Page 27 of Moon Raven Rising
Pulling my shirt off, I walk the far wall, eyeing my usual choice of daggers and short swords… but as my fingers trail the weapons on the table, I get an idea. Picking up one of the black battle axes, I test the weight in my grip, smiling as I spin it. It feelsgood. A new weapon of choice for the new man I plan to become. The axe is good for close combat and even at a distance with a strong arm. My tongue rolls out over my lip as I torque my body fast, throwing the axe with precision. It quickly moves end over end, then right before it meets its mark, Kait steps forward, nearly taking the blade to the face.
“Motherfucker!” She spits, turning toward me with narrowed eyes. “You!”
“I didn’t know you were there!” I throw up my hands.
“Right, like you didn’t know what your men were doing to me when I was held captive by you and your regime?” She counters, and I grit my teeth. She’s wrong to an extent. I knew that they were going to bust her up a bit, but she’s Fae. She heals. I didn’t know they were going to cut into her so many times that even her Fae healing couldn’t save her from scars, and I didn’t know that it was her face being carved. But back then, I played into it because she was still my prisoner and they were still in the way of what I thought I wanted. Even though my guards who did it were already dead… As soon as I saw what they did... I heard them boasting about the crafty carving they delivered her, and I fucking lost it. My rage went wild that night, and I took every last ounce of frustration out on them tenfold.
“You just wanted someone to know what it felt like to be scarred. Just like you, right, Cano?” Kait growls, stepping closer to me. I see the glint of a blade in her hand.
“Did you follow me in here, Kait?” I ask, my brows pulled low. If I have to die, at least it will be honorable. Kait will get redemption.
“They are wrong about you. You shouldn’t be allowed to live.” She grinds the words between her teeth.
“So you will defy your king?” I ask, subtlety taking a step closer.
“He was my best friend before he was my king. You should know how that feels just as much as me. How could you do everything that you’ve done? After all that we’ve been through? Just… for what? A title? WasLordreally not enough?” The hurt in her voice causes my hands to tremble. It’s a new feeling. All of this… caring. It makes me fucking sick.
“You would never know, would you? You didn’t have a parent who knocked you down every time you stood up. Beat you for showing any kind of compassion because it is weak?” I yell, my fucking emotions rising with every word.
“You’re right. How could I know what that feels like? I don’t even know what it feels like to have a fucking parent!” She yells even louder, coming closer. “But I had friends I thought I could count on! Now?I have nothing.” She lunges for me. Catching her wrist, I twist her around in my grip, her back to my front, bringing her hand that holds the blade up to her own throat. Something stirs within me that I can’t place, but I ignore it. Leaning down, I whisper in her ear.
“If you aim to kill me, you need to come at my back, Kait. I will not be killed if I see the blow coming. That is a promise I can keep.” My breath makes the hair at her neck flutter. Her breathing quickens with her pulse, and I look down, realizing my lips are hovering just above the scars on her face. With the hand not holding her wrist with the blade, I bring my inky fingers up and caress the jagged scars. Words beginning to form on my tongue that I’ve never spoken to a female before.
“I’m—”
“What the fuck is this?” Trent says as he bursts through the door and interrupts me. Kait rips herself from my grip.
“It’s nothing.” She grunts, pushing past him and slamming the door behind her, but the feeling raging inside of me…begs me to follow her. Instead, my eyes slowly drift to meet a pissed-off Ravendene, pursing his lips and shaking his head like a disappointed father figure who just broke up a fight.
Chapter twenty-four
The sun slowly makesits way through the window of my room of the castle in Demetrey. Casting shadows across the cold stone floor. The castle itself groans as the wind crashes against it fiercely; a storm rolling in from the Ranmyrkr Sea. The smell of salt and moist earth fills my nose as the curtains billow at the open window.
Pulling the blanket closed at my throat, I sit near the fire, waiting. I’ve been ready for hours. Far before the sun began to crest. The only storm at the time was the one building inside of me. I couldn’t sleep. The shadows they put inside of me, I quickly realized—as much as they would have wanted it to be different—didnothing. They caused my mind some discomfort, and my body needed time to heal, but other than that… they only served to make my connection with the moon even stronger.
The book that Osiris had me read brought me just the information I needed. None of it is about dark magic, but royal power and how it is wielded. The magic I know will take a different sort of concentration to wield. I can do it though.
I will, and when I do finally master what I now know I can do, Soren Croix will meet his end and the sharp point of Meraki.
Snaking my hand out from the opening in the blanket, I straighten my spine and grit my teeth. Knowing what rides on me, I hold my hand out in front of me as I try to call the magic I felt thrumming through me in that chamber.
Feeling useless when it doesn’t happen, my fingers curl into a fist, and I slam it down on the arm of the chair I sit in. “Motherfucker!”
“Not very ladylike language, especially for a queen,” Osiris’ deep voice gravels from where he stands, leaning in the doorway. I didn’t even hear him open the heavy wood door. I need to be more aware of my surroundings, especially when I’m doing this. I can’t have them seeing me wield the magic if I’m finally able to.
“I didn’t think I had an audience. Maybe consider announcing yourself, and I wouldn’t have been so vulgar for your princely ears.” He doesn’t laugh, doesn’t show any anger, and all the emotion from last night is void from his expression. He just stares. Cold eyes meet mine, and I shiver.
“What are you doing here anyway?” I ask, standing from the armchair and crossing the room to yank back the gauzy white inner curtain to match its heavier counterpart. Letting the storm in without a filter.
“Soren wishes to see you in the dining room,” he says flatly. Lightning strikes just outside the gray window, and I freeze as the white flash blanches the room. “There will be no training, Moon Raven. Just a meal.” He continues. Only there is neverjustanything with Soren Croix.
I know better than to expect anything less than evil. It’s as though he finds pleasure in my discomfort. Any way he can, he will endue pain onto others. He is a master manipulator. Physically and mentally needing to weaken those around him. Just the thought of being a child growing up with him has me feeling sorry for Cano, even after everything he’s done.
I close my eyes and take a collective breath. As I let it out, I hear Osiris moving about behind me, but I stay there. My breathing is shallow though, not filling my lungs nearly enough. I feel panic trying to grasp me and take me down. My lip trembles at the same time that my hands do. I’m trying to be as strong as I can, but fear of what is at stake still causes trepidation to sneak through the cracks in my walls. Still, tears do not fall.
“Dress in this,” Osiris says with bland cadence. Biting my unsteady lip, I turn to face him, fisting my shaking hands at my sides. “I will be attending this meal as well,” he continues, as I look down at the gown he’s laid on the bed, and confusion puckers between my eyes. He must see it because before he leaves the room, his eyes find mine. It’s only a split second, but I saw the emotion he was trying to hide. There was pity in his eyes as he looked at me. My emotionless keeper, the Prince of Dragons,pities me.
It causes anger to boil in my blood, and when he turns, shutting the door between us, I feel it. The ripple of magic is so deeply buried within me, but I would never be able to mistake it. My hand comes up to wrap around my throat—his name, the name I have yet to speak again since the moment I left the cliffside, leaves my lips with a gasp.
