The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,106

and the invisible strings stretched between them in a tangled mess called fate.

This diary had an important story to tell.

The only question left was which one.

With a sigh, Cassi closed the book and retied the worn leather binding, then slipped it inside her pack. The answers were waiting in Da'Kin, but first she had to make it out of Rynthos. Though she could have spent hours scouring the volumes lining the shelves, Cassi turned off the lantern and slipped from the room. When it came to thieving, the quicker the better. She wouldn't feel safe until she was back in her room with the diary tucked deep at the base of her trunk, ready to be smuggled from the city.

Her trip back through the labyrinth passed quickly. A few archivists crossed her path, but she snuck by unseen. It wasn't until she was almost at the end of the tunnels that a sight shocked her so thoroughly she stopped dead in her tracks. Her stomach leapt into her throat as her heart hammered. A hunched figure sat blocking her path. He hung his head between his bent knees, his crossed forearms providing a sort of pillow while his wings drooped along the floor. Even without seeing his face, she recognized him immediately. There was only one type of feather so black she could hardly make it out in the dark, and that feather belonged to a raven.

"Xander?" she hissed. "What are you doing here?"

His head snapped up immediately, but his gaze slid past her. Though he heard her, he couldn't quite find her in the shadows. "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

"Shh," she chastised as she yanked the stolen robe over her head and hastily stuffed it into her bag. When he started to stand, she crossed the distance between them and lowered her voice. "Someone might hear you. How'd you— I mean, why— I mean…Xander!"

"I was on my way to your room when I saw you soaring across the city, so I followed you. How was I supposed to know you'd go sneaking into the archivist's vault—which is, I might add, the only place in this city we've been expressly forbidden to enter. I tried to catch up to you, but I couldn't see a thing. I figured I’d sit and wait and hope I found you before you did something incredibly stupid. So, did I?"

"Did you what?"

"Find you before you did something incredibly stupid?"

"That depends on your definition of stupid."

"I'm not interested in a debate."

"Since when?"

"I already have one war banging on my door. I don't need one with the owls too. What were you looking for? Did you touch anything? Did you"—he gasped, as though the very thought were a scandal in itself—"did you steal something?"

"Of course not." Thank the gods lies came so easily to her lips. "And what are you talking about? A war?"

"That's why I was going to your room. The dove prince, he—"

Cassi clamped a hand over his mouth, silencing him as the jingle of keys made its way to her ear. "Someone's coming."

The echoes stemmed from a spot around the bend, the soft light of which had allowed her to spot Xander. They weren't far from the entrance of the tunnels, but if an archivist had just stepped inside, they had no chance to get out unseen.

To their right, only darkness waited. It wasn't far to the first fork in the hall, but could the two of them be quiet enough to hide? And if they were caught, what then? It was one thing to have an owl snooping around the vaults, even one as unwelcome as her, but it was another thing entirely to have the prince of a foreign realm sneaking around their most sacred corridors.

What to do? What to do?

Think, Cassi. Think.

Beneath her palm, Xander moved his lips as though to speak. She clasped his cheeks harder, trying to ignore the subtle brush of their skin, the way it almost felt like a kiss.

A kiss?

A kiss!

Cassi stumbled forward into Xander's chest and pushed him until his back hit the wall. With her hand still covering his mouth, she leaned close to his ear. "Don’t say a word. Tuck your wings as close to your back as you can and hide your face against my neck. Please, trust me. Just go with it."

33

Xander

At first, he had no idea what she was doing. Xander froze as her palm slid from his lips to his cheek, then up