The Raven and the Dove (The Raven and the Dove #1) - Kaitlyn Davis Page 0,89

a place where smiles had to be forced, friends kept away, and trust earned instead of freely offered?

A plate of oats and berries was set before her. Lyana picked at it halfheartedly.

“If we can move on to more important topics,” Queen Mariam suggested, rolling the parchment in her hand closed, her tone demanding obedience. “You turn eighteen in three weeks, correct?”

Lyana nodded, already anticipating where the conversation was going. Traditionally, no mates could be joined before the gods until they were both eighteen—the age at which magic either made itself known or didn’t exist. Lyana’s magic had, of course, already announced itself, but she’d hidden it for years, and she could hide it for a few more weeks until she and Xander were united before the gods. Maybe then, with enough trust and ties to bind them, she’d consider what Rafe had told her just before she’d left his room two nights ago, words barely more than a whisper, so soft they almost weren’t real. That Xander knew his secret—knew of his magic and didn’t mind.

A bit of her heart warmed at the thought, and Lyana glanced up from her plate to find Xander observing her and gauging her responses, the lavender in his eyes soft in a way the queen’s deeper color was not.

“Since we’ll have been waiting longer than most of the other matched couples,” the queen continued, not bothering to wait for Lyana’s response, “my advisors and I have decided to proceed with the mating ceremony on the same day as your birthday so the two celebrations can be combined.”

Lyana nodded, although the queen had formulated no question, because she’d expected as much. Most of the matched couples were probably, at this very moment, standing in their sacred nests, performing the ritual before the gods, declaring their unending loyalty to someone who was little more than a stranger. Luka and his mate had probably celebrated their vows yesterday while Lyana had been flying farther and farther away, leaving him and the rest of her family behind. How strange to think they’d shared everything growing up, their deepest, darkest secrets, and yet one day after she left home she’d already missed the most important moment of his life.

They were already moving on without her.

And Lyana was here, sitting at a table, surrounded by books and a foreign new family, her eyes on the windows across the room, on the balcony and the fresh air and the rising sun. But the idea comforted her, because that, of all things, hadn’t changed.

The endless blue sky had always called to her.

And her soul still ached to respond.

“Excellent,” Queen Mariam said, regaining Lyana’s attention as she slid a bit of parchment across the table. “I’ve arranged a schedule for your next few weeks if you’ll take a look. There is much to learn about our people and our customs before you become their queen. This afternoon, the owners of our mines and our most affluent tradesmen will be coming to the castle so Lysander can introduce them to you. In preparation, this morning we will be reviewing their names and stations, talking points for you to remember, as well as the goods they sell to the other houses—raw materials from our mountains like metals and stones, obviously, but we also have a small array of crops and specialty crafts we exchange as well. All of this will be very important for you to understand in the future, when it is Lysander’s time to rule.”

Inwardly, Lyana groaned.

Outwardly, she took the paper and kept a smile glued to her face as Xander opened the first of many volumes, his face more animated than she ever recalled seeing as he began to tell her of his home.

38

Rafe

Home sweet home, Rafe thought with a grunt as he swung the blunt blade of his practice sword at the bag of beans he’d strung up as his opponent, satisfied as the blow vibrated up his arms. He pulled back, spun on his toes, and sliced the air, again and again, throwing all his weight into the movement, controlled yet savage, precise yet reckless with frustrated abandon.

He didn’t know why he had thought anything would be different.

First morning back, and Xander was dining with his mother in the room where Rafe was not allowed. The servant who had left a meal outside his door had scurried off immediately as though Rafe were a monster lurking in the night. The guards who had helped him during the courtship trials now