House of Dragons (Royal Houses #1) - K.A. Linde Page 0,100

he’d been squeezing his eyes shut, but at her words, she felt him relax. A soft inhale of breath meant he was finally seeing the world for what it was.

“The world is so…”

“Small,” she agreed. “So small up here.”

“Beautiful,” he finished. “Even in the dark, we can see for miles and miles, and every inch needs to be memorized for eternity.”

“The poet does come out on something other than paper,” she joked.

He shook his head and said nothing, just held her closer. She leaned back against his broad chest and watched the only world she had ever really known disappear completely in the starlight.

Kerrigan had lived in a castle in Bryonica until she was five, but her home was Draco Mountain… the city of Kinkadia. She had never been out of the city, except on stolen flights, since she was five. And even then, she had never touched the ground.

She skimmed the surface with her hands as they flew endlessly.

When Tavry touched down outside of the town of Archdale in the craggy, rocky wasteland that was Elsiande, she realized that this was her first time away from home in twelve years. Her feet hit the ground, and she shivered slightly despite the oppressive southern heat. Kinkadia had just hit the humid summer heat wave, but Elsiande must have been in it for weeks. She felt like she could drink the air and was certain her hair was twice the size it had been when they started.

Fordham dropped down beside her on unsteady legs. “Well, we made it.”

“Yes,” she agreed.

“Where to now?”

She shook her head. “I’ve never been to Elsiande.”

Fordham turned her to face him. “I thought you knew where we were going?”

“Not exactly,” she admitted.

“Gods,” he grumbled.

“I mean, I do know where he lives. He told me before. I just don’t know… exactly.”

Then, you should hasten. We must leave again within the hour, Tavry reminded them.

Kerrigan frowned and nodded. “Let’s go.”

Together, they traversed the uneven rocks that made up the southern landscape. Their eyes had adjusted to the night, but it was too dangerous to walk without a light illuminating their path. So, they held flames in their palms to cut across the rocks.

She was relieved when they left behind the last column of rocks, and she took a deep breath of the salty air. Archdale rested on the shore of the Corvian Sea, at the mouth of a small inlet. They let their fires die out and stared down at the town. The homes were made of the surrounding rock, most only standing a story tall, but sprawling, sloping out into the landscape. Each had its own private yard with a fence and cultivated grass and flowers. As they ventured deeper into Archdale, keeping tight to the shadows, they came upon a town square. Two buildings here were multiple stories—an inn and city hall. The whole thing was mesmerizing and confounding. It was absolutely nothing like Kinkadia, where nearly every building was two, three, even four stories high and no one saw grass outside of a park or a Row mansion.

“Which way?” Fordham asked.

She shook herself from her fascination and desire to see this during the day and then gestured westward. Ellerby had told her once that he lived on the western banks just outside of the city. A large Row-style home set into the hillside overlooking the inlet. She doubted there would be many of those.

In fact, the home was very easy to find once they were heading in the correct direction. There were many homes set into the hillside, but most of the them followed the pattern of the city, sprawling one-story stone mansions. Ellerby’s home was large, but it went straight up four stories with wide-set windows and enormous gardens. How he ever accomplished true gardens here in this rocky land, she would never know.

Kerrigan debated on going around to the back. He had seemed afraid in his letter, but it hadn’t been tampered with. No one would suspect they would borrow a dragon and fly south in the middle of the night.

She opened the gate leading up to his mansion, surprised to find it wasn’t locked, and then Fordham followed her to the front door. No lights were on inside. It was the middle of the night. She was not looking forward to breaking in to his home.

With a sigh, she knocked on the front door anyway.

“Everyone is asleep,” Fordham whispered.

“I know, but common courtesy.”

They waited a moment to see if anyone would answer, and