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Either oneof them.
Something that hadn’t made any sense in the throes of lust now caused genuine hope, rather than guarded skepticism. What if my shattered heart had been much like a cracked mirror, not allowing me to see the truth that Malyr had tried to share with me all along? That hehadloved me. That he loved me still? Was that what he’d wanted to tell me after the bonding?
With a quick shake of her head that puffed some of myanoa’sfeathers, she sidestepped away from Malyr’s bird, all the way to his wrist. There, she turned her head this way and that, staring at the crumbs of browned sugar. She blinked once, twice. Then, she started pecking at it.
It was Malyr’s stuttered exhale that drew my attention back to him, a sound that held so much shock and surprise, only to find that he was staring at Sebian. Actually, they stared at each other.
Sebian smirked. “I told you so.”
My gaze went back and forth between them. “What? What is it? What does this mean?”
“That’s a question for you to figure out. Now close your eyes and call her back before Malyr’s arm falls off.”
She dissolved into plumes, as did Malyr’s bird, easily melting back into my form. Luckily, she’d left feathers behind on the ground, the largest and finest of which I picked up. Still, a few things were missing.
When I turned for the wooden cart beneath the oak, Sebian called behind me, “What are you doing?”
Experiencing everything I’d missed out on. “You’ll see.”
I greeted the heavyset merchant with a nod and looked over his display of raven treasures. “How much for these polished stones so I can hang a chain?”
“Here, my lady,” the merchant said and reached me one of those wooden plaques, along with a stick of coal. “Write down your name, and I will brand it into the wood for you before I count out how many stones we’ll need. With luck, a new Raven will meet you in your nest tonight.”
Before my fingertips touched the items, Sebian grabbed me and slung me over his shoulder. “Tell that fucker her nest is full.”
“What are you doing?!”
“Are you trying to get your wrists tied up again, sweetheart?” He spun several times, ripping a little squeal from me. “Because this is the way to go about it.”
“Let me down!” I pounded at Sebian’s back, kicking and writhing, but mostly laughing. “I just want to hang a necklace!”
A deep rumbling laugh echoed in the air.
A laugh that stopped even Sebian dead in his tracks as he slowly slid me off his shoulder. It was a sound so foreign, so unexpectedly soul-stirring, that it seemed to reverberate through my chest, halting my heart for a spellbinding moment.
Because it came from Malyr.
Sebian and I stared at him. There he stood, the unadulterated smile on his face reaching all the way into his eyes, making them sparkle like never before. Gods help me, I’d never seen him this unrestrained, unburdened… happy? The look suited him, how it carved away on his perpetually somber features. I wanted to see him like this more often.
Sebian exchanged a glance with me, his eyes twinkling in a bemused shock that seemed to match mine. “Stop scaring the people, Malyr.”
“Malyr!” a shout rumbled through thedrif,causing the three of us to spin around.“Show yourself, you murdering bastard!”
Lord Aros stomped toward us, his eyes red-rimmed, his soft black curls disheveled and knotted, one hand tightly fisting the pommel of his sheathed sword. Rage poured off him, carving a path through the parting crowd.
Out of nowhere, Sebian thrust a shadow dagger at Aros, which pierced his cloak and pinned a corner to the ground, making Aros stumble back a few steps. “The fuck you think you’re doing, storming at us like that?!”
Malyr shoved me behind him. “Take one more step toward myanoaley, and you’ll be a dead man.”
“You killed her!” Aros shouted, the tendons on his neck strung taught. Fine red veins popped across his face as he yanked his cloak free, but made no further advance. “She’s burning on a pyre because you put her there. You killed my fated mate!”
“Oh shit,” Sebian mumbled.
ChapterThirty-Three
Galantia
Present Day, Tidestone
