The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,134

their betrayal had landed like a dagger to the heart until he'd looked beyond himself to see the truth their lies had been hiding. There were always two sides to a story, and before he cast judgment, he needed to learn hers.

"I do know you, Cassi," he said gently, filling the emptiness between them with a tether he hoped she'd take, an invitation to step out of the shadows and join him in the light. "I don't know why you hurt Rafe, or why you're working with the man who took Lyana, or why you lied. I don't know what you're planning. I'm not even sure I know your real name. But I do know you, and I know you're not the terrible person you're trying so hard to be. You could've killed me in your room. You had the knife at my throat, and you could've won. But you retreated. Why? You knew I'd never hurt you, and you could've used it against me. But you didn't. Why? You chose to design that weapon. You chose to give it to me. And maybe it wasn't conscious, but when you held my arms to my chest and pressed your blade against my skin, you chose to give me that opening. You're too smart and too sharp to have ever let that happen by chance. You wanted to get caught, Cassi. And I'm not entirely sure why, but I can't help but think you wanted to get caught by me."

Her wings curled over her shoulders and she shrank back. This time there was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The wall behind her was three meters thick, the bars before her unbreakable iron, but somehow he knew it was his gaze that held her trapped, the same way the dawning vulnerability in her eyes made his breath catch in his throat and his heart stand still.

"This is what I was afraid of," she confessed, the words escaping like a sigh. "Back on the beach, when I promised you a secret and you asked what I was afraid you might see, this right here is exactly what I meant."

On the beach…?

The dream came rushing back, the one which had been so real he’d thought he was losing his mind. They'd been side by side on a sandy shore, the waves washing over their legs, the sun on their faces. It had seemed so real. She had seemed so real, lying beside him, the ocean soaking through her hair, the droplets glistening on her feathers. Yet even in his imagination, there had been a wall around her heart.

What are you so afraid of? he'd asked. What are you so worried I'll see?

Her expression had been inscrutable as a single word fell from her lips. Me.

"But that was a dream," he murmured, shaking his head.

Cassi shrugged. "That doesn’t make it any less real."

Magic, he realized in a moment of perfect clarity. She must have magic. Just like Lyana. Just like Rafe. Just like that man. All of them have magic.

There was still something missing, a piece he couldn't quite see.

As he opened his mouth to speak, Cassi cut in.

"Let me ask you a question now, Xander," she said in a grave tone. Suddenly, he could see her teetering on the edge of her wall, one jump from crossing over or one slip from falling back inside. "Would you change things if you could? Not just for Lyana. And not just for Rafe. But even for people like me, a traitor and a spy, and for all the others who live in fear, the ones you'll never meet and the ones in your own city who turn away as you walk by, worried what their prince might see. Would you help us, if you could?"

He knew his answer immediately, but he didn't want a wall of iron between them as he spoke this truth, so he dipped his hand inside his pocket and pulled out the key. Cassi watched with a fierceness that made his fingers tremble. When he opened the door, she could have run. She could have overpowered him and escaped.

She didn't.

She stood frozen as he stepped inside, frozen as he walked closer, frozen as he took one of her hands in his, cursing his disability for the millionth time in his life as his right arm hung limp by his side. As though she could read his thoughts, Cassi finally moved, just enough to reach out and grip his forearm, connecting them