love it.”
“Oh, this isn’t your gift,” he said, nuzzling his cheek against mine. “We’ve got another ten minutes before we reach our destination.”
Ten whole minutes in Saxon’s arms? How many presents was I getting today? “Will you tell me about avian society along the way?” My curiosity remained steadfast.
“What would you like to know?”
“Well, why can’t a female rule the avian if she’s the oldest child? Even Fleuridian law allows this.” A fact my father had always lamented. I would have considered the avian more progressive.
He rolled around a cloud, and I laughed again. “A law is a law as long as tradition demands it. The avian are nothing if not traditional, and tradition states an avian ruler must have Skylair blood, the male before the female.”
“So Queen Raven can never rule alone because she doesn’t have a blood link to the Skylairs. She can only act as regent for you or Tempest?”
“Correct.”
“Do you even want the avian crown, though?”
“No one else has ever asked me that question,” he mused. “I didn’t used to. Even though I knew I was Craven, even though I’d led the avian twice before, I thought to give up the crown and change my future. Then my father and brother died, and Craven was to be king once again. That was when I realized you’d have to be...dealt with. I decided I wouldn’t abandon my people when they needed me most. I owe them restitution I can never repay. Now I will kill anyone who tries to take the crown from me.”
Ohhhh. He’d blamed himself for bringing Leonora into their midst twice before, setting the stage for the near extinction of their kind. He’d feared what she would do this time around.
I could never allow the phantom to return to the Avian Mountains.
My determination to end her reached new heights.
“And the bracelets?” I asked gently. “What’s the meaning of their tradition?” Would he tell me this time?
He brushed his thumb along my spine. “They serve as a constant reminder that we do not serve ourselves, but each other. At birth, every avian is given three bracelets. The red one represents family. Blood of my blood. The yellow represents a commitment of marriage. The dawning of a new life together. The third is white, to be exchanged for another bracelet on the child’s sixteenth birthday, when they choose their own path. We acquire others for significant achievements that aid our people as a whole.”
I did a quick, mental count of his bracelets, recalling some were thicker than others. “What does the thickest one represent?”
He pursed his lips, but said, “War. Each time I execute a successful campaign, a new string is added around the metal band.”
Whoa! “You’ve had a lot of successful campaigns.”
“Yes,” he said, offering no more. “I might not have lived with the avian, but I had people. There was Roth and Farrah. Vikander, a fae prince, and Reese, a mer who lost his life not too long ago. I fought for them and wear my wars to honor their sacrifices.”
What a beautiful picture of friendship, loyalty, and love. “Women who visited the Temple often whispered about a fae named Vikander.”
“That’s the very one,” he said with a sure nod.
“But I didn’t even tell you what those whispers suggested he did.”
“It doesn’t matter. They were speaking of Vikander.”
I chuckled, loving this playful side of him. “So what happens if a bracelet falls off or gets stolen?”
“They never fall, and they can’t be stolen. They are magically bound to us, growing as we grow, and they must be given freely to be removed.”
As we descended, I figured I had time for one more question. “What is amour?”
He got real tense, real fast, and I feared I’d overstepped. “It is a special dust the avian produce when they are...very happy.”
Was that why the amour had been so important to Leonora? She’d wanted to be the one to make Craven happy? “Why keep the information a secret? Actually, how has this information been kept secret for so long?”
“The avian have always given false histories to the masses, and kept the truth for ourselves. This prevents our enemies from knowing how to fight us properly.”
Tricky.
We neared treetops that glowed bright blue, a haze of mist sparkling like diamond dust, but Saxon didn’t slow and... I squealed with delight as he twisted and twirled at top speed, somehow avoiding a single strike of a tree branch. Only soft leaves caressed my skin.
He landed on a boulder next to a