Page 63 of The Curse of a Kingdom
“Your truth?”
“Who else's?” He smiled.
Nava’s annoyance turned into concern, the burning fire in her veins cooling down as she studied the Crow’s face. “Don’t do anything that would hurt him, Devon. Please.”
Devon ignored her words, his onyx eyes following the movements of his brother outside. “When we met, him and I, we had no one but each other. Unwanted children who were given a chance at greatness.” Nava was sure he meant the magic in the world. The balance the Crows believed to upkeep. “He always thought of it as servitude. I saw it as a new opportunity to have something worth fighting for. Unwanted by the rest of the world, we found a family in each other.” Devon let the weight of his body lean into the seat behind him. “In less than fifteen years, he got not one but two families who wanted him.”
“You mean the Valerons?” Nava whispered, not wanting Ark to listen. “They weren’t a family to him at all. He hates them.”
“Yet they still wanted him.” His eyes shifted away from her. “He gets to be a royal, have the gods give him a beautiful mate who travels across the world to save him against all odds.”
Beautiful . . .
She stilled in her spot, her heart hammering against her chest, and she let the air leave her lungs. Alarm bells rang in her ears, telling her to get out of there, to disappear and avoid the uncomfortable sickening feeling that awakened within her.
It was the first nice thing Devon had ever told her. However, she didn’t want him to think she was beautiful. She preferred him thinking of her as anything but.
He straightened in his spot. “Don’t let it get in your head. I find women beautiful. It’s not you, it’s what you represent.”
Her muscles relaxed a fraction as air entered her body once again, and she brought her hands over the fabric of her dress, whipping away the cold sweat that coated her skin. “You are jealous of the idea of me . . . ?” She looked around, expecting to find Arkimedes by the door. What the hell was he up to out there?
“Jealousy is such an ugly word.”
“You want a soulmate?” she asked in a whisper.
“Don’t we all?”
She hadn’t, not one bit. Had fought it every minute of a decade. Arkimedes had fought it tooth and nail last year. “You’re envious of all he’s gotten when he didn’t even want it, aren’t you?”
Devon opened his mouth but shut it when Arkimedes’s head popped into the carriage. “We are ready.” His eyes shone with an eagerness she hadn’t seen before; her heart skipped a beat at his tentative smile, as it showed a shadow of dimples.
What was going inside that head of his? Before he was taken, she’d been able to listen to some of his thoughts. That was not the case now—their bond was hurting from the lack of memories. Was he taking them around to see his city? Hoping they would love it as much as he did?
The weight of iron dropped in her stomach, the metallic taste lingering on the back of her tongue. She had been with him not only in the Northern Village, where they had their home, but also in Willowbrook, and not once had he looked this way.
Would he want to leave with her if he did regain his memories—and would she even want to take him away? She brought her hand over the aching spot where the three circles of her soulmate mark formed a flower.
His black wings were there one moment, fitting in the cramped area, and then gone the next, the scent of spices flowing in the air. Her eyes lingered on the smooth plane of his back as he took a seat next to her; she contained her urge to drag her finger over it.
He turned to her, called by her thoughts, and dropped his gaze to where her hand massaged the spot on her chest. His brow crinkled. “Are you all right? You seem uncomfortable.”
“Yes, I’m fine. It’s just this dark box of a carriage reminds me of a coffin.”
His lips pulled to the side into an amused smile that showed straight teeth. “A coffin?”
“Uh-huh. With all this shiny, dark fabric . . . and the pattern.” Nava swallowed, moving her fingers over the polished wood of the wall next to her, but held his gaze. His expression softened as he studied her. His fingers twitched closer over his lap, and her lips parted as waves of heat bloomed in her stomach at the intensity of his expression.
Longing. Caution. Concern. Want. So many emotions, she had a hard time picking which ones were hers and which ones were his.
“Ugh. Get me out of here.”
She jumped when Devon’s voice interrupted the silence. Her face warmed as she tried to ignore his words and annoyed expression. Arkimedes's surprised chuckle had her whole body melting into her seat. He didn’t smile enough, let alone laugh, and this carefree expression just fed her doubts further.
“The king would be disappointed to hear that his carriage looks like a coffin,” he teased and relaxed in the seat, but he didn’t stop searching her features, as if trying to uncover what she was hiding.
Intertwining her fingers over her lap to prevent flapping her hands around, she faced the window as they started moving. “Where are we going?”
“The market, and then maybe we can ride through the oldest part of town. It’s a bit bumpy. But there is a lot of—”
