The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,115

like her.”

The affection in her tone brought a warm feeling to his heart, a tender sensation he wasn’t used to but liked. Though there was something else too, a subtle sort of yearning as he wondered what it must have been like to grow up with a family like that.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have laughed when you said you brought a large cloak,” he teased.

Lyana shook her head with a satisfied, “Hmph.”

He eyed her hands. “Do you have gloves?”

She pushed the cloak aside to take two black gloves from a pocket in her jacket, pulling them over her fingers.

“What about something for your neck and chin?”

Again, Lyana produced a disguise in the shape of a deep ebony fur that would cover the exposed skin beneath her hood.

“Not the first time you’ve ever snuck out of a castle,” he guessed, unable to fight the desire to smile at her antics.

Lyana studied him as he, too, donned gloves and a dark outfit meant to blend with the night, then pulled a hood over his eyes, shrouding his features. “Not yours either.”

He nodded at her. “Come on, then, before I change my mind.”

Leading the princess down the halls, he was careful to peek around each corner, searching for guards or servants on their nightly rounds. The passage was in the underbelly of the castle, not as deep underground as his mother’s room had once been, but close. The path was dark and dank. Moisture from the soil seeped through the stones, leaving a layer of slick algae and moss. They moved carefully, and after a few stumbles, Lyana reached out to take his hand for balance. He tried not to think about how comforting her fingers felt, entwined through his, how soothing, how natural. When they reached the end of the passage, he broke hold to open the heavy iron gate, made to look like another sewage hole in the street.

From there, it was her turn to lead. They took a few wrong, circular routes before she finally found her bearings in a city that was still foreign to her, and they made it to the first of the injured. Lyana stared at the building, studying the windows and doors, fighting to remember.

“That one,” she whispered, pointing to a balcony on the left of the second story. “That was his room.”

Rafe nodded, taking to the air with a single pump of his wings to land softly on the platform. He pressed his nose to the window, trying to see through the shadows of the room, until he found a small body curled on the bed and turned, bending to offer Lyana his hand. Careful not to use her wings, she leaped. It took two tries before he caught her forearm firmly enough to drag her up. On the balcony, Lyana slid her knife through the narrow slit in the window, clicking the latch. They were in. She rushed to the child fast asleep beneath the covers, stripped off her gloves, and closed her eyes, focusing on the work.

Rafe, on the other hand, stood guard in the darkness, hardly able to blink as he watched her, mesmerized. The grimace on the child’s lips disappeared. His raspy wheezing eased into long, smooth, flowing breaths. The tight little bundle of his body loosened, more comfortable as the pain seeped from his bones. And Lyana was a vision, lips slightly open, features relaxed. The golden light emanating from her hands glittered like the soft rays of the morning sun sifting through the clouds. And for a moment, he finally saw what she saw. That it wasn’t magic. It was something more. Her god, Aethios, flowing through her, giving her the power to heal the world.

Rafe had spent most of his life resenting his magic. It had saved him, but not his parents. It had made him an outcast, something to be feared. It had made him a fugitive, someone filled with fear. It had turned his brother into a liar and his life into a lie. But standing there, watching her, for the first time Rafe understood his magic was a gift.

Because his magic had saved her.

His magic had created this moment.

And she, and this, were magnificent.

50

Lyana

Lyana woke bleary-eyed and exhausted, but feeling better than she had in weeks. Maybe even months. Maybe…ever.

Finally, she wasn’t just sitting around, dreaming of something more, waiting for her life to find her. Finally, she was out doing something, something good, something with her magic. They’d only made it to four homes,