Keres sent everyone to bed when they returned from the pool. She claimed they needed to work the portal at sunrise. When Vera protested that they should spend a few days regaining their strength after the ritual, Keres just strode out of the room and said she was going to prepare. They all looked at each other in confusion.
But she was gone, and there was nothing else to do but as she’d said. Keres was the only one who had the power to open that portal. If it had to happen tomorrow, then it had to happen tomorrow. Even if Kerrigan would have liked more time.
Fordham drew her down the hallway to his bedroom again. His kisses soothed the questions in her mind. The new bond that joined them made everything heightened. Every touch a new experience. Every kiss a revelation. By the time they finished, Fordham was out cold, delirious from the new bond. Yet Kerrigan couldn’t sleep.
She kept remembering what had happened on the spirit plane. The cuts on her arms that remained as little silvery scars. She was sure even the best healer couldn’t remove them. They were a reminder of what it had cost her. What the stakes were if she fell into the pattern of her grandfather, He Who Reigns, who hung over them all.
When she heard the creak of the door in the front room, she couldn’t let it stand.
Kerrigan kissed Fordham’s temple. When he reached for her in the dark, she had to snake out of his embrace to pad barefoot out of the room. Keres stood before the dying embers of the fire, staring forlornly into the ash, as if it had the answers to all of her problems.
“Something is bothering you,” Kerrigan said.
Keres didn’t move. “You should be asleep.”
“Oddly enough, after two rituals in less than a day, my brain won’t shut off.”
“I thought you’d be happy about the Daijan bond.”
“I am,” Kerrigan said. She stepped deeper into the room, sliding into the chair that she had sat at with Cyrene only the night before. Somehow, it seemed more like a distant dream than reality. “Fordham’s pain was terrible. I wanted to fix it however I could. I wasn’t sure if there was a way to fix what had been broken. I’m still not sure it put all the pieces together, but we have a better shot than we did before.”
“I think so too.” Keres still hadn’t looked at her.
“I was surprised it worked the way it did. I’ve tried bonding with my dragon so many times, and it never took. Only a two-way crux bond has ever let us have that sort of closeness. I was sure it’s because I’m only half-Fae.”
Finally, Keres turned to face her. Confusion showed on her face. “Why would you need a dragon bond?”
“Didn’t my dad explain how it works? We bond with our dragons to join the Society. Our lives are linked.”
“Yes. I remember him explaining that. He didn’t make it into the Society. Another Fae took his place and stole away the woman who was to be his wife.” She said it without emotion, as if it hadn’t mattered to her. Kerrigan supposed it didn’t. Keres had been married during their affair after all. “But Doma don’t need bonds with dragons.”
“What do you mean?” Kerrigan asked.
“We don’t need crux bonds to control them.”
“I don’t want to control my dragon. I want us to be equals in the way that Fordham and I are.”
Keres tilted her head. “You misunderstand. The bond you are describing can be achieved with any dragon that you need at any time. Especially those of my father’s bloodline.”
“Cleora never mentioned this.” Kerrigan frowned, thinking back on their conversations. “Well, she said some with tremendous power could overpower the dragons to hold their will.”
“You can do that, but it’s more difficult. I would guess that your own powers overrode the dragon bond when you were trying to force it to work originally. All you have to do is reach out with your power, and the connection will manifest, melding your will to the dragon’s. I have done this on many occasions. Though I have never kept the bond active.”
Kerrigan sat with that information. Had the problem all along not been that she was half-human, but half-Doma? Was she too powerful for the bonds that linked the Fae with the dragons? Based on her time in Domara, it seemed that Alfheim had some connection to her own Fae world. The dragons here were related to the ones in Alandria. She was connected to Domara as well. Only her power was the outlier back home, not the default, as it was here.
There was so much more to learn from her mother. She couldn’t imagine leaving in the morning to return to her worries. But she couldn’t stay either. Not when the Red Masks were in control.
“Thank you for that explanation. I will try that with Tieran.”
Keres nodded.
“You never answered me though,” Kerrigan said. “Something is troubling you.”
“Yes,” Keres admitted.
“Are you going to tell me what it is?”
She shook her head. “It’s best that we be gone from here as soon as we can.”
“But why?”
Keres shivered despite the summer heat. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Using the bangle?”
“Maybe I’m overthinking it.”
“But you don’t believe that,” Kerrigan said.
Keres frowned. “I have a bond too. It might give me insight into the enemy. More insight than he would prefer.”
“You think Vulsan is coming?”
“I can handle Vulsan,” she said morosely. Her eyes were still distant as she pat Kerrigan’s knee. “Get some sleep. We’ll all need it.’
“Really, we’d prefer to stay,” Cleora said the next morning when Kerrigan staggered blearily out of bed.
Fordham had woken before dawn and kissed her awake. Kerrigan was still groggy from the insomnia that had plagued her most of the night. Everything was on the line this morning … and she was finally going to go home. Her stomach was pitted with nerves about what she would find in Alandria and the fate of her friends and family when she arrived.
“Here,” Vera said, thrusting a mug of tea into her hands. “Looks like you need this, and they’ve been at this for a while.”
“I have to insist,” Keres said calmly but sternly. “You and Danae need to return to the university.”
Danae yawned dramatically. “We could have stayed in bed.”
Both women ignored her.
“What’s going on?” Kerrigan slouched into a seat beside Danae at the table. “You’re sending them away?”
“I would like to witness the use of one of the seven bangles and see a portal.” Cleora stood with her head tall. She must have begun to get used to Keres’s presence because, otherwise, Kerrigan couldn’t imagine her arguing with a Doma.
“That is wonderful for you, but it’s too dangerous. Unless you want Vulsan to discover that you left with me, then you’ll do the smart thing and leave.”
Cleora’s face paled at that. “You think he will appear here?”
“I don’t know,” Keres said. “But I can’t imagine it is in your best interest when you are indebted to him. It was risky, taking you at all. Doing something like this with you and Danae here is worse.”
They both turned to look at Danae as she yawned wide again.
“I wouldn’t want him to find out about her truthtelling,” Cleora admitted.
“No,” Keres agreed. “He would not use that talent well.”
Danae glanced up at them, as if just waking enough to realize they were discussing her. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to avoid notice.” She bit her lip. “Perhaps we should go.”
Cleora threw her hands up. “Fine. We will go. Though I will regret not getting to see this from an academic standpoint.”
Keres smiled. “I understand. Now, please …” She gestured to the door.
Cleora sighed. “Fine.”
They collected their things, and Kerrigan was squeezing Cleora tight only a few minutes later. Tears came to her eyes at the thought of never seeing either of them again.
“I’ll see you on the spirit plane, right?” Kerrigan asked Cleora.
“Yes, yes. If you still wish to have lessons, I can make time.” Cleora released her and smiled broadly. “Or perhaps just for some tea to catch up once you save the world.”
Kerrigan laughed, swiping at her eyes. “I’ll do my best.”
Cleora squeezed her shoulder. “I know you will. And bring that dragon of yours. I have so many more questions.”
“Tieran would be honored.” Her heart panged to think that in a matter of hours, she could be with her dragon again. She’d been ignoring the pain of missing him, but now that it was so close, she couldn’t help but feel the ache of his loss. The loss of everyone that she loved, waiting for her back home.
Danae took her turn next. “I don’t know if I can come to the spirit plane,” she said. “And I will miss you terribly.”
“I’ll miss you too.”
“Thanks for believing in me. I don’t think my father would have ever let me go any other way.”
Kerrigan sniffled. “I’m glad you’re going to figure out your magic. You needed that push. Constantine can wait. Just … be sure to write to him. I don’t think he knows how to function without us.”
Danae laughed softly. “That’s for sure.”
They hugged one more time and then left on the horses they had come in on. Kerrigan watched them trot down the hill toward the university in the distance. It was for the better. And yet it hurt to know that they were going off on their own adventure. Kerrigan didn’t know where their story would lead, but this was the end of her part in it.
“Are you ready?” Keres asked a few minutes later as Cleora’s and Danae’s figures got hazy in the distance.
“Yes,” Kerrigan said. She wiped at her eyes again. “Yes, I’m ready.”