House of Dragons: Royal Houses Book One

Hadrian and I looked everywhere.”
“To the Wastes.”
“Kerrigan, it’s dangerous.” Darby sighed heavily. “But you don’t care about danger. It’s in your blood. I shouldn’t even be surprised.”
“After the catastrophe of last night… probably not.” Kerrigan flopped back on her bed and held her head. “I have to go talk to Helly.”
“Looking like that?” Darby shook her head. She rummaged through Kerrigan’s clothes and tossed her pants and a shirt. “Change, and let me brew you something for your head.”
“You’re a dream, Darbs. Your healing magic should always be used for hangover cures.”
Darby snorted as she began to mix something together.
“Seriously, shat am I going to do without you?”
The words were supposed to be playful, but they came out mournful. She hadn’t meant for it to happen, but then the real thought came crashing down. What was she going to do without Darby at her side?
“You’ll make do,” Darby said evenly. “Tell me your plan.”
“Well, Helly said that we’ll figure something out. I assume that means that she’ll want me to stay an extra year,” Kerrigan said bitterly. “But I can’t do that. There’s no way that I can endure another year of meetings with potential tribes or get on that stage again with the year below us, hoping it’ll be different than this year.”
“No, that would be… impossible.” Darby struck the fire starter together once, twice… and on the third time, Kerrigan just gave her a flame.
Darby looked at her ruefully. “And where would I be without you?”
“Still trying to light the fire.”
Darby laughed and put the water on to boil. “So, what do you plan to do about it?”
“I’m going to figure out what happened with Ellerby. Surely, it was a mistake,” she said doubtfully.
“What if it wasn’t?” Darby whispered.
Kerrigan couldn’t think of that, so she jested to keep from her terror. “Well, Dozan did offer me to be his queen.”
Darby rolled her eyes. “As if you could ever be someone’s puppet queen.” She looked slyly at Kerrigan. “Even someone you were obsessed with when we were younger.”
Kerrigan’s cheeks turned red. “I was not obsessed with him.”
“Oh, you can’t fool me,” Darby said, tending to the water as it hissed. She dropped some herbs into it and then handed a mug over to Kerrigan.
“Fine. He was rather handsome when I was twelve.”
“He’s still handsome,” Darby said.
Kerrigan raised an eyebrow.
“Not for me! Obviously, I like girls,” Darby said shyly. “But… it doesn’t matter. He’s handsome and a snake. You know better.”
Right. She knew better.
Kerrigan finished her drink and then passed it back to Darby. Her headache was much improved. She was going to need to drink less if she wouldn’t have Darby as a roommate to put her back together.
Kerrigan quickly changed into the clothes that Darby had picked out and discarded the clothes Clover had let her borrow the night before. Her ceremony dress was still tucked into Clover’s small room, forgotten. She hoped to never see it again. Burn it for all she cared.
The mountain was teeming with life. Servants bustled through the corridors, preparing for the first day of the dragon tournament. Society members in their ceremonial black cloaks stood together in twos and threes, discussing what was to come. Though, of course, no one knew what the first task would be, save for the three tournament masters this year.
The outside world had looked much the same as she strolled through the streets this morning. Families dressing their children in their best, eager to get into the arena and watch the first task. Street vendors offering specials, filling the air with the scent of cinnamon and clove and even more savory meat pies. The entire world was waiting on a precipice to see what would happen today.
Except for Kerrigan.
Her mind was focused on what was ahead for her own life. The tournament had excited her five years ago. She had thought this time around, she would be watching from the other side. Not a student anxious to become someone, but a tribe member watching with delight for her new people, cheering on their victories and lamenting their failures. The excitement only made her stomach ache more.
She had to find Helly. She had to fix this.
* * *
Helly stood regally among a group of admiring Society members outside of the wing that led to the various levels of living quarters for Society members. This part of the mountain was very unlike where Kerrigan had spent the last twelve years living. Her world was so small, so confined. She and Darby had a one-room apartment with two beds just big enough for them to grow into over the years, and they had. The bathing chambers were shared between all of the Dragon Blessed. Though final years were allowed their own bathing. The twenty-three of them had seen it as such a luxury to only have to share with each other and not a couple hundred other littlings from five on up.
But the Society quarters were another thing altogether. Instead of the mansions on the Row, they each had their own chambers within the mountain. Depending on seniority, they could have a dozen rooms or more to themselves with full attendants, lavish furniture, lush rugs, and even their own private bathing chamber. The Society quarters were warm and hospitable. A place the esteemed members could find a life, get married, raise children, if they chose. An allegiance to the Society first, tribe second.
Kerrigan cleared her throat as she approached the group of Society members. They turned to her as one, most recognizing her from her time in the castle. By the crinkle of their eyes and tight smiles, she assumed some of them had been at the ceremony last night as well.
“Hello, Mistress Hellina,” Kerrigan said, dropping into a curtsy.
“Oh good, Kerrigan,” Helly said with a smile. “You are right on time.” She looked to the other members and nodded her head. “I will meet you in our box. I still find it strange that I will be