Page 56 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

“Then, I should ask you to go around Elaros and erase the memory of me at tonight’s dinner from everyone’s minds. Starting with the king, please.”

He exhaled a soft puff of a laugh into my hair, and I wished he would wrap his arms around me, kiss me, and tell me that everything was going to be okay.

But he quietly pulled away, leaving me to wallow in mortification and self-pity all on my own.

“You made the king laugh today,” he said. “Wasn’t that your goal all along?”

That was true. I’d tried to make the king laugh at the expense of others, and unwittingly proceeded to do so at my own expense, too.

“I got carried away.” I rubbed my eyes, feeling exhausted. “Serves me right.”

I felt so stupid for drinking the wine when I should’ve known better. I knew first-hand how dangerous drinks can be, but I let my guard down. I got distracted. By the very same man who was sitting in front of me right now.

Remembering his words about making me scream his name if I were his, I asked, “Why did you say the things you did? In front of everyone?”

He smirked, not looking very remorseful.

“Let’s say I gotcarried away, too.”

“And then when I threw myself at you, you promptly retreated.” His rejection seemed far more offensive to me than his words.

“Would you rather I’d taken advantage of you? In your delirious state?”

Would I?

No.

But if I looked deep, under all the expectations, and pressure, and the glitzy façade of the palace life that had already rubbed off on me a little, what I really wanted would’ve been Voron taking me from Trez that day by the river and bringing me to his home in Vensari that Kanbor had mentioned. I would’ve loved for him to hide me there, away from the Elaros Court with its fake smiles and from the fickle attention of the Sky King.

As if guessing my thoughts, Voron gently touched my arm through the blanket.

“I saw you first, Sparrow. I gave you your name. But you are not mine and can never be.”

As if I hadn’t been rejected by him enough today already.

“Let me be, then,” I said firmly.

He arched an eyebrow in question, and I blew out a breath.

“I’m trying, Voron. I’m really trying to make it in Elaros. I know it’s not your fault that I ended up in Sky Kingdom. But you were the one who brought me to Elaros. You handed me over to the king. Everyone—literally every single person I meet—is telling me Imustplease the king. And the queen…” I pinned him with a glare. “Why did no one ever tell me therewasa queen?”

He frowned. “What does it matter? Marriage is an arbitrary concept for highborn. Its meaning largely depends on the two people involved. For the queen, it’s all about the position. There are no romantic feelings between her and the king. The royal couple haven’t been intimate for decades.”

“Really?” I sat back. “Well, that’s not the way to go about it if they want an heir to the kingdom.”

“An heir? Who told you the king wants an heir?”

“Doesn’t every king want one? At least that’s what Queen Pavline told me. And now apparently, I am Sky Kingdom’s last hope.” I scrubbed a hand down my face. A headache was pounding inside my skull after that rotten wine. I was so tired. “The queen wants me to have the king’s baby.”

“She does?” Voron’s features sharpened with focus.

“I’m supposed to seduce King Tiane, get pregnant by him, and give Sky Kingdom the next king. How is that for a job description? I’ve been in this place for less than a week, and this is the pressure—thehonor—that was bestowed on me. According to the queen, a baby would secure my place in Elaros for the rest of my life.”

“Is that what you want?”

For once, someone actually asked what I wanted. Only what was the point, anyway? He’d said it himself that I would have very little choice in what my life here would be.

I exhaled a humorless laugh.

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