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Wynter looked torn between embracing her brother and pulling Kerrigan bodily away from Dozan. Huh. Interesting.
Kerrigan drew back. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Same, princess. Same. Where exactly have you been off adventuring?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
Dozan grinned. The clever fox he was. “I very much doubt that.”
“How did you end up here?” Fordham asked.
Wynter quickly recounted how she and Dozan’s men had returned to the House of Shadows to reclaim the throne for him.
“For me?” he asked in surprise.
“I have no need of a throne,” Wynter said imperiously. “It’s yours to command. I just held it together while you were gone.”
“And we went after your dragons,” Dozan explained. “Found them trying to recruit other Society dragons to their side. Might I add, learning to fly on that thing is a lot worse than you ever made it out to be?”
Kerrigan’s eyes widened. “You’re riding a dragon?”
“We both are,” Wynter said. “Well, Netta and Tieran are letting us ride with them. We’re not bound.”
That was a lot to process.
“And where are they?” Kerrigan asked.
“They just got here,” Fordham said and was already turning and hurrying back out of the mountain crevice.
Kerrigan followed after him in a rush. Her heart was in her throat as she saw their two large shapes come out of the sky and land near them. Kerrigan couldn’t hold back now. She dashed down the mountainside and flung herself against Tieran.
“What took you so long?” she gasped.
Tieran rumbled a laugh. I could ask you the same thing.
“I missed you so much. I’m so glad you’re okay.”
As am I. As am I.
“And what about us?” a voice called.
Kerrigan reared back from Tieran to see that he was carrying people on his back.
“Maybe a hand to get down?” Clover said with a grin.
Kerrigan’s eyes widened, and she rushed over to help her friend off of Tieran’s back. Clover landed firmly on her feet, but Darby and Hadrian needed more help as they slid off of the dragon.
“You make that look easy,” Hadrian said, dusting himself off.
Tears welled in her eyes. “What are you all doing here?”
Clover thumbed over her shoulder at Tieran. “The dragon started organizing. We’ve been in the city, keeping people alive. RFA is still working full-time, but things are bleak.”
Kerrigan pulled each of her friends in for a hug. It was better than she ever could have imagined. She had assumed the worst for so long after she left. To see them all alive and well made her chest ache with relief.
“Is there word of my father?” she managed to get out.
“That’s a long story,” Clover said. “But …”
“You didn’t think that they’d leave me behind, did you?”
Kerrigan gasped as she turned to find Kivrin with a pair of crutches under his arms. His legs were unsupported, but Thea, the leader of RFA, stood at his side.
Kerrigan lost it then, breaking down into a racking sob. She had been certain that he was gone, just like Helly. She hadn’t wanted to think about it. Not during the moments she had her mother nearby and not when the possibility that they could be a family again had settled over her.
With Thea’s help, Kivrin moved to her side. “My daughter.” His eyes darted to the bangle at her wrist. “I feel we have much to discuss.”
“We do.”
“So, you found her?”
Kerrigan nodded. “I found her.”
Kivrin embraced her. Kerrigan wished more than ever that her mother were here to experience this. But they had left her behind to face off with others alone. No … she had chosen to stay behind so that they could escape. Kerrigan missed her, but she wouldn’t disrespect her sacrifice.
“We should go inside and discuss all that has transpired,” Kivrin said with authority to the ragtag team of rebels.
But a loud sound disturbed everyone’s response. Kerrigan stepped forward, fear in her eyes. She knew that sound. She had heard it on battlefields and only hours earlier in an open field in Domara.
“Is that …” Kerrigan trailed off, her eyes locked on the horizon.
Fordham came to her side. “It could be anything. Should I scout ahead with Netta?”
“No,” Kerrigan said. She glanced around at her friends and family. “Does anyone else know that we’re here?”
Everyone shook their heads, whispering among themselves about who could have seen or heard about their plans. There were too many of them here now for it to have gone completely unnoticed. If it had just been Netta and Tieran, that would have been one thing, but coming in from Kinkadia and the House of Shadows …
Then, she saw what had caused the noise. For a second, she thought that Vulsan had come through to Alandria and somehow found them. But, no, that was her fears from Domara. This was reality.
The Red Masks were here … and they’d brought the dragons.
54
The Father
