Page 28 of An Archer's Reckoning

Melucia overrun.

Everyone dead.

It was too much to process, too much to accept.

And Declan was the one person in the entire world who was supposed to stop it all?

MyDeclan?

Mute Declan.

“He is no longer Mute,”Órla’s smoky whisper kissed my mind.

I startled so badly my chair nearly tipped over. “Irina’s knobby nose! Can you give a guy a warning before chatting in his mind?”

Órla giggled.“I like it when you curse. You are far cleverer than Declan.”

I didn’t mean to smile. I certainly didn’t feel like smiling, but the sheer oddity and cuteness of the tiny owl laughing shattered my somber moment.

“She does that.” Declan sat next to me, his hand finding my leg. The simple warmth of his touch calmed my racing heart and tortured mind.

“Hey!” Órla squawked aloud at the same time I said, “Thanks.”

Órla turned.“On that lovely note, I think I will go hunt for my breakfast. I hope you two are very happy in your first-in-line companionship. May you starve without my skills.”

Then she took flight, and vanished beyond the cavern’s entrance before either of us could say a word.

“Could you hear her, too?” Declan nodded, so I asked, “Is she truly angry?”

“Tell him I am furious. Make him feel guilty. Maybe he will bring me offerings and gifts. I prefer mouse to rat, but a well-butchered cow helps me sleep. Yes, cow, have the boy bring me cow.”

I chuckled. “She wants me to tell you she is thoroughly and completely enraged and demands proper offerings to cover your great offense.”

He chuckled. “She would.”

Then he winced.

“Dec? Are you all right? What happened?” I asked, suddenly concerned.

“A mental poke of her beak.” He grinned. “Great. I didn’t know she could even do that.”

He winced again.

“I don’t want to know, do I?”

“She called me Dandelion Head, something she hasn’t done in a long time.”

“And I told him he would remain poke-free if he brought me a cow.”

Now it was my turn to snort. “Is she always like this?”

He squeezed my leg. “She was, how can I say it? She was precocious as a juvenile. No, perky. That’s a better word. She was definitely perky.”

“And now?”

“The perky little girl comes and goes, but there’s a mature, almost wise woman emerging.”

“Almost? Listen, Ranger Boy, I am infinitely wise, thank you very much. Do not forget it.”

---