather than he was just missing.
19
The Accident
For a moment, Kerrigan was disoriented as she burst into her rooms. Everything in her life had looked almost exactly the same since she arrived in the House of Dragons. Two twin beds with a chest of drawers and an armoire. Over the years, they had accumulated more useless stuff to fill the spaces—old books, sheets of parchment, a kite, a virtual treasure trove of makeup and hair pieces and the like—covering all the nooks and crannies. Now, the room was spotless, save for Kerrigan’s bed and clothes. Darby had only been in here for a few hours, and already, the place looked empty, except for her three friends crowding the space.
“Whoa,” she whispered when she stepped inside.
“Oh, Kerrigan, you made it,” Darby said. She looked around the room, flustered.
“You… packed quickly.”
“I’m supposed to move out tonight,” she said. “I would have packed your clothes up, but I didn’t know where you were moving.”
Except she wasn’t moving. Not for another month at least.
“No, this is… this is fine,” Kerrigan said evenly.
Hadrian sighed and paced another step. “Can we get back to the topic at hand?”
“I still think he’s just drunk somewhere.” Clover lazily leaned back on Kerrigan’s bed as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
She always got so confrontational around Hadrian. It didn’t help that he seemed so reticent that Kerrigan was friends with someone from the Wastes.
“He’s not just drunk!” Hadrian cried, rising to the bait.
Clover quirked an unconcerned half-smile in his direction. “Pretty boy likes to party.”
“He does like to party,” Darby whispered.
Hadrian looked at her in distress. “He does, but that’s not… he wouldn’t just stay out.”
“He followed me,” Kerrigan interrupted before the conversation could get destructive.
“What do you mean?” Hadrian asked.
“Last night, I left the party early. I snuck out the back gate and went to the Wastes.” She gestured to Clover. “We were out all night.”
C
lover shrugged. “Yeah, but Lyam wasn’t with us.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“How do you know he followed you then?” Hadrian asked.
“Did you purposely lose him?” Darby asked softly.
“No, I didn’t even know. Usually, I can tell when he’s tailing me, but I couldn’t last night. I talked to Fordham and he saw Lyam leave after me.”
“You did?” Hadrian said.
Clover laughed. “So, that’s why you were wearing his cloak last night.”
“You were wearing his cloak?” Darby asked, suddenly all too interested.
“No. Yes. Wait, none of that matters.” Kerrigan sighed and took a seat next to Clover on the bed. “When I left the party, Fordham gave me his cloak because I was still in my pink dress and very conspicuous. That’s all.”
“All right,” Clover said with a wink.
Kerrigan sighed. “Back to Lyam.”
“You never saw him following you?” Hadrian asked.
“No.”
“We’re going to have to tell someone,” Darby whispered.
“Wait… why?” Clover asked.
“Because he’s missing,” Darby said vehemently. Then, she realized she had yelled at Clover, and she quickly averted her gaze.
“He’s not missing. He hasn’t even been gone for twenty-four hours. We have no clue where he went or if he even really followed Kerrigan. He could be anywhere. He could purposely not want to be in the mountain,” Clover said with a raised eyebrow. “It’s possible to not want to be here, you know.”
While her friends bickered, all Kerrigan could think about was the conversation she’d had with Lyam last night. How he had confessed to knowing about her visions and how good she had felt to finally have someone else to confide in about them. Someone who wasn’t Dozan Rook… or even Helly. Was it a coincidence that the night he’d told her what he knew… he disappeared? All her life, Helly had told her that if anyone else knew about her visions, they would be in danger. She would be in danger. And now… this.
“I have to tell Helly,” Kerrigan finally concluded.
