Page 2 of Shadows so Cruel

When the cage came to a halt in front of the hearth, its embers reflecting on the glinting metal, Malyr reached the little white raven through the open door. He lowered the droopy-headed thing onto the straw at the bottom, then pushed the cage closer to the flame. A second after that, he pulled it away, only to push it closer again. He spent eternal moments finding just the right position to provide the bird warmth without running the risk of the straw accidentally catching fire.

I watched the scene with a shake of my head. How could he hurt Galantia so badly one moment, then fuss over her ailinganoathe next? What the fuck was wrong with his head?

“Where is its gift?” I asked again. “There isn’t a trace of magic on this bird.”

“How would I know?” Malyr pushed through gritted teeth as he leaned over, bracing his hands against the top of the cage in support. “I want an explanation for this. I want to know how the Brisden household has harbored a—” His gaze snapped to the five black ravens fluttering in through the flight hole above his desk, their shadowy tendrils forming the stout figure of Asker, his salt and pepper braid tousled, his beard dotted with snowflakes. “Tell me you caught the unkindness!”

“My prince.” Asker bowed, his eyes nervously going from Malyr to theanoain the cage before it settled back on Malyr. “I sent ten pathfinders out to find them, but… with the landscape white, the… the sky covered in gray clouds, and… the snow flurries…” A heavy swallow. “I lost them.”

With a deafening growl, Malyr turned and kicked a nearby stool, sending a woven basket with all its contents to clash and shatter across his room while black tendrils of shadows webbed over his face beneath the skin. “Fuck!”

“They might yet find them,” Asker blurted. “One of the pathfinders spotted the unkindness heading northeast.”

Northeast.

My guts tied into a knot.

“Because it’s the only direction her primal knows familiarity lies,” I said, breathing against the sinking in my stomach. “She’s heading toward Tidestone.”

Toward danger.

“I want every pathfinder out there before she manages to reach its outskirts!” Malyr shouted. “You will track her down and bring her before me!”

“Her?” Asker made a spluttering sound as he threw his arms up. “I don’t understand. Where is Lady Galantia?”

“The unkindnessisGalantia,” I said. “She’s been one of us this entire time, likely without even knowing it. This might as well have been her very first shift, which left heranoabehind.” I walked up to the cage and knelt before it, and even that didn’t rouse as much as a ruffled feather from the sad little thing. Female, by the looks of it. “I think… I think she’s too weak to fly.”

Asker’s gaze snapped my way, his brows furrowing. “How can this be? A Raven girl raised under Tidestone banners for nineteen years?”

“None of that matters right now,” I barked and looked at Malyr. “You fucking bastard put her in the gravest danger. There’s a Raven flying straight into Brisden’s arms, and it is probablynothis daughter. All because you can’t be anything but hateful. Well done, Malyr.”

His mouth tightened, the muscles in his jawline clenching until his entire body shook with rage. Well, I didn’t fucking care, because there was little to no chance we would find her unkindness in this weather.

Panic seized my chest.

I can’t lose her, too…

“After all this time,” Asker sighed, “what could possibly have brought about this sudden shift?”

Scoffing, I rose and gave a dismissive swat at Malyr before I bit out, “Ask him. Fucking liar!”

Malyr took a strong step around the cage toward me, the shadows lashing out around him, all hate, anger, and malice. “I did what I promised her I would do!”

“Yes, you fucking broke her heart, shattering it into so many pieces, her primal forced a shift to escape the agonizing pain. You made sure I was out of the way long enough for you to make her believe you loved her. How can you be so cruel? So vicious?”

He stabbed two fingers against my cuirass with a hostility that sent a flare of heat across my skin. “That’s a heavy choice of words for someone who kept the fact that he is bonded from her. I daresay you helped plenty in shattering her.”

“Because you used me!” I slapped his stupid fingers off my chest. “You got rid of me. You schemed behind my back—fucking snake of a friend, you are—using me as if I’m nothing more but a figurine on your map.”

He barred his teeth. “Do not blame me for your choices, Sebian.”

“My choices?” My primal croaked at my core, forcing me to take a step toward him, letting my chest crowd against his, as if daring him to lay his fingers on me once more. “You set me up!”

“And you made it so fucking easy,” he ground out. “Did I break her heart and shatter her dreams? Yes. But so… did… you.”Thud.Another stab at my cuirass. “You could have decided to stay with Galantia. Instead, you flew north, leaving her behind, vulnerable and unprotected. That, Sebian,”Thud.“Was your…” Thud.“Choice.”Thud.

The last stab splintered through my ribs, Malyr’s words twisting a dagger in my gut, each syllable a thrust deeper into my conscience. And the worst part…?

He wasn’t even wrong.

---