The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,144
how to be anything else.
But finally, someone would understand.
He could share the weight.
The pain.
The fears.
The words of the prophecy were as ingrained in his soul as the blood in his veins, part of him, vital and sustaining, providing drive and focus and fuel whenever he needed it most.
The world will fracture, splinter in two,
One made of gray, the other of blue.
Beasts will emerge, filled with fury and scorn,
Fighting to recover what from their claws we have torn.
Two saviors will arise, one above, one below,
A king born in fire and a queen bred of snow.
Together they will heal that which we broke,
With magic and spirit, with mirrors and smoke.
But only on the day when the sky does fall,
Will be revealed the one who will save you all.
That was the burden he carried, the burden they would carry together.
A king born in fire and a queen bred of snow.
The pair foretold to save the world.
To heal the rift.
To defeat the dragons.
To fell the sky.
To force the chosen one forward.
He didn’t remember his claim to the prophecy. He’d been nothing more than a babe. But he’d been told his mother gave birth in the middle of a sea of dragon fire, surrounded by the raging flames. They’d been called by his magic, lured to the spot by the power brimming beneath his skin. She wielded her power to keep the inferno at bay, pushing it back long enough to bring her son into the world. And then she tossed him out the window into the churning sea moments before the blaze devoured her. An aero’kine waited beneath the waves. He brought the air around them so they could breathe, and there they hid until the beasts flew away. Within days, he was delivered to the king and declared not only the heir, but the one foretold to save them all, a weapon forged from fire to do whatever needed to be done.
What of his queen bred of snow?
Did she have ice in her veins?
He gripped the shears next to him on the bed, steeling his resolve.
You’ll need it.
He reached for her wing and gently spread it over his lap, so her primary feathers opened like a fan across his thighs. Then Malek cut, one by one by one, until he was satisfied that when she woke, she would have no hope of flying away.
68
Xander
Xander emerged from the sacred nest to absolute silence. Eyes fell on the blood staining his chest and then darted to the gaping emptiness behind him, but no mouths moved. No one questioned as he took to the sky. Not his mother. Not Helen. Not the guards. As though something in his gaze had stolen the breath from their lungs, making them mute.
He was numb, still reeling, lost in the chaos of his own confusion.
How have I been so blind?
Everything was so obvious now—so painfully, achingly obvious.
The white feather he’d found on the bridge those many weeks ago? Lyana. The mysterious woman who helped heal Rafe from the dragon wounds? Lyana. The reason for the smile that had been lurking on his brother’s lips during their stay in the House of Peace? Lyana. The reason it had disappeared the second they’d landed here? Lyana.
All Lyana.
And Rafe.
Two players in a game he hadn’t even known was underway.
But that didn’t explain what had happened to Lyana when they entered the sacred nest. Why had she fallen to the ground? Who was that man who had wielded such lethal power? Why had his isle rattled so precariously in the sky? And where was Lyana being taken? Because he had known without a doubt, as an invisible pressure shoved his chest and her shout rang in his ears, that she was going somewhere he wouldn’t be able to follow. That she was gone.
Go.
Go.
Go.
The word played over and over in his mind as he soared over the forests of his homeland, back to the city of Pylaeon.
Fly.
Flee.
Go.
Go.
As he crested the ridge of Taetanos’s Gate and the valley slipped into view, he stopped dead. Black smoke billowed in the sky. Gray dust formed a cloud over the city. Angry flames enveloped the castle. And now that he’d been pulled from his own mind, he could hear the anguished screams and cries of his people.
A roar shattered the air.
The dragon emerged from beneath the edge, a vision, a nightmare, so familiar Xander could do nothing but hope the beast disappeared, just a dark memory come back to haunt. Suddenly, he was back in his room, a boy,