Page 28 of House of Embers (Royal Houses #5)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The Threefold Test

Kerrigan stood on a plain overlooking the Great Ferrinix Lake.

Tieran had been taken away some time in the middle of the night to prepare.

He’d scarcely spoken more than a handful of words to her since they’d been whisked out of the council chamber.

Kerrigan had barely slept a wink as fear settled into her bones.

Nothing Audria or Lowan said could reduce her anxiety.

Tieran had said the Threefold Test was a test of mind, body, and spirit and began with a fight to the death against the champion of the council over the lake. The rest remained a secret of the council, and he would only be informed of the next parts after completing the first.

“You’re shivering,” Audria said, her brow furrowed with worry.

“There’s nothing I can do,” Kerrigan said.

Inside, she was hysterical with absolute terror.

Outside, she remained as calm as she possibly could despite the danger Tieran was walking into alone.

He’d claimed that he would survive this without much effort, but if even Thiery had begged her to stop him…

“He’s a survivor, like you.”

Kerrigan nodded as she clenched and unclenched her hands. “I won’t survive his death.”

“I know,” Audria whispered.

It was the truth but not how Audria was thinking.

They were bound through Kerrigan’s Doma powers passed down from her mother, so she wasn’t bonded to him as other dragon riders were, meaning the bond wouldn’t kill her upon his death.

She just didn’t know if her heart could handle a life without him.

Kerrigan reached past the bond with Tieran and to the other one she’d chosen—Fordham.

They were hundreds of miles apart, and contact at that distance was impossible.

But still, when she leaned into that feeling within her, she felt a thrum back in response.

Her heart warmed at the gesture, strengthened. They could do this. They had to.

A human appeared then, offering refreshments to Kerrigan and Audria. She was bald, with tattoos on her head that bled to her neck and collarbones. She wore plain brown robes and sandals. A thick belt circled her waist with an amulet fastening it into place with a green dragon etched in emeralds.

“I am Cathia, here as an interpreter for the Threefold Test. Mind-to-mind speak is forbidden from here forward. You will no longer be able to speak to your dragons. This is a dragon matter first and foremost.”

Kerrigan and Audria exchanged a look before Kerrigan said, “Uh, okay. But you can still mind-speak with the dragons?”

“The great Thiery has chosen me as her dedicate. I will interpret for you as a courtesy. Most Fae and halflings aren’t allowed to witness what is occurring.”

Kerrigan pursed her lips at the word halfling . It was the dragon word for her kind. And even though she wasn’t the half-human they believed, it still rankled.

“What happens next?” Audria asked.

“We wait for the sun to fully crest the first mountain. Then the champions will be announced. A fight to the death will occur over the lake and in the bowl of the valley of the greats. The victor will serve terms.”

“Terms?”

“They will be given a boon and decide your fate.”

“If Tieran falls, his competitor could kill us?” Kerrigan asked.

“Correct.”

“But Evien…” Audria began.

“Will have no standing to disregard a champion,” Cathia said.

Audria blanched. “But then Evien would die too.”

“You are among dragons,” Cathia said flatly. “Did you expect mercy?”

Kerrigan swallowed. “Tieran’s got this.”

Audria turned to Cathia and began to drill her on the rules, but Kerrigan was elsewhere. She couldn’t reach Tieran from here, but it didn’t stop her from trying to push past the wall that suddenly kept him from her.

And as she reached down, down, down, she felt another presence. Not Tieran. Not Fordham.

“What…” she began.

Then her body dropped out from underneath her as she was yanked onto the spirit plane.

She wasn’t in the clouds where she normally entered the spirit plane.

That was when she was controlling them, but she wasn’t in control of this plane.

For a moment, she reached for her own spirit powers to yank back control.

A thread formed at the intrusion. A thread that she was pretty sure she could break if she needed to.

“Tieran?” she called in confusion.

It didn’t feel like him, but who else could it be?

The world was a rocky, frozen mountain range. If she’d had true form, she would have been frozen. She turned in a circle and realized that she recognized the location. She had been here, or near here, once before.

Erewa.

This was the Fae house in the northern reaches of Alandria.

They were known for being a disagreeable sort who used their magic for efficiency purposes, especially mining the hard ground north of the Earle River.

She and Fordham had gone to these mountains to find a witch to break his curse, only they had found the mother of the Fae instead—Titania.

Why was she in Erewa?

“I bring you to my home, child,” a voice said into her mind.

Kerrigan whipped around and came face-to-face with one of the largest dragons she had ever seen.

He was as big as a house, a great elder the likes of which the world may never see again, even larger than Thiery.

His shimmering scales were a smoky black and gray, and his slitted, gold eyes stared down upon her.

“Gelryn,” she gasped.

Gelryn the Destroyer. One of the few dragons in existence to have survived the death of his rider. She just remembered that his rider had been from Erewa. The setting suddenly made more sense.

“Hello, Kerrigan Argon. Much has changed since our last meeting.”

“You’re telling me,” she said on a sigh. “Are you at the Holy Mountain?”

“Yes. We needed to speak, but I could not reach you directly. Not with the Threefold Test in progress. Had Tieran held his tongue, then we would be in a much different position.”

“He’s not really known for that.”

“Neither are you,” he admonished. “This test is about more than your request of the council. It is about honor. It is about his parents. It is about Risa.”

Kerrigan shivered at the mention of Tieran’s late mate. “I know. I mean, I didn’t know it was about Risa, but I could assume that it wasn’t for a boon or the council or whatever.”

“You could not have changed his mind, so put it out of your head. We have bigger challenges.”

“Bastian?” she guessed.

“I left the aerie at Draco Mountain to work with Mistress Zahina on her investigation into you as a harbinger.”

This was news to Kerrigan. Zina was her original spirit teacher. She hadn’t seen or heard from her after Zina’s father’s death on the battlefield at Lethbridge.

“She has gained control of her father’s assets in House Herasi and wishes to convey that she will rise to your cause along with the full might of Herasi.”

Kerrigan balked at that. All of Herasi was behind her.

She hadn’t even known what house Zina came from, nor her father, Trulian.

But this was a massive allegiance if they could harness it.

That meant they had Bryonica and Herasi behind them.

They were still negotiating with many of the other houses who had allies within their ranks.

If they could show they had another force behind them, it might shift everything—the way more dragons would.

“That’s great news. Scales.”

“But we must get through our current challenge before they can provide troops to your cause.”

For the first time, Kerrigan thought she was seeing the fearsome legend of the Great War. The dragon who had led the charge and leveled the playing field. He was terrifying.

“What am I supposed to do about Tieran? I can’t talk to him. I can’t help him. This is his own fight.”

“And you are one who has never exploited a loophole?”

Kerrigan laughed. “Well, I suppose I was put into the dragon tournament despite my age.”

“The rules of men do not govern us. Isn’t that right?”

“You figured it out?” she asked.

He nodded his giant head once. “You are not part human at all.”

“No, I’m a demi-Doma, of the gods.”

Gelryn sniffed at that. “You should be our mortal enemy. You cast us from our world to the Holy Mountain. And yet you do not have the stink of them. You are something else.”

“I have met their kind and do not wish to rule as they did. I just want a place for everyone to live in peace.”

“Looking for peace in times of war is like asking for fresh blooms in the dead of winter.”

Kerrigan bowed her head. “Despite the horrors, I persist.”

“That is why we follow you.”

And to her shock, Gelryn bowed his enormous head in deference to her.

She put a hand to her chest. “Thank you, Gelryn.”

“Now for the matter of Tieran. Do exactly what I tell you, and perhaps we can save many lives today.”