Page 115 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

VORON

The little vixen tricked him!

The scent of her sleeping next to him had made him dream about her. It was the most magical dream, too. In it, he could touch her without restraints of deadly promises, and he didn’t want it to end.

Magnus’s signal had brutally yanked him out of it.

He jumped to his feet before he was even fully awake. Then… he tumbled onto his face, taking in a mouthful of fern and moss.

His legs were tied with the belt he’d last seen around Sparrow’s waist. His boots were gone, and so was his horse, the sound of its hooves quickly disappearing in the distance.

The pieces of what was happening finally started to fall into place.

The clever little bird had tricked him and flown away.

The girl who was about one eighth his age, with most of her memories wiped clean, managed to outsmart him, the High General of the Royal Army of Sky Kingdom with decades of experience in dealing with far more cunning and powerful adversaries than a sly little human woman.

But she did it. She made a total fool out of him.

He didn’t remember the last time he laughed so hard and with so much glee. Probably never.

And it felt so good!

Magnus cawed urgently from above, flying in circles.

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Aren’t you a little late with your warnings, my friend?”

The bird wasn’t to blame here. Magnus was used to seeing Sparrow with Voron. He’d even let her feed him. No wonder he’d grown to view her as a friend, not a stranger. She’d fooled Magnus, too. Only when she’d taken the horse had the crow realized it was bad enough to wake his master.

Voron could hardly blame himself, either. In addition to being tired from the sleepless night and long ride, his focus was also greatly impaired. His mind had been locked in the intense battle with his body’s physical attraction to Sparrow. It took all he had to act unaffected, to ignore her pull and his cock’s eagerness to jump out of his pants when she was near.

He should’ve realized her questions about edible plants weren’t just idle chatter and that her insisting on taking a nap in the middle of the day also had more than one reason. He’d even told her where the nearest village was. What a fool.

Well, he’d found her once, and he’d find her again. Even with all the information she’d fished out of him, she wouldn’t get far.

He freed his legs from Sparrow’s belt, then got up and shook out his cloak.

“All right, Magnus, first things first. Did you see what she did with my boots?”

ChapterTwenty-Nine

SPARROW

The innkeeper twisted one of Dove’s bangles between his slim, quick fingers. Thin red streaks marked the gray skin on top of his hands. The streaks continued up his arms and were also visible on the back of his neck and along his longsnakanatail that he had looped under him.

His wife remained on the other side of the bar, leaning against the counter. Her light-green eyes never left the bangle as it sparked in the light of the thick candle in the carved-wood holder on the counter.

The bar served as both a restaurant and a reception room for the only inn in the village. With night approaching, the tables in the low-ceilinged dingy room were quickly filling with customers. Most of them weresnakanas, but I spotted a fewariensand one or twotaureansamong them, too.

“How much do you want for this?” the innkeeper asked, weighing the bangle in his hand.

I wished I knew anything about trade or prices in Sky Kingdom. But I had no clue even what they used for money here.

“As much as it’s worth,” I said, trying to sound confident, manly, and gruff.

I’d introduced myself as a boy on my way to Elaros. I figured giving them the direction opposite in which I was traveling would throw Voron off track when he came after me.Whennotifbecause I was sure the High General was on my trail already.

Remembering how rare and “precious” humans were in this world, I pretended to be a highborn fae. With the hood of my cloak drawn low over my face and one end of it draped over my chest and shoulders with thick folds, I hoped to look like a short, plump fae boy, rather than a busty human woman. My clothes were baggy enough to hide my curves by adding bulk to my frame.

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