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Kerrigan turned to her mother then and let herself be drawn into a hug. “I will miss you so much.”
“I know, my darling girl. I miss you every day. I will miss you every day after this moment.” Keres gestured for Fordham to join them. “I assume you will be my son-in-law here soon.”
Kerrigan looked up at Fordham with red cheeks, but he appeared entirely nonplussed.
“With your blessing,” he said formally.
“Given with complete confidence that you will have her back.”
“As with everything. Someone needs to keep her from blindly jumping into trouble.”
“And how often does that work?” Keres asked.
Fordham smirked. “Rarely, but sometimes, she does have the mind to listen when someone else has an idea.”
“Hey!” Kerrigan said.
“You know it’s true,” Fordham said.
“Well, yes, but you don’t have to say it out loud.”
Vera snickered from where she stood. “I will miss you both as well. It’s been nice to have visitors.”
Kerrigan rushed into her arms. “Don’t be a stranger. Find me on the spirit plane.”
“I will, child. I will.”
A noise sounded from far away. A noise that Kerrigan knew all too well.
“What’s that?” Fordham asked as he pulled away from the embrace he’d had with Keres.
Keres’s eyes widened. “He wouldn’t.”
Vera frowned. “He would. I will call Ameerath and try to head him off.”
“Who is Ameerath?” Kerrigan asked.
Vera went distant for a moment, and then she smiled. Suddenly, she was racing across the open field with more strength and grace than Kerrigan had thought possible. Out of the mountains came an enormous dragon.
Kerrigan’s eyes widened. “Vera has a dragon?”
“They have been united for thousands of years,” Keres said. “From what she told me at least.”
“Does that mean …” Kerrigan trailed off.
Another beast was flying toward them faster than she could even imagine. She didn’t know how the rider could sustain such speed.
“It means that it’s time to go,” Keres said, physically pushing her toward the portal.
Kerrigan looked at it, then at Fordham, and back. “We can’t go.”
Fordham nodded. “If that is who I think it is …”
“It’s Vulsan. I can handle him,” Keres assured them. “The worst-possible scenario is him discovering that you’re even here. Let alone where I sent you. Please, please go. Vera can hold him off.”
But none of them were given the option. Vulsan tangled briefly with Vera in the sky. Their two enormous dragons clashing. Kerrigan’s eyes widened. She had seen dragon fighting in open war back home, but it was nothing like this. Vulsan’s dragon had none of the grace or intelligence that she’d expect from a Society-trained dragon. He was pure beast, going for the throat and drawing blood rather than on maneuvering or strategy.
Then, Vulsan dropped straight out of the sky, falling a hundred feet before landing on one knee, a hand touching the earth. The force of his fall was enough to flatten the field around him for a dozen feet. He looked up at them now. His blue eyes wide with fury. Power radiated from his body.
“You dare, Keres,” he roared as he came fully to his feet.
Keres went on the defensive immediately. Her hands came up, the bangle glowing hot on her wrist. “Stay where you are.”
“I have a blood bind with you,” he snarled. “You can do nothing against me.”
Keres laughed as Kerrigan and Fordham flanked her. Fordham reached for his shadows at the same time Kerrigan brought flame and wind to her aid. She didn’t know what the power differential was between them, but she wasn’t going to let him hurt her mother … not again.
“I have long been able to get around that ridiculous binding,” Keres snapped back at him. “I am tired of playing the submissive wife to your rage, husband.”
“You will come to heel.”
“Like an animal?” Keres said with a shake of her head. “No. I am the daughter of He Who Reigns. Finding mercy did not sully me. Discovering the meaning of living in this world and not just conquering it does not make me less than. I am still who I ever was. You will have to face the true might of my power to get past me now.”
“For the girl?” Vulsan asked in disgust. “All this for a bastard?”
“You are here for her, are you not? Then, it is all I must protect.”
Vulsan charged at her, and Keres blocked him in perfect rhythm. There wasn’t even a place for Kerrigan or Fordham to interject in their fight. They were moving at a blinding speed. Keres had clearly been waiting for this moment. No matter that the blood bind held her to him. Perhaps the blood of her blood was more important than that ever could be. And she’d finally broken free from the cruel trick he’d played on her.
“Go, Kerrigan!” Keres called as she held Vulsan back from the portal.
“She has him.” Fordham took her hand. “We should make a break for it.”
