Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Arbor’s bravado hung on to a thread. “Sure you do. What could you possibly have?”
“Wynter,” Kerrigan told her.
Arbor’s face fell. “She … she died in the battle. Along with all of her followers.”
“Not all of them,” Fordham said. “Many of them were willing to come forward when I asked questions.”
“And Wynter might not have wanted to answer any of my questions. Threatened to kill me where I stood. It was actually sort of fun. But eventually, she confirmed what I had already known—that you were the mastermind behind the whole ordeal. Wynter was your front woman.” Kerrigan held her hand when Arbor tried to argue. “If that wasn’t enough, I have two freed slaves who already told me the whole story.”
“Arrest them,” Fordham said to the guards. “Arbor, you are under arrest for treason against the Society and the House of Shadows for engineering the Battle of Lethbridge. Prescott, you are under arrest as her accomplice.”
The siblings stared at him in shock.
“Fordham,” Prescott gasped.
“You can’t do this,” Arbor bellowed.
People were starting to look. Let them. Let them see what would be done to those who tried to hurt them. Even family wasn’t safe.
Fordham had a stony expression on his face as he watched them get carted away. But she knew how this hurt him. How much it had broken him when he discovered the truth.
“This is what it means to be king,” he said softly to her.
“I know. The problem is that they had the right idea and all the wrong actions.”
He nodded once and watched until they were no longer in their line of sight.
40
THE REUNION
After the arrests, Kerrigan and Fordham were greeted even more enthusiastically. As if they had shown their hand to those assembled. They weren’t going to run reckless and do whatever they wanted. They believed in law and order.
And that was true.
Kerrigan didn’t agree with people breaking the law. Except she did it frequently when it suited her. Which they had surely heard and solidified for all in attendance that it was in the past. Even if it wasn’t. Even if it hadn’t been meant as a display at all.
“You’re back!” Audria cried. She pushed through the crowd and launched herself at Fordham.
He shot Kerrigan a look as he put a hand on Audria’s back. “Uh … yes.”
“We missed you,” she said as she released him. “Didn’t we?”
Roake shrugged as he stepped forward and stuck his hand out. “I suppose we did.”
“Real convincing,” Fordham said.
Roake shook his hand hard. “It wasn’t the same without your broody antics.”
“I second that,” Kerrigan said.
Audria giggled and pulled her close. “We all know that you do. And look … no Bryonican wedding.”
“Thank the gods,” Kerrigan muttered. “I can tell Parris to scrap my wedding dress.”
Audria gasped. “Surely someone else can wear it.”
“Surely anyone else but me.”
Fordham arched an eyebrow. “For now.”
Kerrigan’s cheeks flushed at those words. Well, a wedding to Fordham sometime in the future didn’t sound like such a bad thing. Especially after dreading the one with March for nearly a year.
“Tell us everything,” Audria said, looping her arms with Kerrigan’s and pulling them back into the throng.
Fordham launched into a brief tale of how he had claimed his throne and returned to Kinkadia to rejoin the Society. More people joined in with wide, curious eyes. Despite going to war with the House of Shadows, most Society members had not seen a member of his tribe for a thousand years. For those who lived in the mountain, Fordham was far from an oddity, but for everyone else …
Kerrigan was happy to let him take some of the weight off of her. She could spend the rest of the evening engaged in meaningful conversation, knowing she had him at her side. Just as she always wanted.
Well, maybe not always. They had rightfully hated each other in the beginning, but now, she couldn’t imagine her life any other way.
As the evening was winding down, a figure appeared on the outskirts of the crowd. A figure she hadn’t been certain would return for the festivities.
She disentangled herself from the crowd and went to meet her father. “You made it back.”
“Couldn’t miss my only daughter making the Society council.”
Kerrigan rolled her eyes. “Well, we haven’t voted yet.”
“No, but I have faith that they’ll choose the right person,” Kivrin said. He gestured toward a deserted gazebo on the edge of the arena. “Walk with me.”
Kerrigan fell into step beside her father. Their steps even and comfortable. She wanted to relish this moment but had too many questions for him.
“The refugee project is well underway.” Kivrin spoke before she could get the words out.
“That is great. How many have moved?”
“Not nearly enough,” he admitted. “About a hundred so far. We have enough room for hundreds more, but I think, understandably, many of them are wary of being under the rule of a Fae.”