The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,156
though to push it back.
The water kept coming.
A hundred feet.
Then seventy.
Now fifty.
No, twenty-five.
Fifteen.
Ten.
Her golden magic flashed with the force of the sun, and suddenly the ocean simply stopped. Liquid bubbled and churned behind an invisible barricade. The water was so close Rafe's cheek became moistened by the spray, and steam erupted from his back as droplets fell on his wings. A wall of solid sea hovered, mere inches from crashing upon the city, but her power held it trapped. Inch by inch, Lyana lowered her arms, and inch by inch, the water receded, until finally it returned to normal, lapping up against the docks in gentle undulations. The power filling the air blinked out and she fell.
Rafe didn’t hesitate.
Forgetting for a moment that he was a monster whose wings rippled with fire, he took to the air and scooped Lyana from the sky. It was strange not to feel the wind ruffling his feathers—strange, and yet not. This body, new as it was, belonged to him. He didn’t need to learn it, the way he once had his raven wings, zipping across the palace courtyard with feathers little more than fluff. Something innate took over, something that perhaps had once belonged to the dragon now sharing his soul.
He landed on a knee with Lyana's body draped across his thigh and placed his arm behind her shoulders to cradle her head. With his free hand, he brushed her braids away from her cheek, tucking one behind her ear as he ran his fingers over her skin.
"Ana," he whispered. "Wake up."
Her eyes fluttered open. "Rafe?"
"Are you all right?"
"What…" She trailed off, her eyes going wide. "The water!"
"Shh," he murmured, trying to calm her. "You stopped it."
"I stopped it?"
A smile flitted over his lips. "You didn’t even need to hide behind an overly large cloak this time."
Her brow wrinkled and he thought himself a fool for bringing up the nights they'd spent sneaking around Pylaeon, nights that might have meant far more to him than to her. But then the edges of her mouth curled upward and a sparkle lit her eyes. A grin pulled at her cheeks, widening and widening until her whole face seemed to glow. Watching her then, he almost thought it was worth it—all the pain, all the heartache, all the despair—since it brought him to this place and this perfect moment with her.
It ended far too soon.
As though a cloud had passed over the sun, her features darkened and a single word fell from her lips. "Xander."
Rafe snatched his palm from her cheek as though burned, the name more effective than a cold shower to douse his affection. If he closed his eyes, he knew what he would see—that look on his brother's face as Xander picked up Lyana's ring from his bedroom floor, the anger and hurt more scorching than a flame. So Rafe didn’t close his eyes. He jerked his head to the side and stared into the fog, cursing himself for making the same mistakes all over again.
"No, Rafe," Lyana said with a wince. She reached for his hand, but he slid it away and eased her to a seated position, putting some distance between them. "I didn't mean— I wasn't—" She sighed heavily. "It's not just Xander, but the whole House of Whispers."
He glanced back to her, drawn by the grave tone.
"It's—it’s gone."
"Gone?" The air left his lungs. "What do you mean gone?"
"I don't know what that blast of magic was, but I know something happened to the god stone. It stopped working, and the isle…well, it fell."
"Fell?" he asked, still not comprehending. Fell?
Then it clicked.
The water, the wave—it had been caused by something extremely large and heavy falling into the ocean, displacing it. And that large, heavy something was his home.
"Xander!"
Rafe was on his feet in an instant. His wings pumped and his body rose, his mind already a thousand miles away. Lyana grabbed him by the ankle, trying to pull him back down.
"Stop!" she shouted. "You can't!"
He ignored her.
"Rafe, they'll kill you!"
"No—"
He turned his face toward the sky and broke off at the heat simmering across his leathery wings. They stopped moving and he dropped back to the ground, landing hard on his feet as the truth pulled at him like a weight. He'd forgotten what he was, what he'd become. And she was right. They'd kill him.
Did it matter?
"He's my brother," Rafe said, just as Lyana took his hands, forcing him to meet her imploring eyes. "I have to go."