The Hunter and the Mage (The Raven and the Dove #2) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,56

not so long ago when she'd longed to feel his hands upon her. Now the touch just made her ill.

"I'll let you play your game, Kasiandra," he said in the voice of her king, the voice of her friend, the voice of a man she wasn't sure she would ever understand. "But the raven will only be able to hide among the owls for so long. Soon, the rest of the houses will learn of Lyana's disappearance. Soon, they'll come calling. Soon, the people of the world above will demand answers—ones we both know he can’t be allowed to give. And when that happens, I trust you'll make the right choice. If you don’t, I'm afraid I'll be forced to make it for you."

Time.

She'd bought time.

For now, that was enough.

When Cassi slipped out of her king's dream, she didn’t linger. She didn't wait for him to glance her way, didn't wait to hear his real voice or her name upon his lips.

She fled.

Racing through the mist and across the sky, she returned to her body and woke with a start, her heart thumping. It was the middle of the night, but sleep never came. She lay on her back with her wings spilled over the sides of her bed and her skin covered in goose bumps, shivering from a chill no blanket could warm. Indigo shadows stretched across the ceiling, turning gray, then pink, then yellow faster than she could even believe. When the knock came, she rolled to her feet to answer the door, already aware of who it would be.

"Cassi—" Xander paused as soon as he saw her face, a frown curving his lips. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you—"

"I'm fine," she repeated, more adamant this time.

Concern flashed across his irises, the light of a shooting star passing over a field of lilacs, there then gone. Unlike Malek, he wouldn’t press. He would let her have her secrets, her space. He wouldn't ask for things she didn’t want to give. "I can come back."

"No." She shook her head. Xander, of all people, had done nothing to earn her ire. "I'm sorry. I just had a rough night."

"Do you miss Lyana?"

She closed her eyes to keep him from seeing the truth within them and bit back a dark laugh, covering it up as a sigh instead. "I do. I really, really do."

Not a lie. Not quite the truth. Her specialty.

"Cheer up, then. I have a new plan to get her back."

Cassi met his eager gaze, trying to muster up the intrigue he desired.

"Imagine my library, only bigger, underground and endless, full of more books than you could ever hope to read, enough stories to last a lifetime, and you'll have the idea."

"The House of Wisdom?" she asked, infusing shock into the words.

His grin was as pure as his heart. "Exactly."

18

Rafe

"Captain told us not to leave the ship," Rafe griped, digging in his heels. Brighty tugged on his hand, trying to pull him from the room that had become his refuge. He'd had four blissful days without her incessant pestering. It was almost a shame it hadn't taken him longer to heal.

"Since when do you care about doing what the captain told us?"

"Since she's the one who agreed to take me to your king."

Brighty rolled her eyes. "Anyone can take you to the king. His castle is on a towering isle in the middle of the city. It's sort of hard to miss. Besides, don't you want to stretch your legs? You've been on bed rest for ages."

"Four days." He grinned. "Four glorious days without you."

She snorted. "Please. You've been bored out of your mind. Shadow told me she caught you doing exercises in the storage room downstairs."

"I was looking for a snack."

"Fine. Then maybe I will tell Jolt you've been dying for some company. I hear she's been trying to sneak into your room at night, hoping to cure your aching heart with her aching—"

"Brighty!" he snapped, fighting the flush rising to his face.

"Oh, Rafe." She stopped yanking on him and turned around to pat his cheek. "It's only fun because it embarrasses you."

"Fine," he muttered gruffly. "Let's go."

"Excellent," she chirped, linking their elbows as she led him into the hall. When they reached the steps, she leaned in conspiringly. "By the way, you might want to consider Jolt's offer. You're wound so tight. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to let someone loosen you up a little. And you could do far worse than Jolt,