Page 82 of Heart of the Raven Prince

“What?” I ask, lowering the bow for the first time.

“The path ahead of you is not easy, I have never tried to lead you to believe it would be,” she says, and I think back to the screaming wind that drifted to me from the ghost path in the woods. The one that felt like inevitable violence. “But you are not weak, Fawn.” She cups my face and holds my gaze. I feel like I am watching the first sunrise on Bealtine as she says, “And with Caden, you will be unstoppable.”

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

Pulled by that sound, my eyes flutter open. I recognize it instantly, although I’ve never heard it before. That’s Caden’s heartbeat. I’m looking up at a midnight sky, a blood moon shining bright overhead. In the distance, I can hear the ocean. Gnarled, burnt branches line the sky above me, and I get the first creeping realization of where I am.

Sitting up slowly, I look around and find I am in the middle of a clearing in a forest that has been burned. This is the island Caden brought me to, when he was first asking me to trust him. The island where he lost his heart. The trees that still stand are stained black; soot cakes the forest floor. I’m coated in the stuff. Judging from the dancing orange light, there must be a fire lit behind me. Twisting sharply, I still when I see the scene before me.

The queen stands behind a stone altar, and Caden is tied to it. Her ivory wings are tipped in a layer of dripping blood. For the first time, she is not dressed in all white, but rather a pitch-black gown that looks as though it is made of hundreds of crisscrossing scales. She’s wearing the jaws of some great fanged animal as a necklace, and a crown of bones rests upon her head. No one else is present. There is no audience to spectate, no jeering crowd. It is just her, me, and Caden.

He’s being held down by barbed metal chains that are sinking deep into his skin. My stomach twists as I slowly rise. I try to keep my eyes on the Raven Queen, but falter when something on Caden’s chest demands my attention.

Gods and fucking demons.

He is bleeding profusely, judging by the bloodied shirt covering him, but he’s still alive. He’s jerking, trying to fight against the tight chains binding him, and it isn’t until he hears me gasp that he whips his head my way. He stares at me with blood-red eyes. A devilish grin crawls across his face before he opens his mouth wide and screams at me. My blood runs cold at the wild, unhinged noise. He’s snarling and biting, trying to break his bindings so he can rush me.

This is not Caden, this is a demon.

“You surprise me, human, and it’s been a very long time since anything has surprised me,” Arawyn says. I don’t respond, but I begin to move forward, one small step at a time. The silence is broken only by the cracking of the fire and the distant sound of the waves as they break on the shore. That, and Caden snarling rabidly at me as I steadily approach the altar.

“My son, however, has been nothing but an ultimate disappointment,” she sighs, turning her ruby gaze down to Caden as he continues to thrash. She grimaces, shaking her head at him. Letting out a disheartened noise she shrugs and says, “Oh well, I have other sons.”

The fire spits. The waves crash. Caden snaps at me, and I remain silent.

“Not a very chatty thing, are you?” she huffs, clearly annoyed by my continued silence.

“What do you want?” I ask, my words sharp. I’m ready to get this over with. I’ve no doubt this is the third trial, and I know it doesn’t matter whether I win or lose. She’s going to kill me anyways.

“I want to give you a gift, a show of my gratitude for surviving thus far.” She blinks at me, waiting. As Caden did so many times before, I give her nothing in return. Her beautiful features contort into a scowl before she presses on. “I am offering you a gift, human. For proving to me how truly worthless my son is.” Arawyn leans over and picks up a quiver, the one from Caden’s father.

“That’s not yours to give.” My voice is as frigid as the tides on Gaelynn in winter.

“Everything he owns is mine,” Arawyn hisses. She raises the bow and waves it at me. “Oh don’t be coy now, weren’t you going to use this to kill me?”

My eyes widen, the first real response she gets out of me, and she begins to cackle.

“Caden doesn’t seem to suffer from the same muteness you do. After some persuading he had no problem telling me all about your little agreement.”

She sighs, tossing the quiver over Caden, and I catch it easily, holding tight to it as she says, “It was an idiotic plan, but even I’m not so ungracious to not commend you for trying. I’ll make you a deal, princess. Or is it queen now? I suppose it would be, considering Caden butchered your parents.”

“You made him,” I shout, instantly furious with myself for breaking. She laughs again, the bright sound bouncing around the burnt forest, echoing deep into its ashy depths.

“Is that what you tell yourself to be able to stomach fucking him? Or are you just so desperate that you don’t mind the cock of a murderer between your thighs?” Her voice drops low, and she leans over Caden’s writhing body as she croons, “Maybe you like all the bloodshed. It makes a good lubricant, don’t you think?”

The leather quiver creaks under my hands as they tighten on it, but this time I do not take the bait.

“Very well, if you’re not going to be any fun, then I suppose we should get on with it. It’s time to put an end to this game,” the queen says, ripping Caden’s shirt off him.

I slap a hand over my mouth, my stomach instantly churning at the sight before me. His chest is split open; a jagged hole sawed through his flesh and bone. There, sitting in the cavity, is a beating and writhing mass of thorns. The wiggling vines are reaching and twisting, trying to slither out of his chest. Trying to crawl toward the queen.

“I’ll return you and your people to your measly little island, and you will be left untouched as I take the rest of the mortal realm. All I ask in return is that you do as you promised my traitor of a son. Kill him.”

I stare down at him as he thrashes and strains to get at me. I don’t see an ounce of recognition in his blood-red eyes, no hint of that cocky smile he seems to reserve just for me. There is nothing left in him that is Caden. He is controlled entirely by this demon. I suppose all roads led here eventually, with me piercing his heart. I can return my people to Gaelynn; we can live in peace and isolation. I just have to kill the prince I vowed to end. Reaching into the quiver, I pull out one arrow after another, tossing them on the ground. The queen silently watches until I finally select one arrow and drop the quiver. It strikes me as I look deep into her crimson gaze that she cannot kill him herself.

Perhaps her hands aren’t quite as unbound as Niamh thought.

Standing over Caden, I hold the arrow directly over the writhing mass of his decaying heart. Arawyn stands back.