Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,50

just for him, but for time itself.

Time to get to know him better.

Time to explore all that could lie between us.

That time, however, was not now.

I sighed regretfully and stepped back. He cupped my cheek with one hand and brushed a thumb across my lips. It felt like he was branding me. “Come back in one piece.”

“Oh, after a kiss like that, you can bet I will. The sad fact is, you’re stuck with me now.”

Warmth and caring spun through his eyes. “I can think of worse fates.”

“Such a romantic thing to say,” Mo said, voice dry. “Can we move on now?”

I grinned and motioned her on. She shifted shape but didn’t head out the door, instead arrowing through the vent.

I shifted and followed, tucking my wings in close as I went through the vent. I nevertheless felt the scrape of stone along my body before I was free and climbing skyward again. The night sky had cleared while we’d been underground, and the breeze chased our tails, making flying faster and easier. It nevertheless took us too long to get to our destination and, as we arrowed down, I couldn’t help but wonder if there’d be anything left to discover.

As it turned out, there was.

Bodies.

Seven of them, in fact.

We rode the wind for several minutes, circling the area and looking for demon activity or traps. A series of lakes stretched out below us, with heavily treed land bridges linking the six larger islands together. The bodies lay on one of the unlinked islands. Its shoreline was ringed with thick stands of trees, and a small clearing lay in the middle. In the center of that was a rock-topped mound I presumed was the gate. There was no sign of magic or movement anywhere on the island.

If this wasn’t a trap, why were the bodies there?

Granted, demons considered human flesh a delicacy, but major hunts were rare these days. If these bodies were the result of such a hunt, why not immediately take them through the gate? Discovery might be unlikely thanks to the fact the island was only reachable by boat, but it was nevertheless odd behavior for them.

After circling for another few minutes, Mo flew on to a nearby island and shifted shape as she neared the ground.

I landed beside her. “Why are we here?”

“Just wanted to give you a heads-up—that island is shielded, and I’ve not seen a spell like it before.”

I hadn’t even seen the damn shield. “Is it dangerous?”

“It doesn’t look like it, but I think I should—”

“No,” I cut in. “Definitely not.”

She gave me a long look. “Do not be daft, darling girl. If this is a trap, I’ll need you free to rescue me.”

I hesitated. It was a logical step, even if I hated the risk she was taking. “Squawk if it’s clear. Squawk louder if it’s not.”

Her answering smile suggested she’d be doing neither. We reclaimed our blackbird forms and flew back to the other island. While she arrowed down, I remained aloft, the wind under my wings, allowing me to circle without effort. She swooped across the treetops and then through the clearing. Nothing happened. After a few more passes, she landed at the base of a tree, regained human form, and motioned me down.

I followed her entry line and landed beside her. She knelt and pressed one hand into the soil. While she communed with the earth, I crossed my arms and studied the mound. It was an actual cave rather than something the demons had built to cover the existence of the gate. The entrance was low to the ground and little more than an open slash that was at best two feet high. Obviously, the demons who used this particular gate were on the small side.

The seven bodies were randomly placed in front of the entrance and, at least from this distance, there was no immediate indication of how they’d all died.

Mo rose and brushed dirt from her hand. “There’s definitely no life on the island, human or otherwise.”

“And is there a gate inside that cave?”

“Most likely, but it’s not something I can feel through the earth. Not unless Darksiders are coming out of it.”

I frowned. “But the gates exist in our world, so why can’t you feel them?”

“Because technically the gate sits in the gray, even if it is visible from both sides.”

“That makes no sense, given the Blackbirds and the witch councils are always spelling closed minor gates. They couldn’t do that if they were sitting