The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,106

her leg.

“Lyana,” he whispered.

Someone passed a wet cloth to him, which he gently pressed against her brow. No breath came in or out of her mouth. Her chest didn’t stir. Her body remained limp.

“Lyana,” he urged more loudly. “Lyana!”

The princess’s eyes opened wide as she inhaled sharply, her body jerking as though returning from the dead. She began to convulse with coughs.

“It’s all right. You're all right,” Xander murmured as he rubbed her back.

Lyana shook her head, opening her mouth to emit only raspy air and shuddering breaths. “What?” she finally sputtered. “Where?”

“There’s been an earthquake,” Xander explained.

She shook her head, blinking rapidly as though trying to clear her senses. She coughed again, but the sound formed a word. “Rafe?”

“He’s fine—”

“I know,” she interrupted. “But where is he? What happened to him?”

Xander paused, taken aback by her first words. “You know?”

How could she possibly know?

Lyana cast him a quick glance before her lids fell, but not fast enough to hide the knowing glint in her eyes. “I mean, good. Good. I’m sorry, I’m so confused. I need Cassi. Where’s Cassi?”

“She wasn’t with us,” Xander said slowly, unsure if Lyana was disoriented or acutely aware as she put her hand to her head and frowned, wincing as if in pain.

“She wasn’t?” the princess asked, voice mystified. Then her eyes widened again. “Oh that’s right. She wasn’t. I'm all mixed up, Xander. Please forgive me…”

She trailed off, taking another deep breath, and tried to stand.

This time, he knew her yelp of pain was real. Xander jumped to his feet, throwing his arm around her waist as her leg gave out and she swayed on her feet, wings fighting to keep her upright.

“Helen,” he called. His captain of the guards was there in a flash, hands clasped behind her back, waiting for orders. “Please take the princess back to the castle and see to it personally that our most skilled healer visits her rooms to check the wound on her leg. Tell my mother I’ll be back soon.”

“My pr—”

“Thank you, Helen,” Xander said, cutting off her protest. “I’ll be home soon.”

She tossed him a tired look and shook her head, but an affectionate smile pulled at her lips because she knew him, and she knew why he was staying. She obeyed, quickly calling a guard who swept the princess off her feet despite her quiet protests and launched into the air.

Xander watched them fly away for a few seconds, unable to fight the knots forming in his gut. Then he did what he needed to do—what his people needed him to do. He pushed his personal turmoil away and returned to the task at hand.

Xander remained in the town square for hours—lifting stones until his fingers began to bleed, letting his people cry on his shoulder, leaning over the bodies piled on the ground, using a wet rag to clear the blood from pale brows, searching for signs of life, and directing the healers to those with the best chances of recovery.

He was a beacon of strength.

A fixed point in the midst of so much chaos.

They needed him, and he held on to that as he fought to stay focused, fought to ignore the image of Rafe and Lyana entwined, the gleam of understanding in her eyes, the questions churning in the back of his mind—questions about what had really happened between these two people who claimed to hate each other, about what had really happened to make a dove pick a raven as her mate.

46

Cassi

Lyana fell asleep soon after the healers left, exhausted from the day and from the gash in her leg, which gave Cassi the chance to finally go looking for some answers. The golden streaks of sun had long since faded from the horizon, and the moon was already rising. Her favorite time of day was here—the time for dreaming.

Cassi pushed through the door connecting their rooms and collapsed in her own bed, body exhausted from the long days in the practice yards, even as her mind whirled with the night’s adventure. She slipped into her spirit form before her eyes had fully closed and turned back immediately, floating through the wall to lean over Lyana, who was out cold. Reaching with her spirit magic, Cassi pushed against Lyana’s soul, trying to sense a change, a new awakening, any sign.

There was nothing.

She frowned and pushed harder, latching on to the energy of her friend’s magic, searching for a new spark, a new strength. Lyana grumbled in her sleep and