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“As a child.” I grabbed the stick, licking at the yellowish-brown treat before I held it out to Malyr. “Have some.”
No reaction. He only stared at those far away plumes of gray smoke that rose into the sky somewhere outside the walls of Tidestone. Maybe it came from between those tents.
“Malyr?”
He turned his head, looked down at the figure, then up at me. “Hmm?”
“I said, have some. It’s good.” I couldn’t help but frown at the paleness of his face, seemingly exaggerated by those red threads forming roses and vines that adorned his black corseted vest. I wasn’t sure if he looked so poorly because he’d extinguished the fires I’d set all night, or if it was something different. “You seem distracted.”
He broke off a small piece and placed it on his tongue. “Merely feeling nostalgic.”
“Because of thedrif?”
He nodded. “Do you enjoy it?”
“Enjoy?” This was a childhood dream come true. “I love it.”
I looked over at the old, crooked oak in the outer bailey, its naked branches alive with the fluttering of black wings. Ravens landed, perched, and sidestepped on the gnarly wood. Necklaces dangled from their beaks, which they gingerly hung on smaller twigs, the trinkets glinting under the late afternoon sun.
I reached my right hand up for one of them, where it hung from a low branch, running my thumb over the seashells strung onto ribbon, the single feather tied into it, and traced the name engraved on the wooden plaque.Julan.“What are they for?”
“We call it a seeker’s chain.” Sebian stepped up beside me and ran his fingers down the shells. “Unbonded Ravens make them, displaying their treasures, one of their best feathers, and their name, hoping that their fated mate might spot it in the tree, take a fancy to it, and come to find them.”
“What a wonderful tradition.” I rounded the tree, looking over seeker chains that had to count into the thousands. Oh, how much I wanted to do this! To participate! “How do I get a nice feather from my unkindness?”
“Command youranoato separate from your human form,” Malyr said.
“I don’t know how to do that.”
“Like so…” Malyr broke off another piece of browned sugar, crumbled it in his palm, then reached his arm out to let hisanoashape there from shadows and feathers. “At first, you lure them. Then, you command.”
I stepped up to Malyr’sanoa, a majestic specimen, easily one of the largest I’d seen so far, with plumes as black as those shadows in his master’s core. Sometimes, hues of dark green and blue hushed across those wings the bird stretched before folding them again.
“I remember you.” The moment I reached my hand for his head, he ran the smooth length of his beak along my fingers, all but curling himself into my touch. “He’s a lot friendlier than you.”
Sebian snorted a laugh. “Smarter, too.”
“I never claimed otherwise.” The corners of Malyr’s mouth twitched ever so slightly, as if they wanted to smile but weren’t certain how to. “Try it. Put some food in your palm, commune with youranoa, and lure her out.”
I broke off some sugar, crumbled it, handed the stick to Sebian, then held out my arm. With closed eyes, I called for that bird of mine. The more I focused on the gift at my core, the faster something fluttered in my chest.
Then, something weighed down my arm.
Claws curled into the sleeve of my dress.
I opened my eyes, the muscles in my cheeks pulling taught at the sight of myanoaperching on my arm. “She looks… bigger.”
“Uh-huh,” Sebian agreed and patted her head. “That little thing sure gained some weight. Feathers are looking better, too.”
“Must be all the preening you do,” Malyr said with a quick glance at the braid resting on my shoulder. “She’s always been very recept—”
Myanoahopped onto Malyr’s arm. Then, she sidestepped, huddling against Malyr’s black bird, their beaks caressing each other’s in gentle strokes. They ruffled their feathers, preening at each other’s plumage, smoothing any errant feathers into place, unfettered by how the three of us stared at them.
Malyr’s eyes met mine above the affectionate display of ouranoas,his face holding much more color now. “He loves her very much.”
My heart pounded a strange rhythm of fear and yearning, words that Sebian had spoken last night creeping back into my memory. “Whatever this thing is between us three,” he’d said, “it’s not going to keep either one of us from loving you right.”
From loving me right.
