The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,46

House of Peace well-fed, and our gratitude for all that you sacrifice on our behalf in serving our god Aethios, the highest of them all.”

The princes stood.

Damien, the crown prince, paused to glance at Lyana once more. His lips widened into a deep grin barely visible beneath the edge of his mask. When their eyes met, he tossed her a quick wink before zooming to his throne. He slouched in his seat, letting his chin rest against his fist as he settled to watch the show.

Lyana pulled her attention away, back to the door, but couldn’t stop herself from lifting the petals to her nose and taking a quick whiff.

He’s too confident by half, she thought as the scent of sweet honey filled her senses, so delicious she could almost taste the nectar the flowers produced. But when she closed her eyes, the smell shifted to one of burnt wood and dying embers, and the face she pictured wasn’t masked, but open, honest, and vulnerable in a way that this crown prince could never be.

Two more houses to go before her big reveal.

Two more houses of excruciating anticipation.

Two more houses and then her mate would appear.

19

Rafe

Three houses down, Rafe thought, shivering in the cold as he huddled close to the bonfires they’d set up in the streets in an attempt to keep the wait a little warmer.

It wasn’t working.

He needed to move. Needed to get his blood flowing. Needed to focus. Because the next few days would decide the future of his house and his brother’s life, and he needed to be ready. As he stared at the doors towering a hundred feet away, however, all he could think about was who might be waiting on the other side with white wings that were just another pair in the crowd.

Was she in there?

Was she watching?

Would she see?

Not that it mattered. He’d be gone in a few days, home. She’d stay here. They’d never see each other again. But even as he reminded himself of those simple facts, Rafe’s mind wandered to her silken fingers as they shifted over his skin, running through his feathers, emanating a prickling heat only someone with magic could understand.

“Where are you going?” one of his raven guards asked. There were twelve waiting with him, uninterested in trying to pretend he was their prince. They stood by his side only because Xander had ordered them to be part of the show.

“Huh?” Rafe blinked away the vision of green eyes as he returned to the world, glancing down toward the voice. He was five feet in the air, wings pumping, and he hadn’t even realized it. “Oh, um…”

The guard frowned at him. Without Xander, there was no need to keep up the pretense that they had any affection for him at all. But in an odd way, Rafe preferred this to the careful show they usually put on. He’d rather be honestly hated than dishonestly tolerated, especially when it meant he didn’t have to pretend either.

“I’m going to take a peek,” he said as he pushed hard with his wings, not giving the ravens any time to stop him as he soared into the air, rising over the entrance hall to look through the domed crystal roof and at the floor below, genuinely curious.

The House of Prey had shown up unlike any of the other houses—their crown princess and sole heir had come alone. No performers. No posse. No help. That alone had piqued Rafe’s interest. Add the fact they were also the first house without an obvious act, and he was sold. The House of Song would, well, sing. The House of Paradise would, no doubt, flit and flaunt their extra plumes. And the House of Flight would… Well, whatever they performed, he was sure half the nectar they’d been carrying would end up in their stomachs by the end of the show.

But the House of Prey? They were notoriously isolated, even from each other. Aggressive in a way the other houses weren’t. Their royal family lived alone in a castle at the center of their great hunting plains, while the rest of the families lived scattered through the woods. They’d be presenting furs as an offering, but the performance portion? That was a mystery.

When the doors opened, Rafe could see the blurred outline of the crown princess as she soared into the entrance hall, rich, brown eagle’s wings larger than any he’d seen before. She kept them wide as she floated through the crowd, not