Then she handed the tray to Cook and watched the woman disappear down the hallway.
Aria continued her work, but dark undercurrents swirled in her mind, rethinking every word of her instruction to Baron, imagining all the unpleasant ways her father might surprise her. Jenny had fallen silent, tending the fireplace to keep the room warm and comfortable.
A sharpcawcame from outside the window, followed by another. Aria glanced at Jenny; the girl had gone white, but then she nodded, and Aria opened the shutters, spilling in a cloud of winter air along with a black-feathered crow.
Corvin perched on her bedpost, but then he spotted Jenny and froze.
Aria latched the window and gave him an encouraging smile. Even so, it was a minute before black mist began wafting from his feathers.
Jenny turned her eyes to the fireplace, stoking the logs with renewed vigor.
In a burst, Corvin was himself, standing behind the bedpost as if it could shield him. He eyed the poker in Jenny’s hands. “I’m sorry I scared you,” he said unsteadily. “Last time and ... now.”
For her part, Jenny seemed to be fighting a heart attack, clutching her free hand to her chest, knotting the fabric of her white shirt as she stole glances at the boy who’d moments before been a bird.
“He’s harmless,” Aria said. “Unless you’re his twin.”
“Hey!” Corvin squawked, lifting his shoulders like ruffling feathers. “Leon always starts it.”
Aria smiled.
Jenny opened her mouth and closed it, apparently choking on air. After a few more struggles, she whispered, “I’m sorry. For the guards.”
“Oh,that.” He gave a half smile. “Thanks. Anyone else would still be calling them, so that makes you braver than most.”
The girl’s face colored, and she returned to stabbing logs.
“Baron?” Aria prodded at last.
Corvin grimaced. “I saw him get through the gate, but obviously I couldn’t fly into the palace, except here. I know he wants me to go home, but I thought maybe I could wait here, and after you meet with the king, you could just ... tell me it worked out. Feels silly now to say it.”
“Unfortunately, the king has confined me to my room. Baron must meet with him alone.”
A very dark part of her wanted to ask Corvin to turn His Majesty into a bird and make the problem fly away. If it wouldn’t have risked the boy’s life, she would have.
Corvin’s eyes widened. “Myfather sent me to my room all the time, but I never thought anyone could do that to a princess.”
Aria gave a short, breathy laugh. “In this, we’re no different. Except my father has royal guards to enforce it.”
“Then what about Baron—”
“I’ve sent him a note with strategies. I have full confidence in his abilities after that.”
She did, but it didn’t quash the fear that her father would find some new way to be irrational.
“The throne room has windows, doesn’t it? I could go see what’s happening.”
“I know it’s tempting”—Aria had considered sneaking out to eavesdrop as well—“but the best thing we can do for Baron is not distract him or do anything that risks my father’s ire.”
When the boy glanced at the window, Aria reached forward to grip his arm.
“If anyone in the kingdomcan manage this,” she said, “it’s Baron.”
Corvin nodded, though he still looked restless, ready to fly. Normally, she would have urged him to go home, but she did not harbor any delusions that he could fly in a straight line that didn’t include following Baron. Safer, then, to keep him occupied.
She steered him into a chair, where he perched on the cushioned arm rather than the seat. He tilted his head, peering around her, then quirked a smile. “You like the comb.”
Aria touched her hair. “I told you I did.”
