Page 41 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

“It’s fine. You don’t have to. I’ll just go back to the gardens.”

I had no plan to escape, anyway. Voron had outlined very clearly what waited for me if I ever made it out of Elaros. I just wanted to see if I could freely leave the palace, and now I got my answer.

“The High General needs to know about this.” The guard dragged me by my arm across the courtyard toward the main doors of the palace.

“I’d rather not see him today,” I protested.

The winged shapes flying above cast no shadows. We had no warning before two of them landed in front of us. Both were women. They folded their wings behind their backs. The wings of one were clear and iridescent. The other one had pure white feathers.

The one with the iridescent wings stepped forward.

“That’s all right. We’ll take her back to the palace.” She placed a hand on my shoulder, addressing the guard. “You can go back to your duties, good man.”

The guard considered her words for a moment, his eyes flicking between me and her.

Half of the woman’s blue-black hair was arranged into an intricate up-do, the other half hung down her back in a dark, silky mass. Her pearly pink skin shimmered faintly under the overcast sky.

The second woman brushed off one of her tight, snow-white curls from her dark as midnight face.

“She’ll be fine with us, sweetie.” She tapped the guard’s arm with her finger. “You did good by stopping her from escaping. The city is not the best place for the king’s favorite.”

Now I was sure I saw these women among the courtiers at the king’s ball two days ago, though most faces from that night had very much blended into a blur. There had been so many people there, and no one had been formally introduced to me.

“I wasn’t trying to escape,” I explained. “I just wanted to know whether I was a guest or a prisoner here.”

The second woman tilted her head, making the stubborn curl fall over her forehead again. “In your case, it’s kind of the same thing, isn’t it? Out there, someone would snatch you within minutes and bring you back to the king for a reward. Or worse—they would sell you to a High Lord or something.”

Well, Voron wasn’t lying about that part.

“Come, Sparrow.” The first woman tugged me toward the palace by my other arm.

I was stretched between her and the guard, until he finally relented, letting go of me.

“I’ll tell the High General you took her, Lady Libelle,” he yelled after us as the women led me away, probably just wishing to clear himself of any liability for me at this point.

“Yes, yes, tell him.” Libelle waved him off. “He probably knows already, anyway. I swear he has eyes everywhere, watching us even now.”

I dug my heels into the cobblestone of the courtyard.

“I don’t want to go back to the palace yet. I came down for a walk in the gardens.”

Libelle pursed her lips. “Then you should have stayed in the gardens, my dear.”

“It’s fine.” The other woman lined up on the other side of me, matching Libelle’s pace. “We can go back to the gardens if you wish, as long as we get out of the courtyard. It’s always so noisy in here.” She wrinkled her nose. “I’m Dove, by the way. And this is Libelle.” She pointed at her friend as we turned toward the path back to the gardens. “We saw you at the last ball.”

We rounded the palace, the busy courtyard no longer in our view. The women’s wings trailed behind them like cloaks laid upon their shoulders, shielding them from the cold.

Libelle let go of my arm, finally trusting me to walk on my own. “The king seemed quite taken by you.”

I couldn’t tell whether it was meant as a compliment or an accusation.

“Did he?” I replied tentatively.

“It’s a good thing,” Dove assured me. “He hasn’t had a favorite since Libelle bonded with Faisan last month.”

I turned to Libelle. “You were with the king?”

“For nearly three months.” She nodded proudly.

---