Kerrigan’s cheeks heated at the thought. It’d be as easy as breathing. Hooking up with Dozan wasn’t any different than fighting with him. The only time they both relaxed in each other’s presence was in the afterglow. Maybe a few rounds would help her get over the prince taking up all the thoughts in her head, but it didn’t mean it was a good idea.

After Clover’s cigarette, they returned to the room. Dozan still stood, poised and ready. Kerrigan made no further comments about him being there. She sat through the planning session until the sound of voices in the courtyard was loud enough to draw them away.

“If you do not wish to be a part of this, I would recommend keeping your cloak up,” Thea said. “Stay out of sight.”

Kerrigan nodded and tugged her hood back over her very recognizable hair. Thea retreated to the entrance to the courtyard and greeted the awaiting crowd.

“You’ll be okay back here?” Clover asked. “Hadrian said that he’d meet me.”

Kerrigan nodded. “Go see him. Tell him I miss him.”

“Will do,” she said and then darted after a blue-haired Fae who looked out of place in a sea of humans and half-Fae.

Dozan stepped up to her side. It wouldn’t do for the king of the Wastes to be seen in that crowd either. His involvement would have to be as secretive as Kerrigan’s but for more nefarious reasons. He stopped when he was just off of her shoulder. He towered over her a full head, and she could practically feel him breathing into her ear.

“You did this,” he said gently. Not his normal accusatory tone.

“Did what?”

“This.” He gestured to the swelling crowd of people from their vantage point. “It wasn’t the RFA people that managed to get this many people here. It wasn’t the message of equality and unity that Thea has been spouting for over a decade. It wasn’t even that they’d killed the only witness they had that could get them to the Red Masks. It was you.”

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You proved to them that they could win.” He brushed a red curl into her cloak. She shivered at the touch. “You’re a symbol.”

“I’m just a person.”

His gaze caught on hers. “You’ve never been just anything.”

Thea raised her hands to the sky. “Today, we speak for those who have long been cast in the shadow, who have no voice, who have no hope. Today, I bring you hope!”

The crowd roared with approval. Their voices raised to the skies, chanting for the end of this oppression. Wanting what the Fae already had—equal rights, a place in the government, a way out from under the boot of the Society.