It still panged in her chest when she looked at him. He’d wanted it too. She knew that he had, but it couldn’t happen. Fordham was cursed to hurt anyone he cared about. Even though she would risk it for him, he wouldn’t risk it for her. And didn’t that make all the difference?

She averted her gaze and settled instead on his dragon. “Good morning, Netta.”

The red-jeweled dragon inclined her head. Kerrigan, it’s always a pleasure.

See, why couldn’t she have gotten Netta as her dragon? Netta was as mischievous as Kerrigan had ever been. They would have been a perfect pair.

“Let’s get going. We have a few hours in the skies before we reach the House of Shadows,” Fordham said.

Kerrigan secured her pack to Tieran’s back. Fordham must have already attached a saddle for her comfort. Her throat tightened up, and she tried to ignore how much she wanted to fix this between them. But it couldn’t be fixed. That much was clear.

“Did you hear about what happened last night?”

“Beyond your inebriation?” Fordham asked.

“Basem was found dead in the dungeons.”

His head snapped to her. “What? When?”

“Last night, when I got back in, I went down to speak with Helly and Bastian about it.”

He withdrew into himself. “There is a plant inside the Society.”

She nodded. “That’s what I think too. Helly told me not to get involved.”

He rolled his eyes. “Good luck with that.”

“I guess it’s good that we’re going away for two weeks.”

“Perhaps,” he said. “Hopefully, they’ll have caught the person by the time we return.”

Or we could not go.

But she didn’t offer the alternative. Fordham needed to go home, and she needed to see the tribe that she had sworn herself to.

“Let’s hope,” she said. “I’d like someone else to step up once in a while.”

He just sighed. “Get on your dragon.”

She laughed at his exasperation. “So, where exactly is the House of Shadows?”

The archives of the thirteenth tribe had been stricken from record. Their magicked home erased from maps and memory. Only high-ranking Society members had access to that knowledge and unsuspecting humans who wandered across the spell line.

“North,” Fordham said before vaulting onto Netta’s back.

“North,” she muttered. “Right. Super helpful.”

“You’ll know when you need to know.”

“I’m a member of the House of Shadows now,” she grumbled. “You could just tell me.”

“You’re not actually.”

Kerrigan froze with her hand on Tieran’s leg. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re not a member of the House of Shadows.”

“But you said to the council …”

“What they wanted to hear.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You cannot be a member until you swear fealty to my father, King Samael Ollivier.” He paused, looking momentarily forlorn. “And he accepts you into his court.”