Page 55 of Heart of the Raven Prince

Neither of us speak as we fly through the quiet night. Even the swell of his power is easier to ignore, fading into the background like everything else. Caden pulls me closer as he begins to drift gently down, the gesture almost tender. Another thought that feels like his blooms in my mind. He’s enjoying simply holding someone. I have no idea what to do with that thought, or with the way his hands feel caressing my skin. Shifting awkwardly against him, he instantly goes rigid, holding me a little further away.

He’s leading us toward a small island, dipping lower and lower. As the land rises to meet us, my stomach drops, but I’m able to keep my eyes rigidly open, relieved when he lands on a gray pebbled beach. He sets me down, and I instantly take several hasty steps away from him.

“That was cruel,” I snap. He moves to me, crossing the space in three quick strides and reaching for me. Instead of grabbing me like I think he’s going to, he reaches into one of the pockets on his jacket and pulls out a cigarette and a matchbook.

“Oh, come on, you have to admit the view was worth it.” He grins devilishly at me as he strikes the match and lights the cigarette hanging between his lips. The burning orange end glows as he inhales, momentarily illuminating his otherworldly features.

“You never finished your story,” I say, hugging the jacket tightly around myself, refusing to agree with him. The view was breathtaking, but he doesn’t need to know that. The tide is flowing in, filling the space with a gentle rushing sound, easing more of that ache in my heart. Looking around, I see the beach is lined with blackened, gnarled trees free of any greenery. It looks like the entire forest was burned. Holding his jacket tight around me, his musk and clove scent mix with the salty ocean breeze. He still hasn’t answered me, so I press on. “Did you perform this ritual, and raise a goddess?”

“Invoke,” he corrects, taking another inhale and cocking his head, motioning for me to follow as he strolls off down the beach.

We walk in silence for several minutes, as Caden puffs clouds of clove-scented smoke into the air. I can’t help but look out at the ocean, watching the tide roll in. It might be bathed in the light of a foreign moon, but it reminds me of home.

“To answer your question, yes,” he says, breaking the silence at last. “I stole an ancient text, one that I believed would call Niamh to me. I had never heard of such a book, but Sorcia was positive my father owned it. She begged me to take it, promising that in the end the betrayal would all be worth it.” He lets out a bark of empty laughter. “She didn’t need to beg. I would have done anything for her…”

I watch as he turns to the burnt forest, looking at it the way a prisoner looks at the gallows. He continues to speak, but I’m not sure he’s talking to me. “I broke into my parents’ estate and found the book exactly where Sorcia told me it would be. Then I took us to this island, on a night not unlike this one, but it was under a different moon.” He glances up, and I take the opportunity to openly study him. I don’t know why, but I’m overcome with the sense that he is holding everything so rigidly tight because he thinks if he relents for even a second, it will all fall apart.

I flinch at the thought, another lingering trace of him. This connection is going to take some getting used to. I wonder if it will fade the longer it has been since I was in his mind. A traitorous part of me hopes it does not. It is an insight into my opponent like I have never had before, a clear line of sight straight into my enemy’s mind.

“We performed the ritual. We invoked a goddess.” He takes another long drag from his cigarette before finally training his eyes back on me.

“You invoked Niamh?”

“No, we did not.”

I blink, my brows knitting in confusion as he flicks his cigarette into the waves, the burning ember winking out the moment it hits the dark waters.

“I was tricked. My parents were right about Sorcia, and I was too blinded by love to see. I didn’t wake a long sleeping goddess. I unleashed hell, and all it cost me was everything. I lost my heart, my life, and my will. And I did it all for someone who never truly loved me.”

He lost his heart? Is that hyperbole, or…

I think back to all the times I have been pressed against him, and how no sound beat from his chest. I think about the queen, her fist around a pulsing blood-red heart, and the way I could feel every crushing squeeze. The way he could feel it. I wait for him to continue. For more details. For the fully fleshed out story like the one he has been telling me all night. He offers none, leaving me filled with the sense that he is leaving something out.

“I’ve been trying for two hundred years to undo all the damage I’ve done, and never once have I actually hoped I could…” He steps toward me, the tips of his wing brushing the edge of my leg. “Until I found you.” Gripping my chin, he tilts my head up, his eyes narrowing in on the ruby dangling from my ear, and something angry crosses his face for barely a heartbeat.

“Let me train you, Oisín,” he whispers, pulling my gaze to his. “Let me prove to you that you are brimming with untold magic. Then together, let’s burn every single vampire and send their ashes back to the pits of hell they came from. Together, let’s kill the queen.”

My eyes dart between his, disbelief and distrust rising inside of me. He can’t possibly be serious; this has to be another cruel trick of his. Some game where he intends to use me as a pawn.

“Do all of this for me, Oisín, and I will not raise a finger in defense when you kill me. I’m not asking for forgiveness; I know I am well beyond that now. I’m not even asking you to spare my life. I am merely asking you to let me set things to right first.”

“How do I know any of this is true?” I ask. “Give me a single reason why I should believe you.”

“I can’t,” he answers, shrugging. “You either have to decide to trust me on your own or want to kill me so badly that you’ll risk it anyway.”

This fucking bastard knows how to bait me.

The weight of his question settles on my shoulders as I step away from him, hugging myself tight. I want to deny him; to refuse instantly. It would be the safest route. But…I need a way to get my people back home. I don’t believe for a moment that I have the power to end an entire horde of demons, but if training with him gets me any closer to seeing my people safely back on Gaelynn’s shores, then there’s really no choice to make.

“I…need to think about it.”

I’m sure he wants me to readily agree. To accept his sob story and forget all that he’s done. Personally, I want to tell him to fuck off and let him choke on his self-loathing. But…I need someone who can open a rift back to Gaelynn.

Unfortunately, it looks like that someone is Caden.

Iland us back in my courtyard, and she jumps from my arms the moment I set foot on the stone. I feel the loss of her heat instantly, and I wish I didn’t miss it as much as I do. We stayed on the beach for some time, sitting and watching the tide. We didn’t speak, though I wouldn’t call the silence comfortable. We may have come to some sort of tenuous truce, but that doesn’t mean either of us truly trusts the other.

Especially considering she still hasn’t agreed to help me.