The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,132

man even had a soul. "But you'll understand soon. If you remember the terms of our agreement, you promised to bring me a dragon and I promised to give you the sky. Well, I'm a man of my word, like I said, and tonight I'm making good on my end of the deal. Don't try to fight it. I assure you, you won't win. And in the end, it will only make things harder. Now, I'm not saying it won’t hurt, because it will. But, invinci, as with every other pain you've faced, in time you'll heal."

A sick feeling turned Rafe's stomach. The words sat on his chest like a weight, crushing him until he had no breath.

What did that mean?

What was going on?

The king's magic filled the room, golden and glittering. The three mages stepped away from the table, back and back and back, until they were nowhere in sight. Rafe couldn't scream. He couldn't fight. His heart pounded in his chest, his lungs swelling as power saturated the air, making his skin tingle. The dragon stirred beside him, its dark scales shifting to reveal the simmering fire beneath its skin. Heat flared, not from without, but from within, as though someone had pressed a torch to Rafe's soul, setting it aflame.

He didn't understand.

And then, with horrifying clarity, he did.

41

Xander

"Leave us," Xander ordered as soon as the door of the cell clanked shut. If Helen thought to protest, the expression on his face was enough to send her quietly away. The gentle scuffle of boots faded, followed by the soft thud of a door closing at the other end of the hall, leaving him and Cassi alone—if that was even her name.

She was right on the other side of the metal bars, but he found he couldn't even look at her to ask. The haunting feeling of her stare was too much. Instead he walked, back and forth, back and forth, his footsteps echoing loudly in the silence. His fists, one real and one invisible, were clenched so tightly the muscles in his arms trembled. Fury stole his sight, blurring the world so he could focus on nothing but the memory of her silvery eyes, as luminescent and mysterious as the moon, churning with a single thought—kill me.

Why?

Why hadn't she cut his throat?

Why had she left him the opening?

Why?

Why?

Why?

"Gods alive," he shouted, though the words came out guttural and broken. The sound reverberated off the walls, a monster brought to life. Xander slammed his hand into the bars, the sting upon his skin a welcome pain that stifled the emotions threatening to undo him. Questions, and questions, and more questions. He wanted answers, and for the first time, he knew exactly where to get them.

Slowly, his gaze shifted over the rough stone floor, traveling back and back and back, until it reached her leather boots, then higher, up the lean length of her legs and the slim curve of her waist, past the empty sheaths, to the soft brown waves framing her neck and the elegant arc of her throat. He followed the edge of her jaw, avoiding her lips, until finally he met those steely eyes which had never seemed to match the rest of her. She was warm, the golden undertone of her skin, the bronze highlights in her hair, the brightness of her smile. He'd been drawn to her like a moth to a flame, fooled by the brilliant display. But now he saw the real her reflected in those frigid irises, as cold and unfeeling as her home.

The fight in him gave out.

Xander wrapped his fingers around the metal bar, holding up his body as his legs went weak. Even as his heart seemed to spill from his chest, he didn’t look away. His anger was the only thing keeping him on his feet.

"Who are you?" he asked. Who are you that you could profess to miss Lyana with one breath and then hide her with the next? Who are you that you could befriend my brother one day, and then hurt him like I know you did? Who are you that you could press your lips to my throat one night, and then hold a knife to the same spot hours later?

Who are you?

Who?

Cassi said nothing.

"Who are you?" he shouted, with a fervor that surprised even him.

She recoiled as though struck, but remained silent.

"What did you do to Rafe?"

His stomach sank as she hid her face.

"What did you do?" he said, hardly recognizing the