Page 1 of The Shadowbound King

Chapter

One

MIRELLA

The bird wasn’t going to live.

At least not on its own. Its wing was broken, the delicate bones shattered from slamming into the castle wall. Feathers drifted to the stones under my feet as I cupped the tiny creature in my hands and carried it from the balcony.

Heat flashed through me, and my heart began to race. Pain seared my shoulder like a hot poker stabbing into the muscle. I clenched my jaw against the discomfort as I settled the bird on the table next to the fire.

Across the room, Aedith eyed me as she finished making my bed. “I don’t know why you bother, my lady. Sparrows are more common than fleas on a knight’s cloak.”

“It’s a starling,” I said. And I probablyshouldn’thave bothered. Not with Aedith in the room. Father would be livid if he got wind of me using my gifts in front of the servants—or anyone. He’d also scold me for “wasting” my gift on an animal. But if the past month was any indication, my sire was committed to ignoring my presence at Purecliff, so the chance of discovery was slim.

Even so, I angled my body to obscure Aedith’s view of the starling. Fresh pain bolted through my shoulder, and I dug myteeth into my lip to stifle my groan. The creature’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Its heartbeat trembled in my mind, the rhythm so fast it stretched into a steady hum. Fear joined the pain throbbing in my veins.

I ignored both as I drew a deep breath and placed my hand over the starling’s wing. Letting my eyes drift shut, I imagined the bird whole and healthy, its wings stretched wide as it flew over the mountains that surrounded Purecliff. Heat built low in my stomach and then streaked to my hand. My palm tingled. Energy coursed through me. I needed to move.

No, tofly. In a flash, visions formed in my head—things I shouldn’t have been able to see. The tops of trees spread over a vast forest. The ground rushing up as I swooped toward a beetle lumbering over a dried leaf. Blue sky and rows of crops arranged in neat squares. The sheer side of a cliff passing in a blur beneath me.

Wind beat at me, but it was a friend. An ally. It buoyed me as I wheeled in the sky, a song spilling from my throat.

In another flash, gold burst behind my closed lids. The energy built and built. Then it roared, its heat scorching my palm. A gasp escaped me as I opened my eyes, catching the flash of light under my palm. The starling jerked. My shoulder throbbed as I lifted my hand and stepped back.

The starling hopped to its feet. It cocked its head, one round black eye meeting mine as it spread its wings.

Behind me, Aedith made a startled sound. “Stay back, my lady! It’ll peck your eyes out!”

In a flurry of feathers, the starling launched itself into the air and streaked across the bedchamber. It flew through the balcony’s open doors and into the open sky beyond the castle.

I rushed after it, not stopping until I gripped the balcony’s stone railing. The starling was a speck of black against themorning sky stained with orange and pink. The bird soared over the valley that spread below the cliff, its wings flared wide.

Cloth rustled, and Aedith appeared beside me. She rested a work-roughened hand on the balcony as she observed the bird’s flight. “The gods are good.” She turned to me with a smile in her brown eyes. “It must not have broken its wing, after all.”

For a second, the truth hovered on my tongue. Then I swallowed it, and I let a smile touch my lips. “Yes. The gods are good.”

Her eyes softened. “You’ve always had a way with animals. And people.” Her smile faded, and her gaze grew distant as she tugged at her gown’s high neckline. “The castle folk have missed your gentle touch.”

I stared at her blunt, uneven nails and reddened knuckles. Aedith was just a few years past my own twenty-seven, but gray strands mixed with the brown hair that peeked from under her white cap.

“I’ve missed them, too,” I said. “Two years is a long time to be away.” I drew a deep breath and asked the question that had occupied my mind more than once in the fortnight I’d been home. “I thought you might have married after I left for Nordlinga.” It was the usual way of things in Eftar. When a noblewoman wed, her attendants followed suit, leaving service behind and making good matches with well-to-do merchants in the villages.

Then again, I hadn’t actually married anyone.

Aedith shook her head, a shadow flitting through her eyes. “I might have, my lady, but…” She met my gaze briefly before looking over the valley.

Wariness prickled through me. I touched her arm, ignoring the burst of pain in my shoulder. “What is it?”

Aedith looked at me, and now her brown eyes were sheened with tears. “My brother Edrin looked after my sister Ingaret and me after our parents died.”

“I remember him,” I said, images of a tall, smiling man with Aedith’s eyes forming in my mind. “He was a hunter.”

Aedith nodded. “A good one. He sold pelts in the village for a handsome price. Then we had a bad winter, and animals were scarce.”

A sinking feeling settled in my stomach. “What happened?”

Aedith glanced over the valley, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “He strayed too close to the shadows.”

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