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

Chapter Five

The Demi-Doma

Kerrigan rocked back on her heels. Amond wasn’t the first Doma she had met, but if Amond was half like her, then could he teach her?

Had her teacher been here all along and she just hadn’t known it?

Had she suffered through magic sickness and the struggles of her spirit magic and the bonding with Tieran for nothing?

“You have more questions,” Amond said. “I’ll answer what I can.”

“How long have you known I was a Doma?”

“I realized the first time I saw you fight,” Amond admitted.

Kerrigan sank into a seat. “So long ago.”

“You have the glow to your skin. If you’ve ever seen it before, you don’t forget what it looks like.”

Kivrin winced. “I didn’t think anyone else could see it.”

“Most would assume it’s her magic,” Amond said.

Kerrigan reeled from that new information. Amond was a demi-Doma like her. He’d known all along about her and never said a word. Not a single word.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“Didn’t seem like my place.”

“But…”

“And I was pretty out of it.” He gestured to his trembling hand. “I didn’t want to be known for what I was. You seemed unaware of your heritage, and that seemed for the best. But as you may remember, I did tell you that my healing was more advanced. I hinted at it.”

“How would I have known?” she demanded.

“Well, it was also a test to see if you knew more than you were letting on.”

She sighed heavily. “Scales. Are there more of us?”

“Not that I’ve seen, but there could be.”

She tipped her head back. As much a nonanswer as he could probably give. Would he really out other Doma who lived among them if they didn’t wish it? He hadn’t done that to her.

Her head snapped forward again. Or had he?

“Did you tell Dozan?” she asked on a desperate breath. Had he known all along too? Was that why he had wanted her so badly?

“No,” Amond said immediately. “He doesn’t know what I am either.”

She breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, Dozan had wanted her for her power, but he hadn’t known the extent of it. For some reason, that made her feel better. She didn’t know if she could live with knowing he’d kept this from her too. It was hard enough that her father had.

“Well, are you from Domara? Or were you born here?”

He sighed. “I’m from Domara.”

“How did you end up here then?” Kerrigan asked.

“ That is none of your business,” Amond bit off.

Kerrigan straightened at his tone, the hurt and pain in it. As if the very mention of how he’d arrived in Alandria was more painful than the drug withdrawal he was currently undergoing.

“I need more information, Amond. You can’t drop a bomb like this on us and then refuse to tell us what you know.”

Amond turned his back on them. “I’ll answer your questions. After all the years of hiding my identity, I’ll let you know who I am. But I’m not here to discuss my past or how I got here. Is that clear?”

Kerrigan opened her mouth to object, but Fordham put a hand on her shoulder. She had questions. Surely he knew that they needed all the leverage they could get.

“Domara wouldn’t help this dumping pit, if that’s what you were thinking,” Amond said with certainty.

“I never thought that they would,” Fordham said.

“The Doma only care about one thing and that’s themselves.”

“But my mom…”

“Pushed you through the portal,” Fordham reminded her. He crossed his arms, closing himself off from the painful memory of Domara. “She is dealing with enough. She isn’t coming here to help.”

Kerrigan knew that and still it stung. Keres had gone up against Vulsan and He Who Reigns single-handedly. Kerrigan hated to even imagine what she was dealing with right now.

Amond furrowed his brows. “Who is your mother?”

Kerrigan and Fordham exchanged a glance before turning to Kivrin, who blanched. Kivrin ran a hand through his hair before answering, “Keres Andromadix.”

Amond went stock-still. “The daughter of He Who Reigns?” His eyes shot to Kerrigan. His mouth opened as he surveyed her features. “Blessed lords, I see it now. How is this possible? Kivrin…”

“I was stranded in Domara,” Kivrin told him. “Made Daijan by Keres. We fell in love, and then she found out that she was pregnant after she released me.”

Amond opened and then closed his mouth. “But last I knew, the daughter of He Who Reigns had no children.”

“Correct. She’s first heir,” Kivrin confirmed.

“Gods,” Amond muttered. He stared at Kerrigan in shock and awe and possibly horror. As if the very idea that she was descended from that bloodline was unfathomable.

“I know,” Kerrigan said with a shrug. Being her mother’s heir was a privilege and a death sentence. No one in Domara, least of all Kerrigan herself, wanted her to become heir. She had more important things to do.

“It’s incredible that you returned in one piece. But no wonder you’re so powerful.” He shook his head. “ Keres Andromadix . Would never guess the first heir was part of the Doma dumping ground.”

“What is this dumping you keep mentioning?” Kivrin asked.

Amond shrugged. “This world is where Domara sends everything that displeases the emperor.”

Kerrigan tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“It’s not exactly a secret,” Amond said. “Where do you think the dragons come from? Your own myth says that the dragons were sent to the Holy Mountain, and where the gods touched, the magic-immune metal tendrille was left behind.”

“That’s a literal interpretation?” Fordham said.

“Yes. And the Fae,” Amond continued. “How did you find them in Domara?”

Fordham paled. “I was the last full-blooded Fae from Alfheim.”

“Wrong. The Fae that weren’t murdered were sent away, where they couldn’t be a nuisance to the gods.” Amond shrugged.

“I could read their ancient Fae,” Fordham said to Kerrigan.

“You think the emperor sent the Fae here?”

“Where else did they come from?” Amond asked. “The only thing that belongs in this world is humans, ironically.”

Kerrigan let the news weigh on her. The hundreds of Fae houses fighting over this small island. The dragons who hated them for interfering in their affairs. The Irena Bargain that settled the dispute, pairing the first dragon and rider together.

“What else have they left behind?” Kerrigan asked.

“A first heir,” Kivrin suggested.

“Your mother’s bangle,” Fordham said.

Amond nodded. “Me.”

Kerrigan thought about all the magical artifacts whose construction was lost to time. No one knew how they had first been created. Were those Doma tricks that had been cast aside? Was their world a pit of dissenters fighting one another? No wonder they were in this position.

“This is too much.” Kerrigan pressed her hands to her temples. All the information threatened to spill from her brain as she tried to force it all to fit together.

What did it mean if Domara sent everything here? How did it impact this world to have all these people here fighting one another? Was this how they kept Domara running smoothly under Doma rule? And how could she use this to her advantage? Right now, all she saw was pain. So much unnecessary pain.

The Doma had forced heartache on the humans of this world. They’d thrust dragons and Fae and magic into this world that may not have even had it before. And there was no one who knew the true origins. They were all stuck dealing with this aberration.

All she could do was go forward. Domara had done what it had done.

It had altered their history irrevocably.

Now Kerrigan had to fight for her own right to exist and the existence of all those who had been harmed by the Red Masks.

Humans were here first. Half-Fae existed because of the Fae invasion of the island.

They had every right to coexist. She had to find a way to do it.

“It’s been a long day,” Fordham said. He rubbed a gentle circle into her back. “We’ll come back later and work on the loch in the meantime.”

“Sure,” Amond said. “Thanks.”

Kerrigan rose to her feet, feeling the exhaustion of the day settle over her. “If you could go back, would you?”

Amond considered. “I don’t know. This world is messed up, but at least we don’t have He Who Reigns.”

“Bastian isn’t much better.”

“He’s not as powerful, but if you don’t get to him soon, he might be more powerful than you. And you’re the only thing holding him back.”

Kerrigan gulped at those words. She had come back to reclaim her land, but she was just one girl. One girl to hold back a whole empire. Great.