The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,32

groan. Using her sweetest voice, she chimed, "Come in."

Malek strode inside, amusement twisting his normally stern features. "You sound cheerful."

"Do I?"

"Excited for our lessons?"

Lyana dropped her gaze to the bowls resting on the table, unmoved from the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, on and on for she didn’t know how long. She'd lost count. Her mouth curled before she could stop it, and something sounding strangely like a laugh escaped Malek's lips.

"You look at them as though they might bite."

"I almost wish they would," she mused, unsure how to read his expression. "At least then something interesting would happen."

"Are you bored?"

"Aren't you?"

He sighed, the small hint of humor leaving his face. "These lessons might be tedious, but until you can master your magic, we've no hope of seeing the prophecy through. And the first lesson you must learn is control."

"I know, Malek," she cut in, uninterested in another lecture. He so loved doling them out. She needed to practice her magic. She needed to control her magic. According to him, she needed to do so many things, but leaving this room to enjoy the fresh air wasn't one of them. "I know."

He frowned but let it go. "As it happens, you're in luck."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't come here for a lesson. I came to tell you we're arriving at my home."

A thrill raced through her. "Your home?"

"Meet me on deck as soon as you're dressed."

"What is it? Where are we? What's it called?"

He shut the door in her face, effectively ending her stream of questions, but Lyana was too excited to care. Finally, she was going to see more of this world than the endless curtain of gray always stretched across her window. What would it be like? Would there be people? Would they have magic?

With haste, she dug through the trunk of clothes Malek had left her, searching for something to wear. Back home, she would have been draped in jewels, her dress so complicated it required the help of servants to secure, her hair so intricately designed she would need Cassi's assistance to later undo it. Visits to foreign palaces were no small thing. But here, she would have to make do with clean leather trousers and slightly worn boots. The jacket she finally pulled from the bottom of the trunk was a rich jade to match her eyes, embroidered with golden threads reminiscent of her magic. Lyana secured the buttons, admiring how the silk cinched her waist only to flare around her hips like a skirt. On her way out the door, she grabbed a few of the pearl-studded pins left over from her mating day and threaded them through her hair.

Malek was waiting for her at the bow of the ship, his gaze on the mist. As she took the spot by his side, he spared a glance her way. For better or worse, he didn’t comment on her appearance, a fact which didn't surprise her. He rarely said anything without a purpose behind the words, and a statement as frivolous as you look beautiful would sound almost silly spilling from his lips. After a few moments, he pointed into the gray.

"There. Do you see it?"

Lyana squinted and leaned over the rail, as though the few inches might make all the difference. She saw nothing.

"That bit of shadow," Malek murmured, his eyes now expectantly on her. He always looked at her like that, as though wanting more. She worried he would forever be kept waiting, needing something she didn’t know how to give.

The thought fled when an outline of dark gray emerged from the haze, expansive and wide, far larger than a castle. "It's a city!"

His lips twitched with a grin. "It's Da'Kin."

"Da'Kin," she repeated, playing with the word as the view sharpened, ship masts and wooden spires becoming more visible through the fog, dreary yet dazzling to her eyes. Something new. Something unlike anything else she'd ever seen. A city that floated on water instead of on air. "What does it mean?"

"Most people call it the King's City, though that's not quite the translation from the old tongue. Kin has multiple meanings. Some believe it was a precursor to the word king. Others think it means family. More believe it used to be kine or mage. Da'Kin—the city of the king, the city of the people, the city of magic. All three apply here."

The city emerged from the mist as though from a dream, gray giving way