She stood in the small space with Dozan. Tension was high as she waited for the moment of a lifetime.

“Kerrigan…”

“Don’t,” she whispered. She met his amber gaze. “Just… don’t.”

He smiled, an almost-genuine gesture. “You know you owe me big time for all of this, don’t you?”

She snorted. “And there’s the Dozan that I know.”

“And love?” he countered.

She shouldered past him and out the door without a reply. She did owe Dozan for this. He was providing the space both inside and out of the Wastes without talk of payment. And he’d bolstered Thea’s numbers by sending out his own birds to all of the taverns in the Dregs. He hadn’t had to do that. And she still hadn’t thought that anyone would come to hear what she had to say.

“May I introduce to you, Kerrigan,” Thea said to the sound of uproar.

As she climbed the few steps that led to the wooden stage, she kept her face neutral instead of the utter shock that she felt. Not just at the half-Fae and humans who had attended previous Rights For All events and were here again. They were primarily the well-off bunch. The ones who had the means and spare time to spend fighting for their own rights. Those few were drowned out by the working class in attendance. Her people—the literal Dregs of Kinkadia—had come out to see her. The ones who had cheered her name in the Dragon Ring, who gambled with Clover, who had bought her drinks for her victory. They had shown up, and they had shown up in droves. The sea of people vanished in the distance to a ripple of bodies. And every one of them was here for her.

Thea had shown her the air magic to use to amplify her voice, and she spun the magic as she took center stage. She held her hand up, and eventually, the noise quieted.

“Today was a day like any other,” she began, her voice carrying to the farthest reaches of the crowd with ease. “You woke up. You broke your fast. You went to work. You came home, expecting to wake up and do it all over again, weighted down by the judgment and prejudice against your existence. You feel it in the jeers about your ears and the pittance in your wages and the lack of respect afforded to you by the very people who are supposed to govern you. I have called you here because we cannot go on like this.”