Page 51 of House of Embers (Royal Houses #5)

Two of them were currently focused on Gelryn and Kivrin over the city. Fire was blown into the wind like no one had a worry for the citizens below them. Wynter and Dyta had two dragons on their tail as they chased her through the valley. In fact, she looked like she was having a great time.

The problem was Viviana and Ordrax—mostly the fact that Viviana was huddled on her dragon, crying, as the remaining two dragons fought fire and claw against each other.

Viviana should have never been on this battlefield.

She wasn’t ready for it. But they hadn’t thought it would be a real battle, and Ordrax had assured her that he could handle himself if it came to that.

And Ordrax was doing the best he could. But the fact of the matter was… kill the rider, kill the dragon.

If Viviana made one wrong move, they’d both die. It was why the dragons had spent thousands of years picking the strongest Fae fighters to be riders. Anything less and the dragons were vulnerable.

In the split second Kerrigan took that all in, she made her decision. Kivrin and Wynter could handle themselves. Viviana needed her.

Fordham must have had the same thought, because they both dove for the dragons currently badgering Ordrax.

Tieran blew fire onto the other dragon’s underside while Netta clawed her way up the second dragon’s throat.

The roars were so fierce and overwhelming that Kerrigan covered her ears to get the terrible sound from her mind.

The dragon Netta had clawed dropped from the sky like a stone in the sea, landing heavily on the outskirts of town. Kerrigan winced at the sound of it and its rider colliding with a hopefully empty warehouse.

Dead. The dragon was dead. One of many in this war. And still it was disturbing.

She had never wanted to hurt a dragon before.

The fact that dragons were fighting at all felt anathema to her very core as a Dragon Blessed.

The Society was created to end the dragon conflict with the Fae.

Or that was what she had been taught, even if she now knew it was all a lie forged after the crown had been used.

It still hurt her to think about.

“Thanks,” Viviana said as they pulled even with her.

The second dragon had retreated, likely to wait for more riders. Wynter had lost one of her tails, but the second was getting closer.

Fordham nodded at Viviana before darting after his sister.

“I…I didn’t think we’d see battle,” Viviana said. She swiped at her eyes. “I just froze. I couldn’t even bring up my shield.”

“It’s all right. We shouldn’t have put you out here when it was a possibility. You haven’t been trained as a soldier.” Kerrigan smiled at her. “We spent months getting used to being on dragon back and using our shields. We shouldn’t have assumed you’d figure it all out.”

“I thought I’d be fine.” Viviana laughed. “I actually thought that the dragons did all the work. I didn’t realize we needed to be a team.”

“I get it,” Kerrigan said. “You should retreat. We all should.” Then she reached out to Tieran in her mind. “Tieran,” she said.

“Already calling everyone back.”

“Good.”

Kerrigan stayed with Viviana as they headed out of the main valley of Kinkadia. Fordham and Wynter were handling their remaining dragon. It wasn’t until she heard a scream that she whipped around to check on her father.

He and Gelryn were fighting like a well-honed unit, as if her dad was always meant to be in the skies. And Gelryn the Destroyer was living up to his name. He was ferocious in battle, fighting like she had never seen a dragon fight. Together, they should have been unstoppable.

But there was a blade in Kivrin’s side.

A rider had gotten too close and been able to pull down his shield.

“No!” Kerrigan screamed.

Tieran was already flying as fast as he could to return to Gelryn’s side. They could take out the dragon near him, flee this battle, and get Kivrin to a healer.

Fordham was at her side, Netta pulling in close to take out the other dragons who were fighting Kivrin and Gelryn. Tieran was faster. He pulled ahead. Kerrigan braced for impact. Tieran was going to collide with the other dragon.

They were almost there when Kivrin fell.

Kerrigan watched her father slide from Gelryn’s back as if he were moving in slow motion.

She reached out, wanting Tieran to switch trajectory midflight and catch her father out of the air. But there wasn’t enough time to change, and Tieran hit the dragon with full force. The rider cried out as a chunk of their dragon was clawed out of their side by Tieran.

Kerrigan jerked forward with a gasp at the impact. She lost her father in the mayhem for a mere second and saw Netta diving for him. He was so close.

And then Gelryn fell.

She just stared at the mighty dragon. The one who had believed in her when no one else had, who had pushed her through training when he’d seen her abilities. He’d always felt as big as a mountain and as old as time. Infallible.

Now he plummeted out of the sky.

He weighed so much more than her father, so he passed him easily, falling heavily into the square at the heart of Central. The sound of his collapse was like a Kinkadian earthquake. A crater now existed where the square had once been.

Gelryn was dead.

Which meant one thing:

Her father was dead.

Fordham snatched Kivrin out of the air right before he too would have landed in the square with his now-dead dragon.

“Kerrigan, we have to go!” Fordham shouted.

She didn’t respond, just stared slack-jawed at the dead figure in Fordham’s arms. Her father was dead.

Kivrin Argon was dead. He’d just regained use of his legs, been reunited with the love of his life, and gotten the dragon he had always wanted—the most fearsome dragon who had lived more than one lifetime. And now…they were both gone.

“Kerrigan!” Fordham shouted down the bond. “Reinforcements!”

But she couldn’t come out of it. She was as frozen as Viviana had been.

It was only because of Tieran flying them far away from Kinkadia that they escaped at all. It felt like she had left a part of herself behind as she slouched on her dragon’s back and stared back at the shrinking city.