The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,126

as he sucked in a deep breath. The barest screech escaped his lips before a golden aura enveloped him and he halted midstep as though frozen in time. The silence of his stolen cry pierced Cassi, making her realize just how much she'd wanted him to escape.

"Close," Malek murmured, his eyes going black as they landed on the raven. "Closer than I'd like."

Rafe's glare promised retribution, but he wouldn't get it. If there was anything Cassi knew about her king, it was that he always won. He got what he wanted, no matter the cost, no matter the consequences. And whatever he planned to do to Rafe, he'd do it. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't stop him. Not like this, with her spirit form as useless as her foolish heart.

"Jacinta," Malek said, the name sounding like a command.

With the flick of her wrist, the mage peeled a metal band off her coat and wrapped it around Rafe's skull, sealing his mouth and removing any hope he had of freedom. Without his raven cry, the battle was lost before it even began. The ferro'kine then unhooked the chain from her waist and used it to secure his arms behind his back.

Malek loosened his magical hold on Rafe's spirit, maintaining just enough of a connection to prevent him from slipping free. Then he turned toward Cassi. "I know why you're here. And I also know you have more important places to be. Your time is up, Kasiandra. Kill the boy, or I'll have someone else kill him for you. One way or another, you'll be home by tomorrow—as my soldier or as my prisoner. The choice is yours."

Rafe's head snapped to the side. He stared into the mist, his brow furrowed. All at once, recognition sparked like metal to flint. He screamed, the garbled sounds caught by his gag, but she felt as though she heard him.

Cassi! The embers burning in his eyes seemed to shout. Cassi!

A slowly mounting horror twisted his features, the reality of the king's words hitting home. His struggles doubled, tripled. Malek's golden power increased to keep the raven contained. The muscles of Rafe's neck bulged with all the words he couldn't say.

But he didn’t need words.

His expression said it all—a mix of unabashed loathing and fruitless hope, as though his every nightmare lived in her, and his every dream too. His eyes strained with pleading, red veins pulling at the whites until tears began to form.

Don't do it, he implored. Don’t hurt Xander.

Even now, without his wings and at the mercy of a cruel king, his own life in shambles and his future teetering on oblivion, his only thought was for his brother. Rafe could have been begging for his own life, but he wasn't. And somehow that broke her heart more.

"Kasiandra," Malek said, his voice sharp.

What are you going to do to him? she wanted to ask. What did I agree to? What was I a part of? Willing or unwilling, she was the reason Rafe was here, and it was her fault that, when morning came, he'd truly be alone in the world.

"Go," Malek ordered.

Her hesitation held her hostage.

"Go."

Cassi did—not because he said to, but because high above the fog, in the quiet stillness of a city asleep beneath the stars, she felt a hand upon her cheek, warm and loving, and it shocked her from the daze.

Xander?

At his touch, her spirit cut through the mist, leaving Rafe forgotten by the sea as her soul sped toward the clouds.

What's he doing in my room?

What's he doing on my bed?

"Cassi."

The word was hardly more than a whisper on the breeze, far away yet close enough she felt the subtle brush of his breath upon her skin.

Cassi raced through the thinning fog, her focus on the sky and the floating isle so high above it was hardly more than a dark spot blocking out the stars. As she neared, the shadows played with the moonlight, revealing jagged cliffs and barren rock, the rough underbelly of paradise. From this vantage point, it was clear the land had been ripped away from the world below, leaving nothing clean about the sharp and broken edges. By magic? By the gods? She didn’t know anymore. She didn't care. All she cared about was the castle teetering on its edge, the gray stones luminescent, and the windows flickering with amber firelight. All she cared about was the boy waiting inside.

When she reached her balcony, she stopped dead.

Xander sat leaning over