trying to clear her vision.
The lights wouldn’t disappear.
They came swiftly, emanating from the god stone, glittering and flickering across the air, shooting toward her skin. The stone was so black it swallowed the rays of the sun streaking through the trees, yet it sparked with every color of the spectrum in short bursts and long bands that reached for her like phantom hands. Her arms quivered. Her knees trembled. Her heart continued to drum faster and faster, more and more loudly, rhythm speeding and growing to match the one pulsing through the stone.
They reached the center of the sacred nest and knelt, preparing to speak the prayers, the first step in the long ceremony that would eventually end with the exchange of their vows. Lyana turned to Xander. He was oblivious to the beat drowning out every other noise in the world and the rainbow spiraling around her, making her dizzy, making the nest swim.
She turned to the priest and stopped cold.
He didn’t look like any of the ravens she’d seen. His eyes were a midnight blue, clouded with angry storms yet bright with the piercing fire of lightning. His hair resembled flowing gold. His skin was sun-kissed, and a spatter of freckles covered his nose. No wings fanned from his back, and they weren't expected in a priest, but his robes didn’t fit. The hem of silk was two inches from the ground, ruining the belief that those chosen by the gods floated on a different plane. Underneath the robe, she could see a pair of scuffed, muddy boots that didn’t belong to the scene. The sight set her on edge, but it was the penetrating expression on his face that made her freeze, the knot in his brows, the tempest in his eyes, spinning as though attracted by all the lights around her, every spectacle of magic—as if he were waiting for an answer only she could supply.
Lyana opened her mouth.
Before she could think of what to say, her world exploded.
61
Cassi
Cassi stood in the dark corner of the room, watching the lone figure on the balcony, his onyx wings draped across the floor, his head hung low, two swords strapped to his back and two bags dropped by his side.
He’d been easy to find.
After so many weeks of watching and waiting, Cassi had known exactly where Rafe would go when his world fell apart. He was predictable, just like Lyana. The only one who had truly surprised her was the prince, with his steadfast loyalty and stubborn inability to see evil in the people he cared about. Manipulating him would leave a lasting scar in her. Exposing him to the harsh realities of the world would be the newest item on her long list of regrets. But there had been no other choice. Xander was the only person who would have missed Rafe when he left, who would have noticed his absence and maybe gone looking. But now, he knew who his brother truly was. And Rafe was alone, the way she needed him to be.
Because the end was near.
The sign would come.
The buzz of magic had been building beneath her skin all day, a current in the air that made her hair stand on end and chest thud. The sky sparkled with hidden static. Anyone with magic—well, anyone with magic who wasn’t heartbroken and overcome with despair—would have been a fool to not recognize the signs that something was coming, something big.
And she was ready—ready to be done, ready to be with her king and her queen, ready to be with her mother. No more duplicity. No more lies. Free.
Rafe was her last job.
Her final task.
She stood in the shadows of the burnt-out room at the base of the castle where no one else would venture, deep beyond the line she knew the raven wouldn’t cross, hidden from sight.
The bow in her hands was pulled taut.
Her arrow and eye were perfectly aligned.
Still she waited, as she had promised her king she would, for the inevitable.
62
Xander
By his side, Lyana fainted. Her body twitched, back arching painfully as her spine bent, her arms curled, and her legs dragged along the ground. Invisible fingers lifted her into the air by her hips so her wings and toes skidded across soil and stone.
“Ly—”
Xander was cut off as a force slammed into his chest, knocking him back. He rolled on the ground and crashed into a tree, landing just in time to turn and realize with horror that Lyana's body had begun