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The voice was Mortain’s, but there were no reflections nearby. It must be a part of whatever daydreaming had sent her into the skies with no memory, her imagination gone sideways.
What sheneededto do was find a safe place to land, recover, and figure out what had transpired between finding poor Varradyn and waking up in the sky. But when she flapped her wings and angled closer to the mountains, nothing happened. She could go neither forward, backward, or sideways.
Only up.
You know I am no mere figment of your imagination, Anastazja. I am here, with you. I was with you when you found the crone. I was with you when you came upon her handiwork. I wasinyou when you succumbed to your weakness, and it was I who stirred you to life and pointed you toward your purpose.
Her mother used to say it wasn’t a problem to hear voices in your thoughts; it was responding to them that sealed your fate. But Ana was certain Mortain was the one controlling and impeding her flight, and she was already exhausted from aimless flapping.Release me, sorcerer. Whatever you’ve done to me, undo it before you kill me.
I have fulfilled my end of our bargain, have I not?
She murdered the same raven you commanded me to mate with!
Unfortunate, yes. You were on a mission in the observatory. Do you remember?
Let me land, and we’ll speak about whatever you want. Please.
Then it would be prudent to remember.
I need to land—
You will land nowhere but Midnight Crest. Covertly, as you always have. To find a replacement for the one Magda inconveniently dispatched.
No...Ana strained against a barrage of hail. She remembered the storm they’d watched arrive from the mountain path, but that seemed hours ago.No, that was not my mission.
You were going to fly to Midnight Crest, find a suitable mate—
No!Ana was hit by a ball of ice large enough to knock her off course. She recovered, but Mortain’s hold on her grew stronger with each passing moment.I was... I was going to Midnight Crest, but not for that.
If not that, then what? Certainly you were not going to do anything foolish that would ensure the deaths of everyone you love?
Of course not,she lied, feeling a bold stroke of mischief unexpectedly take hold of her. She couldn’t say why, but she didn’t think he could read her thoughts. He could be with her, watch from afar, and even control her, but her thoughts were her own. To be certain, there was only one way to test it.You’re right. Whatever you did to me turned my thoughts into a jumbled mess. I remember now.
What do you remember, Anastazja?
Her avian body lifted, tugged upward by an unseen force. She stopped fighting. She had intended to fly to Midnight Crest, so did it matter whether she was in control of the flight when the destination was the same?
I remember... thinking you would be so mad at me when you saw Varradyn.
Oh, my darling girl. That was not your fault. I would have eliminated the witch for that alone. She lost sight of my vision and pursued her own interests. But she has done nothing that cannot be remedied. Now, go on.
Ana stopped flapping her wings, and as expected, they continued without her focused effort. She let it happen because she would need all the strength she could muster when she landed at the Rookery.
I was going to Midnight Crest to find a replacement. So I could deliver on my end of the bargain.It wouldn’t be enough to repeat what he expected, to tell him what he wanted to hear. She needed more to sell her obedience.I was thinking it may befit us to select more discriminately than Magda liked. She always forbade me from choosing from the direct line of the high priestess. But if you wish to strengthen our bloodlines, Mortain, it is my belief we should take the son of the high priestess. The one they say will be high priest when her daughter comes of age.
She was well above the clouds, the dark spires of the Rookery looming in the distance, before he spoke again. But his voice was shaky, dissonant, as though whatever magic that had fixed him to her was fading.You are truly of my blood. Bold. Brave.The next words cut out entirely, until she heard,Any mirror will do. I will wait to hear from you.
Ana was shoved forward in the air. She detected quickly that she’d been released, so she flapped her wings and soared higher and faster, determined to say what she needed to say before Mortain returned and realized her deception.
As she neared the great stone palace in the mountains, something was different. The east ramparts were lined with what seemed to be guards, watching the skies with solemn stares and rigid stances. The south and west ramparts were the same.
She angled around to the north side, to where the Courtyard of the Regents was carved into the rocks. It was a sacred place, where only the high priestess and her heir were allowed to step. Landing there would place her in violation of the Ravenwoods’ most treasured law, and who knew how they would choose to hold her to account, but the guards on the ramparts were forher.The Ravenwoods were at last shoring their defenses, and if they were so prepared on the outside, she’d be a fool not to expect a ready offense as well.
Ana swooped low, dodging the icy trees some said were thousands of years old. She spotted a silver-maned beast milling about at the edge of a garden. Her mother had told her tales of the mythical midnight goats, but she’d never believed they were real.
Her boots hit the icy floor and she stumbled forward, nearly crashing into a broad, intricately carved throne. She gripped the arm, her chest heaving with wheezing breaths and her mind a spinning mess of words and thoughts she hadn’t had a chance to sort.
Heels clicking on ice drew her attention forward.
