Sing, Canary - Ashley Amy Page 0,43

hounds dig into his bony flesh. The miserable rat was getting what he deserved. I was the cause of his death, but they were his collectors.

As they tore open his meat vessel, we watched his soul being sucked out of his body. The hounds had smoke around their paws as their black bodies shifted into the air.

With the gory mess at our feet, we didn't speak for a minute. What was there to say?

August stepped up beside me, patting me on the back. "Luckily, Barcel had the guards paid off to not come this way. They won't be able to link us to the crime from having the system down for Dolion to kill Lyra."

The reality of the situation came back to me. Dolion was attempting murder against Lyra when we arrived. Dolion was trying to strip my sister of her wings from his sick need to steal their worth.

A certain vampire was trying to help him succeed, and they almost did. Had God not used his divine intervention, Lyra would've lost her home in the court on high.

Angered, I needed the night for myself. I needed to process what Dolion said. I also had to accept I just killed Lyra's attacker.

A little sting of pain landed within my shoulder blade. Hissing, I let my wings out. Augustine gawked as I tried to calm the itch that niggled my feathers.

"What?" I growled at him. He simply pointed to the middle of my wing.

Looking down, I saw it then. A white feather now stood proud among my black ones. It was light and fluffed, opposing my oily and shadowed ones.

"Do you have one?" I asked Lyra's keeper.

He shook his head. "No. You were the one who ended her attacker. You gain the credit of saving her life."

My hand wrapped around the damn thing. With a swift yank, I ripped the disgusting thing from my skin.

“Jesus! Fuck!” I regretted touching the vile thing immediately. The pain that flared in my wing was excruciating.

“Mhmm… Plucking our feathers is like slicing our skin,” August told me after the fact.

Hating this even more, I snarled. "We're switching rooms for the night. I don't give a fuck if we get caught. I can't be near her right now."

He would interpret my words as hate toward her. I knew it was because I hated what happened to her.

Tucking my damn wings away, I couldn’t risk anyone seeing what just grew in. I needed to go back to my room and grab my shit before going to Axel’s cell.

Once I was in my block, I went to reach for my pillow on the lower bunk. As I did, something grey rested on the edge of Lyra’s mattress. It peeked out of her pillowcase, so my fingers pulled the fluffy tip. Slowly, an entire grey feather revealed itself from the cotton material.

My eyes took it in, knowing it belonged to my stepsister. Letting my pillow drop from my hold, I reached up for hers. Once I picked up the thing, I found a decent hole in the side.

There were a few lumps on the pillow, so with the reach of my hand, I yanked out a handful of grey feathers. My mind went wild as I found at least a dozen that belonged to my stepsister.

An itch grew in my shoulder blade, remembering pulling out my feather minutes ago. I realized then that she was hurting herself on purpose. Lyra plucked her tainted feather so often, that no one even knew she craved the pain.

With the pillow now torn to shreds at my feet, I had to find Axel. I had to find Lyra’s oldest friend because I didn’t know what the fuck to do with this information.

28

Lyra

(Five years ago)

They were hovering over my mother's body, arguing what to do next. Too much rested in this farmhouse that would tie them to endless murders and disappearances.

Me?

I just looked at my mother's lifeless body, knowing I'd never see her again. The shackles on my feet were gone, but I was still frozen in my place.

Finally pulling my gaze away from the death, I saw something glint at my feet. From the swing light above, it reflected the metal of the gun.

Katrine must've dropped it when she ran to stop my mother's prayer. She didn't even realize her mistake.

The black of it called to me. The weapon spoke to my soul. It told me of the sweet revenge it could bring me if I would just use it.

My trembling hand reached