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Alive!
Something black pushed into my periphery, making me dare a glance that sent a whirl of energy into my belly, making me realize the warmth of Malyr’s arm had disappeared.
Instead, five ravens soared through the wind, fluttering around me in acrobatic movements. They rolled and sunk, rose and scattered, gliding along the ground beside the booming hoofbeats.
A cheeky grin lifted the corners of my mouth. One tug on the rein, and Liual shifted left, forcing the raven by his feet to flutter and drift upward on a warningcaw. A rolling laugh bubbled from my chest until it distorted into a squeal when claws dug into my hair, giving a little pull before the raven above me somersaulted through the air to a string of croaks as if he was laughing back at me.
Dense, bright pressure filled my ribcage, each inhale sending cold, clean, unadulterated joy through my body. This was wonderful, magical. Like another dance, no less breathtaking than the last one, making me the axis of Malyr’s circling unkindness.
Until Liual stumbled.
Nothing but a single out-of-tune bump before he regained his rhythm, but unexpected enough I curled my fingers into the pommel. Bouncing followed, making me shift, slip, and sway.
In a burst of feathers, black plumes wavered and weaved through the air, their fluid forms gliding effortlessly between the realm of magic and reality. Like a whisper in the air, they undulated around me, only to morph into an arm clasping around my middle once again.
“Da’eyha…” Malyr said calmly behind me, steadying me against Liual’s trotting steps for a beat or two before the horse settled back into a walk, then he placed his mouth by my cheek. “How was that, hmm?”
“Wonderful!” I said with a laugh as I sensed his lips curl against my cheek.
Was he…? No, that couldn’t be. I looked back at him once more, only for the sight to steal the wind from my sails.
Right there, on those lips that had tasted like autumn sweetness during our almost-kiss, a heart-rending smile clung to the wavering corners as if it didn’t quite remember how to survive on Malyr’s usually severe mouth. But it did, causing one treacherous flutter in my chest after another for each second it lasted.
And, gods help me, did it last…
“Watch your balance and look forward.” Malyr lifted his hand to my head where he raked his nails over my scalp the way he’d done it at thekjaer, grooming me, gently urging my gaze back forward. “Queen Taramia’s ladies-in-waiting knew her husband had her ear cut off. They decided to wear their hair braided like their queen out of solidarity, much to King Willem’s displeasure. He had them all beheaded.”
My breathing slowed at that, my lungs caught between surprise and confusion. “You were watching me earlier?”
“Little dove, I have watched you dozens of times, from rafters, dark corners, through windows.” His words hushed across the shell of my ear, sending a lovely shudder down my neck. “Just because you cannot see me does not mean that we cannot see you. And how we love to observe your excitement when you explore merchant’s wares, read by the window, or twitch your lips in delight at the sight of blackberries.”
My mind went back to thekjaer, to the many bowls of fruit on our table, and how certain his fingers had reached for the berry. Should someone who truly hated me know quite so much about the things that delighted me? There was no painless answer to that.
“Why?” I asked. “Why watch me?”
“Presume it is something as simple as the fact that you are beautiful,” he said. “Except when you fight me… then you are stunning.”
“Careful now.” The words came slowly, breathily. More warning to myself than him. “You promised not to be on your best behavior.”
“Oh, but I happen to love how it flusters you.” His chuckle came with those fingers that gently combed through my hair before he nuzzled my temple. “And if you run from it this time? Little dove, there will only be one set of arms left to run into.Mine.”
ChapterThirty-Three
Galantia
Present Day, the western coast
Salt seasoned the wet air, bringing with it the scents of algae and stone chilled by winter, although the flurries had stopped and melted away a good while ago. Several feet ahead of where I sat on a quilt of shadows, the jagged cliff lined the entire length of the horizon. The water sat so far below, there was no ocean to be seen—only heard. The rhythmic rumble of waves pounded the base of the cliff formed a roaring backdrop for the high-pitched caws of children.
They soared through the sky, chasing each other. Some of the smaller ravens dashed through the branches of nearby pines, shaking off whoever pursued them. Older boys, some of them men nearly grown, wrestled each other off the cliff, eyes darting to a group of girls who cheered and flushed nearby.
“Is it always like this?” I asked. “For you to easily mingle with commoners? Sit among them unbothered?”
Malyr folded an arm beneath his head where he lay beside me, his eyes fixed on a sky that had opened some, letting rays of sun cast a shine across his black, fanned-out strands. “A Raven king’s mate could be the daughter of his bannerman or the whore working the streets in the shadow of his castle. How could he ever find her if he never crossed her path?”
That made sense.
And all peasants seemed to regard Malyr with great respect, offering him crooked bows and wobbly curtsies, only to leave him be and go about their enjoyment. It had been wonderful to watch ever since we’d arrived when the sun had stood in its zenith. Once, Malyr had done me the favor and thrown himself off the cliff, too. For my sick amusement, he’d said, actually making me laugh.
