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You believe this will come to pass as well?
She pushed her hands into her eyes. “I hope not. I wasn’t even supposed to tell anyone about this,” she said anxiously. “Helly said that it would put my life in danger.”
And she was right. I would advise you listen to Mistress Hellina of the House of Stoirm, first of her line. She is wise. I see that your threads are entangled. I would not want to see harm come to you, child. But if this is revealed, everyone you know could be in danger.
“I… I’ll be careful,” she said.
He bowed his head formally. You have passed testing.
She almost laughed. “What does that mean?”
You have my permission to continue to the tournament.
“I can’t,” she said with a sigh. “No one will let me. And I don’t want to enter anyway.”
Do you not want a dragon?
She shook her head and touched her aching neck. With a shove, she slowly rose to her feet. “I think you all should be free to do what you please.”
Then, with a sad smile, she bowed to Gelryn the Destroyer and stumbled out of the testing room.
7
The Recovery
Kerrigan knew that she should go back to the arena. That she should stand with the other Dragon Blessed and watch the contestants be announced. She knew that if she didn’t… she’d likely suffer another punishment. But she couldn’t bring herself to care.
Every muscle in her body ached like it had been beaten into submission. Her head had a dull throb that wouldn’t go away. And hunger gnawed at her so fiercely, she felt like she would never be satisfied.
She needed to fix that first. She knew the competitors were brought to a room with a buffet after completing testing. For the first time, she understood why.
She found the room mercifully empty and collapsed into a seat before the table of food. Her hands moved without prompting and grasped a dozen different items to put on a tray. Hearty foods to boost her fatigue and restore her magic. Because right now, she couldn’t feel a single drop of the stuff. It was like the feeling after her visions hit her. All of her energy completely tapped. She wondered how close she was to blacking out.
Probably too close.
Kerrigan ate and she ate and she ate.
She ate until her stomach hurt for a whole new reason and the enormous water jug was nearly empty. It still didn’t sate her thirst, but it was better than nothing. By the time she finished, she felt as if she could fall asleep right there on the table.
She folded her arms over one another and rested her head on them. What in the gods’ name had happened in that training room? Why had she been so curious that she had to walk inside? Had she even been able to ignore the curiosity? It’d felt like something truly was drawing her steps forward. She didn’t know what it meant, but she didn’t like it. She didn’t want to be a puppet on strings.
She had visions about other people. She wasn’t supposed to have them about herself. Her thread wasn’t supposed to entangle with anyone.
“There you are!” Darby cried. “Hadrian, I found her!”
Kerrigan lifted her head and saw spots before her eyes. She blinked them away and saw her friends rushing into the banquet room.
“Where have you been?” Darby gasped, rushing around to Kerrigan’s side of the table.
Kerrigan gestured to the feast before her. “Here.”
“You should have been at the tournament. They let Prince Fordham through, Ker. It’s a nightmare.”
“I know,” she said. “Helly made me escort him to testing.”
Darby shrank back. “You met him?”
“Yeah, he’s a jerk.”
Hadrian laughed softly as he approached the table. “Hilarious, coming from you, Ker.”
“Hey, I’m a lovable jerk!” she said, amazed she could feel this normal after her ordeal.
“You are,” Darby said, patting her hand.
“He… has a giant chip on his shoulder. And he was mean about me being half-Fae,” she said in a whisper.
“That’s not surprising,” Hadrian said. “Considering the history of the House of Shadows.”
“You know the history of the House of Shadows?”
“I don’t fall asleep during our history tutor,” Hadrian said pointedly.
“It’s all just numbers and dates and wars,” Kerrigan mumbled.
“I’d rather dance,” Darby agreed. “Much more enjoyable.”
“What do you know of their history?” Kerrigan prodded.
“I’ll tell you if you come with us and get dressed for tonight.”
“Tonight?”
Darby sighed. “You do remember that we’re going to Sonali’s ball, right?”
“I…”
No. She’d forgotten. It felt like a lifetime ago when she’d agreed. Sonali was the Second of Stoirm, directly under Helly in Bryonica tribe. She was also Darby’s tribe patron. Sonali was a talented healer, and Darby shared those interests. That Darby had been invited to this party at all made it relatively clear that Sonali was going to choose her for patronage next week at the Dragon Blessed ceremony.
