Page 88 of Rage of Her Ravens

“Sorry.” His cheeks reddened. “It’s hard to think of her as anyone other than the witch who was prophesized to kill our queen. It’s what we’ve been told since we were children.”

I refused to go round with him on this again. How long would he continue to paint my sister as a killer while it was his queen who’d been hunting us since before we were born? The girls blinked up at him while sucking their thumbs. I’d thought they were almost asleep, but their eyes were wide now. Damn. I’d had enough. I cleared my throat, intending to tell him to leave us alone.

“Have you and the girls had a chance to visit the nursery?” he asked before I could speak.

“No,” I answered tersely, my shoulders stiffening. “I don’t want to leave Nikkos.”

“I understand.” He slowly rose from the bed, nodding toward that sack he’d left on the dresser. “I’ve brought a few dolls from the nursery to keep the girls occupied.”

The girls shot up, and I had to cover my ears when they squealed like stuck pigs. My gaze nervously shot to Nikkos, who didn’t so much as twitch a muscle.

My heart caught in my throat when Draevyn went to the other side of the bed and the girls crawled over to him. He dumped the contents of the sack. Two pairs of identical twin dolls. The girls each snatched two dolls, squeezing them to their chests.

“Oh,” Ember said, her eyes welling with tears as she cupped a doll’s face, “they are prettier than I dreamed.”

Aurora rocked the dolls in her arms. “I’ve wanted these my whole life!”

Her whole life. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or cry.

I couldn’t think of what to say to Draevyn as our gazes locked for one long heartbeat. Was this act of kindness part of his true nature, or just a nefarious plot to gain our trust?

“These are just a few,” he said, his wings ruffling behind him. “There are many more in the nursery.”

Ember gasped while rocking her dolls in her arms. “May we go to the nursery?”

“Perhaps tomorrow.” I opened my arms to them, beckoning them to return to me. “You have enough dolls to play with for now.”

Clutching their dolls, they crawled back toward me.

“What do you say?” I asked the girls.

They both swallowed, their nervous gazes flitting from Draevyn back to me.

“Go on,” I whispered. Even if Draevyn had nefarious intentions, I refused to let my nieces be ill-mannered.

“Thank you, Lord Draevyn,” they said in unison.

He sat on the edge of the bed, casually draping one leg over the other, though tension lines still framed his eyes and mouth. “You may call me Drae, if you like.”

Why was he being so kind? Was he trying to get to me through the girls? Maybe after smelling his brothers on me, he wanted sex, too. His efforts were futile. I wasn’t about to give myself to him.

“Isn’t she pretty, Auntie? Look at her fancy dress!” Ember held up her doll to me.

“Very pretty.” I touched the doll’s smooth face. She had a warm complexion, rosy cheeks, dark hair in perfectly even ringlets, and the prettiest blue satin and lace gown.

“Tomorrow our seamstress will fit you all with new gowns and shoes,” Draevyn said to us.

He was being too kind. I stiffened when he smiled. “I’m not sure if I can get away from Nikkos.”

The girls shared hopeful looks.

“May I have a blue gown like new Bethamy?” Ember asked him.

He gave me a quizzical look. “New Bethamy?”

“One of the dolls,” I answered, motioning toward the dolls in Ember’s arms. I wasn’t sure which one was new Bethamy, but either one was a far improvement over old Bethamy.

“Uncle Blaze said we can keep all the dolls here,” Aurora said to Draevyn, a serious look in her eyes as if she was waiting for him to challenge her claim.

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