The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,27

eyes widened as the word slipped out drenched in surprise, and she leaned forward, uncurling her legs to move closer. "Why not?"

"Because…" He swallowed, thinking back to that moment in the sacred nest when he'd held his forearm to that man's throat and attempted to choke the life out of him. "Under some circumstances, I can imagine myself killing a person—to protect someone I love, to protect my kingdom—an enemy, a combatant, someone trying to do me or my people harm. I know in the future I'll have to execute people to maintain our laws, though I don't relish the thought. But in the circumstance you posed—using someone as a sacrifice—no, I don’t think I would. As king, I think it would send the wrong message. It would tell my people I deemed them disposable. I would rather we fight and die together, to try to save all or none, than risk a single raven ever believing I wouldn't do everything in my power to save them."

He'd said more than he'd meant to, yet somehow it seemed right. He rarely had conversations like this with Rafe—his brother lacked the patience. Lyana, too, had been more comfortable out in the world doing than inside the castle thinking. But Cassi was different. The silence didn’t seem to bother her as it stretched between them. Her eyes glazed over as she got lost in her own thoughts the way he so often got lost in his.

"What would you do?" Xander finally asked.

She returned to the present at once, a smile shaping her lips, though it seemed more a mask than anything else. "Luckily, I'll never be a king, so I don’t need to find out."

He laughed and shook his head. The hilt of a dagger was barely visible through her loosely bent fingers, a weapon he hadn’t noticed she was carrying. "Are you telling your secrets to that instead of to me?"

Cassi stared at him blankly.

Idiot. Xander internally winced. What a ridiculous thing to say. "The blade, I mean, because of what you said the other day…"

"Oh." Her eyes widened and a true smile overtook her face, pinching her cheeks and softening her features. He'd thought her attractive before, but in that moment, he couldn't believe he'd ever seen her as anything but beautiful. An impish twinkle lit her moonlight eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know."

In an explosion of motion, she jumped easily to her feet and spun, her feathers nearly smacking him in the face as she left the fireplace behind her. Xander remained seated, observing her as she walked across the room. He half expected her to open the window and vanish as quickly as she'd come, her question answered, but instead, she surprised him. She paused beside one of his bookshelves and gracefully ran her index finger over the spines as she read the titles embossed on them. A slight pout rose on her lips as her hooded eyes narrowed with concentration. She seemed…interested.

"Would you like to borrow one?"

Cassi turned, surprise written across her face. "You wouldn't mind?"

"No, of course not. As you can see, I have more than enough. Too many, if some are to be believed."

"Fools," she muttered dismissively, glancing back at the shelves. "Do you have any that tell a story? I find history rather dull, and don’t even get me started on trade."

Xander bit back a laugh. He was quite fond of history himself, and trade was a necessary evil to someone training to be king—though if he were honest, he quite enjoyed that too. Instead, he rolled to his feet and strode confidently to the shelves to the right of the fireplace. "This one is a love story between two warring clans in the House of Prey."

"I read that. A little mushy for my taste."

"How about this?" He pulled a larger volume off the shelf and handed it to her. "It's about a songbird who gets swept up in a storm and transported to a mystical land. Or, oh, this one is quite entertaining. It's about an owl who tries to fly all the way around the world. I also have these, all the stories of the gods before they sacrificed themselves to the god stones. If the myths are to be believed, they used to cause a lot of trouble."

Before he knew it, Xander had a stack of books balanced precariously against his hip. Cassi pulled the growing pile from his hold, seemingly unaware that her fingers brushed the rounded end of his arm,