Page 18 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

Alacine smiled, shaking her head. “No one can do that. Maybe if he hired a hag to put a spell on you and made you drink a potion—”

“No,” I exhaled, disheartened. It didn’t look like Alacine would be of much help here, either. “There was no potion and no hags. Just he and I.”

She shook her head adamantly. “No one has the power to do something like that with just one look. Aside from maybe the king? His Majesty has the magic of Elaros and is the most powerful man in Sky Kingdom. But…” she added, her voice lifting, “if the High General did that somehow, then maybe you should ask him to reverse it?”

“Right.” I didn’t think it’d be easy to convince him to reverse it. He didn’t take my memories for the pure pleasure of having me beg him to return them.

I asked Alacine to bring some clothes before she left, then inspected the “simple food” she’d brought.

The tray held a silver plate with wafers baked with dark flour that would make pink glitter easy to spot had it been added. Another plate had whole fruit and berries laid out on it. An unpeeled egg was set into a metal filigree holder with a tiny spoon laid next to it. The water was in a clear glass carafe. Unlike crystal, the smooth surface of the glass had no facets to break the light or hinder my inspection of the liquid inside.

Whatever his actual intentions were, the High General clearly tried to make it easy for me to inspect the food. So I did.

I carefully lifted every item, sniffed it, and looked for any trace of glimmer or shimmer. Only when I didn’t spot anything suspicious and didn’t smell even a hint of vanilla cake, did I take a bite of a wafer. It tasted like rye bread. And since it was the first food that crossed my lips in a very long time, it was the best taste in the world.

I peeled the egg quickly and after a thorough inspection, ate it in just a couple of bites. Next, I polished off the grapes, strawberries, and oranges, washing them down with the fresh, clear water from the carafe.

After the food was gone, I sat in the chair by the unlit fireplace and tried to figure out if I felt any different.

There was no one here to test my obedience. So I had no way of telling if there had been any glacier saffron in my breakfast. But I was certain there hadn’t been anycamytebecause I still cared very much about what had happened to me in the past twenty-four hours. I felt simply furious that I couldn’t remember anything beyond that

I definitely wasn’t indifferent about the loss of my memories. Resentment bubbled and grew inside me.

How dare he?

How dare Voron take a part of me like that? Who was I without my past? A nobody. Adrift. Cut off from my roots. Floating through this bizarre world I never planned to come to in the first place… Well, at least IthoughtI hadn’t planned to come here. But I couldn’trememberthat either.

Everything here felt wrong. Nothing aligned with the frame of reference I had retained from the human realm. People didn’t look or act like normal people. Eating carried a risk of being stripped of one’s free will. The future that awaited me here was to be presented to the king… What exactly did it even mean?

I didn’t care to find out. I simply wanted to leave.

* * *

Brebie stormed into my room like a lightning bolt of horns, hooves, blonde curls, and energy.

She gave me an assessing stare and nodded approvingly. “You look much better than you did last night, honey.”

Grabbing the tray with the empty dishes from the table, she handed it to one of the two maids who came with her. “Take this back to the kitchen.”

The second maid was Alacine. She was holding a bundle of silky fabric and a pair of embroidered slippers—clothes for me, I assumed. I would’ve preferred jeans and a pair of hiking boots since I’d have to hike back to the river at the first opportunity. But if those were all they had for me, I’d make do with them too.

“Time to get you ready,” Brebie cooed.

“Ready for what?”

“High General Voron needs to see you.”

“What for?”

She bounced on her hooves with excitement. “It’s happening, honey. You are to be presented to the king at the ball tonight. But the High General needs to see you before that.”

“Tonight? Why so soon?”

“Why wait?” She shrugged. “The king is having a ball tonight. It’s a great opportunity for you to meet him and his entire court.”

“Tonight?” I repeated numbly.

Something told me it was best to leave before the king of this place had laid his eyes on me. Which left me very little time to plan and execute my escape.

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