Page 28 of Feathers so Vicious

“Malyr…” Asker’s voice broke through the quiet behind me. “What have you done?”

ChapterTen

Galantia

Present day, Deepmarsh Castle, Galantia’s chamber

Ilay in my bed, staring at the strangest square cutout in the stone where wall met ceiling. A peculiarity not easily noticed since dark strings of presumably leather hung over it like a curtain, heavy enough the wind outside barely shifted it. Why was that there?

When my eyes burned from the strain, I squeezed them shut for just a moment. Finding sleep turned out to be a near impossible task, with no Risa to tell me that the howls wailing through the night were nothing but the wind cutting itself on the corners of the castle. No Risa to stroke through my hair. No Risa to comfort me.

No Risa…

I was… alone.

Always so alone.

My vision blurred as something thick and dense rose in my chest, aching behind my sternum. Caused me such pain, I wanted to cry so badly. Wanted to drain this heavy feeling from my chest the way it had done when I was a child.

I slapped my cheek.Cry!

And again.Cry!

When no tear came, I whacked myself with both palms, again and again, but… nothing. I couldn’t cry, and I couldn’t cry, and I couldn’t fucking cry! Why not? What was wrong with me?

When the hinges of my door shifted ever so quietly, I thrust myself up, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. It wasn’t dark enough for supper yet, so this couldn’t be the mute girl who brought me meals. Who then? Sebian? Captain Asker?

My throat narrowed.

Malyr?

I squinted at the short, twiggy figure who shuffled out from the shadows. Just another Raven girl.

I commanded my muscles to relax and paced my breathing, easing my heart back into an even rhythm. It lasted until the girl lifted her head, letting the orange flames of the fire flicker across her ruined visage.Gods be merciful…

Burn marks covered the right half of her face, distorting its shape into something almost angular looking. They reached into her hairline, where nothing but a few black wisps remained, tangling around the remaining shell of her ear, the lobe gone.

It’s a common sight in this castle,Sebian’s voice resonated in my head.Your father has quite the fondness for setting us ablaze.

My throat wanted to narrow, but I cleared it away, reminding myself of the dead boy at the village. For every Raven child marked by a wartheyhad started, there was a human child out there who’d suffered as well. Simple as that.

With a brush in one hand and a blue velvet pouch in the other, the skinny thing inched toward me, her eyes never quite lifting to meet mine. “If you please, they… they sent m-me to—” A gulp cut through her words. “To brush your hair and pin it up so you’ll be presentable.”

Presentable… for court.

My heart tumbled in my chest at the mere thought of feasting among Ravens. Not that I could escape this dreadful fate, so there was no point in making a fuss.A fuss was exactly what would get Malyr’s attention.

I rose and sat on the chair beside the table instead, pretending I didn’t likely have red finger marks all over my face from how I’d slapped myself like an insane person. “Very well.”

The girl held her head strangely sideways as she placed the pouch on the table, focusing her good eye on the black pins she retrieved from it, which she lined up for later use. The lids of her burned eye had melted together on the outside corner, the iris behind it nearly white. She was half blind, wasn’t she?

Of course, I knew suffering among the innocent existed in war. Never had I seen it up close in all its ugliness. Somehow, it made my insides convulse. I didn’t know what to do with that.

Ignore it, probably.

Once positioned behind me, the girl carefully ran the brush through my hair. The bristles trembled against my skull as though I could easily kill her with, oh, I wouldn’t know… tendrils of shadows, perhaps.Ridiculous.

When the familiar silence of my chamber grew too suffocating, I cleared my throat. “What is your gift?”

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