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Kerrigan laughed, swiping at her eyes. “I’ll do my best.”
Cleora squeezed her shoulder. “I know you will. And bring that dragon of yours. I have so many more questions.”
“Tieran would be honored.” Her heart panged to think that in a matter of hours, she could be with her dragon again. She’d been ignoring the pain of missing him, but now that it was so close, she couldn’t help but feel the ache of his loss. The loss of everyone that she loved, waiting for her back home.
Danae took her turn next. “I don’t know if I can come to the spirit plane,” she said. “And I will miss you terribly.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
“Thanks for believing in me. I don’t think my father would have ever let me go any other way.”
Kerrigan sniffled. “I’m glad you’re going to figure out your magic. You needed that push. Constantine can wait. Just … be sure to write to him. I don’t think he knows how to function without us.”
Danae laughed softly. “That’s for sure.”
They hugged one more time and then left on the horses they had come in on. Kerrigan watched them trot down the hill toward the university in the distance. It was for the better. And yet it hurt to know that they were going off on their own adventure. Kerrigan didn’t know where their story would lead, but this was the end of her part in it.
“Are you ready?” Keres asked a few minutes later as Cleora’s and Danae’s figures got hazy in the distance.
“Yes,” Kerrigan said. She wiped at her eyes again. “Yes, I’m ready.”
52
The Portal
Keres insisted on a wide-open space to open the portal. Vera recommended a field down the hill, and together, the four of them walked through the trees before descending to the pasture. Kerrigan could make out farmers toiling away in the distance on their own plots of land, but this meadow was left bare. Just wild grass and flowers nearly as far as the eye could see.
“They keep trying to purchase it from me to farm,” Vera said with fondness in her voice. “I can’t imagine giving up all the wild things to make it into something for us. Some parts of the world deserve to remain unformed by our hands.”
“It’s beautiful,” Kerrigan told her.
“Will the portal change the landscape?” Fordham asked.
Keres shook her head. “It should be fine. It’s simply harder to open around other obstacles. Anything to make it easier is preferable at this point.” Her eyes roamed the field. “This should do.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Kerrigan asked.
“Vera is going to place markers in the earth. They’re not necessary, but they help to contain the magic to a smaller position. With this much power being amplified at such a distance, it’s safer.” Keres gestured her over. “This is the bangle. One of seven.”
She offered it to Kerrigan, who took it reverently in her hands. It was small. Smaller than she’d even expected. Probably some kind of magic that let it fit the user because how else would someone giant like He Who Reigns ever be able to wear it? The gold was shiny and lustrous, as if the years of wear had no effect on it. It wasn’t perfectly smooth though. Lines had been etched into the outside of the bangle so that there was an interconnected locking all the way around. It was seamless. No end and no beginning.
She would have thought that she could feel some kind of magic in it. When Kerrigan had held other magical objects, she had always been able to tell that they were important. Even the Ring of Endings had felt important when she slipped it on her finger. Though she hadn’t known precisely what it did at the time, except to have some kind of magic resistance.
“Mom,” she whispered, her eyes still on the bangle.
“Yes?” Keres asked.
“Come with us.”
“What?” Keres looked baffled by the request.
“Come back to Alandria with us. Things are … complicated with Vulsan. I know he has some kind of bond with you. But think about it,” Kerrigan said, her voice turning pleading. “You could see Kivrin again. We could be together. We could be a family. Or even if that’s not what you want, you and I could be a family. You could help me stop this. Just … go with us.”
“Kerrigan,” Keres said so softly that Kerrigan’s heart broke before her mother said anything further. “You know I can’t do that.”
“I don’t know that. I’m only eighteen. I’ve known you for a few weeks. I want more than that. I want … a life.” Her words broke at the end, and she turned her face away to keep from crying.
“My beautiful daughter.” Keres touched Kerrigan’s cheek. “If I could give you the entire world, I would. I’d give up everything to be back there with you. There’s so much we haven’t said and so much left to understand about one another.”
