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He was here. Fordham was here.
In Carithian.
She had given up hope on finding him. He could have fallen through a portal anywhere in all of Domara. They could have ended up on opposite sides of the country. She hadn’t even been able to bring herself to reach for him across their mating bond.
The reality of it snapping in half when her magic had drained away still made her physically nauseous. She could hardly even think of it. It was gone. A bond that she hadn’t even known meant the world to her until it settled over them that fateful day in their townhouse in the Artisan Village. Back when he had said he was going to court her properly. That he was going to make it all right.
And it had all fallen apart.
“Fordham,” she repeated in awe.
He stepped forward. Real. He was real. “Kerrigan.”
Her body shuddered at the sound of his voice. The way he wrapped it around her name. The rest of the party dropped off around them. It didn’t matter that she was currently enslaved to Constantine and had no free will over her own actions. She didn’t have her magic. She didn’t have anything. But Fordham was here. And the rest of the world would right itself around her.
They moved toward each other, an invisible string tugging them together. They were within arm’s reach when she nearly broke down. She had been running on nothing but adrenaline and hope these weeks without him. She wanted to collapse into his arms and put all the hurt behind her.
“You’re here,” she whispered. She swiped at a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye. “You’re really here.”
“I’m here.”
“I didn’t know where you were or what had happened with the portal. I’d thought we’d fall through together. And you were injured.” She gasped and examined him closely. “You were stabbed.”
“I’m okay.” His hand came to hers, and every nerve in her body came alive at the sensation. “A healer tended to me.”
“Who? How?” She had so many questions. Too many for the crowded dance floor. Too many for all the eyes and ears on them currently.
“It’s a long story,” he said, exhaling roughly through his nose. His eyes hadn’t left her, but for a moment, irritation flashed through his mercurial irises. “I don’t know how much time we have.”
But time didn’t matter anymore.
Fordham still had his magic. Fordham had dark shadow magic. He could jump between destinations. It didn’t work for incredible distances, especially if he was trying to move more than himself. Still, he could get them out of this party and away from Constantine. They could find her mother and end all of this. She didn’t have to play into this charade any longer.
Her grip tightened on his arm. “Jump us out of here.”
His face clouded over. That irritation was replaced by … panic. A look she had never seen on his face. Fordham was strength above all else. Even when he’d had to play a horrible part with his father within the halls of the House of Shadows, a part that he’d despised, he’d still done it with the same calm fury.
“Fordham?” she whispered.
He removed his hand from her arm. “You should go.”
“Go?”
“I don’t want her to see you.”
“Her? Who?”
He shook his head. “There’s so much I can’t say.”
Finally, his eyes left hers. As if he couldn’t bear to look into her face again. He swept the room with a calculated motion that she’d seen him use a hundred times. The look of a warrior who had seen battle for years longer than she had been alive. He was assessing threats to her person. But who would dare threaten someone who looked like a Doma in this room?
“Felicity,” a voice said behind her.
Kerrigan stiffened, and Fordham mirrored the position. She’d forgotten for a second that she’d been dancing with Constantine. That he’d been at her back this whole time. How much had he heard? Did he understand what he was seeing between them?
She didn’t want to turn around. She didn’t want to see her Andine jailer for another moment. Not when Fordham was right here. Not when he should have already grabbed her around the waist and jumped them out of this party. Out of all of Carithian, if it came to that.
Except Fordham did none of those things. He just stared at Constantine with barely suppressed rage. A fight brewing by looks alone.
So, she took a breath and slowly turned to face Constantine once more. “Yes?”
“Are you going to introduce me to your … friend?”
She didn’t want that at all. Not even a little bit.
When she said nothing, Constantine’s jaw tightened in irritation. “I wasn’t aware that you knew anyone in Carithian.”
“Neither did I.”
Constantine took another step forward. “I haven’t seen a full-blooded Fae around these parts in some years.” He held a hand out. Fordham stared down at the hand, as if expecting the worst. “Our people were once united during the war. I am General Constantine Pallas of Leon.”
