meet his eyes. “I could use the help of a Bregonian soldier.”
He held her gaze. “I could think about it. But I have a question.” A sly look was working its way into his eyes. “What’s the Trade, Witch?”
She almost exhaled in relief; her heart fluttered with joy. “How about, in return, I won’t choke you on your own blood?”
“Incredible. What have I done to deserve such an opportunity? The gods have truly smiled upon me.”
“Don’t count your blessings yet.”
“Fair enough,” he said, and shifted, his gaze on something behind her.
Above the treetops, outlined in the dawn sky, a snowhawk was descending toward them. Ramson held out his arm, and the bird landed with a rustle of its snowy wings. Ramson fished out something from his pockets and held it toward the snowhawk; the bird clasped it with a quick clack of its beak.
“What are you doing?” Ana asked. The thing in the snowhawk’s beak resembled…hair. Midnight-black hair.
“Linn,” Ramson said simply, giving the bird an affectionate pat. “If Kapitan Markov doesn’t find her, then she must be out there somewhere. When Fisher finds her, he’ll lead her to us.”
Ana looked at the lock of hair, curled in the bird’s beak, and sent a prayer to the Deities that her friend was safe. That, one way or another, they would find each other again.
“Fisher,” she repeated. “That’s an interesting name for a Cyrilian snowhawk.”
A ghost of a smile lit Ramson’s lips. “It’s an old friend’s name,” he said softly. “He was a wayfinder, just like this bird.”
Ana studied the snowhawk. It stared right back with intelligent golden eyes. Legends said that snowhawks were blessed with the touch of the Deities; that Winter had blown a breath upon the frozen land and created these birds out of nothing but wind and snow.
Ramson thrust his arm into the air. With a mighty flap of its wings, the snowhawk shot into the sky. Be swift, Ana thought. May the gods that watch over Linn watch over you, too.
As though in response, a soft wind stirred and kissed her cheeks.
“They’re magical, you know,” Ramson said as they watched the bird grow smaller and smaller. “At least, that’s what Bregonian legends said.”
Ana looked at him in surprise. “Cyrilian ones, too.”
“They say Affinites and snowhawks and moonbears and a lot of legendary creatures are remnants of the Deities, reminders that the gods once walked this world.”
“I didn’t know you believed those kinds of tales.”
Ramson leveled his gaze to her. His eyes were bright in the early-morning light, his cheeks tinged red from the cold, his hair mussed from the winds. “I could be persuaded,” he murmured.
Something about his open, piercing stare and the honesty of his tone brought back the boy who’d stood before her on the night of the Fyrva’snezh. Ana found herself drawn inexorably toward him, taking in the curl of his hair at the nape of his neck; the strong, chiseled edges of his jawline; the crooked curve to his lips. They parted slightly as Ramson let out a soft breath and dipped his head toward her, his eyes tracing every angle of her face. Something about the way he looked at her, like nothing else around them existed, made her heart beat faster and her breaths come shorter.
That feeling—like she was falling and flying at the same time—made her afraid.
Another gust of wind pressed at her back, more insistently, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Palace again, looming in the distance. It was a reminder that she couldn’t afford to think of anything else right now. Not when she had an empire to save.
Ana turned away abruptly. The cold rushed in to fill the space between them. “Well,” she said, swallowing. “Here we are.”
She sensed Ramson’s gaze still on her, softer now and more distant. “Here we are,” he echoed.
Ana kept her gaze straight ahead, on the Palace. She was, once again, a girl in a threadbare cloak, with nothing to her name and nowhere to run to. Yet somehow, in a year, it felt as though everything had changed.
I unsee you, Little Tigress.
It was she who had changed, Ana realized with a burst of surprise that tasted sweet in the wintry air. She was no longer the frightened girl of twelve moons past, who had so desperately sought a way to fix herself, her monstrosity. If the line between good and evil was drawn by choices, then she would choose to wield her Affinity to fight for