"Help!" he cried. "He—"
"Be still," a deep voice growled as the arm clamped tighter.
Think, he thought. Think. My mind is my greatest weapon. What can I do?
He needed time. He needed an opening, a distraction. With a burst of inspiration, Xander kicked his desk as hard as he could. The books stacked near its edge toppled over to land heavily on both him and the stranger, and the arm around his neck slackened. Xander slipped his hand beneath the man's elbow, freeing the pressure on his vocal cords. Just as he opened his mouth to scream, his attacker howled and let go.
Xander scrambled forward, glancing back to find the hilt of a blade protruding from the man's thigh—a hilt he recognized, one he'd held only just this morning. Whipping toward the door, he found Cassi at the frame, lethal and poised to strike.
The stranger stumbled through the torn curtain, falling out the window and into the night. Without a moment's hesitation, Cassi vaulted over Xander and dove after him.
15
Cassi
It was Malek. Not physically, she knew, but the attack had her king's name written all over it, a message drawn in blood. Xander would be fine. If the man had wanted the prince dead, he would be. No—this was something else. Not an assassination attempt, but a reminder of her king's power, the very same power she was now even more determined to defy.
The attacker's ebony wings blended into the night. Though he was little more than a shadow on the move, Cassi's sharp owl eyes tracked him through the darkness. He dove as soon as he reached the edge of the castle, plummeting toward the Sea of Mist. Cassi followed, her predatory wings far faster than his in a free fall. The jagged cliffs of the isle passed in a blur. Just as she was about to catch up, the man cut to the side, swooping under an outcropping of stone. Cassi copied the maneuver, but her wings weren't quite as agile. By the time she reached the spot, he was gone.
What?
A hand wrapped around her ankle. Cassi kicked wildly and flapped her wings. The fingers clamped down harder.
"Stop fighting, I want to talk," the man ordered.
"Then why'd you run away?"
"To make sure we weren't followed."
As if to prove his point, he let go. Cassi whirled around, surprised to find the entrance to a shallow cave. The stranger stood inside, looking not at her but at her dagger, which was still lodged in his thigh. With a gasp, he pulled it out, then wrapped a length of torn fabric around the wound to slow the bleeding.
She didn’t apologize. Instead, she landed beside him on the ledge and crossed her arms. "Who are you?"
"That's not important."
"It's important to me."
The whites of his eyes caught the moonlight as he looked up. "I'm you, Kasiandra, as you're meant to be."
She'd known, of course, that he had to be another of Malek's spies, a dreamwalker caught between two worlds, not quite of either. Still, her lips parted in surprise. All her life, she'd felt alone with her secrets, yet here was a man who carried the same burdens, and he'd been so close. A raven. Living in the House of Whispers this entire time. And never once had her king mentioned his name. Never once had he given her the chance to talk to this man who might have understood her.
Now, they stood on opposing sides.
"Why did Malek send you?"
"The king wishes to speak to you. He says he's waited long enough, and his patience is wearing thin."
That's not my problem. Cassi clenched her jaw, taking in the sapphire glow of the mist and the endless stretch of stars across the sky. A whole world rested at her fingertips. Why then did she feel so ensnared?
"You could have killed Xander tonight." She returned her attention to the man silently watching her, his expression a lesson in control.
"Those weren't my orders."
"Why? What game is he playing? What does he want from me?"
"Obedience."
Cassi snorted, though the lump in her throat betrayed the true weight of the word. She'd spent her entire life doing everything Malek said. Now, just this once, she wanted to live for herself. Why was that so difficult for him to understand?
"And if I won't do as he commands? What then?"
"That's not in my power to say."
She snarled, disgusted by the man before her. Was this what she had been like before? Yes, my liege. No, my liege. Whatever you say, my liege. He was empty. No emotion. No personality. No thoughts aside from the ones Malek had put there.
Cassi refused to be that way again.
"The king demands you visit his dreams tonight. If you want to beg for the raven prince's life, it's your last chance to do so, or his next orders may not be so friendly. He also told me to remind you what exactly it is we're all fighting for."
"And what's that?"
"The world."
Her hands were a silvery tan in this light, yet all she saw were the bloodstains on her fingers, a vision no bath could wipe clean. The mark was internal, a wound carved into her spirit, something not even Malek's magic could heal.
"What's so great about this world?" she asked as she folded her fingers into fists. The unnamed man stared back at her like a mirror, reflecting all her awful deeds. "If we're willing to kill honest men, good men, then we're no better than the dragons. Why are we worth saving?"
"That's not up to me to decide."
"If the knife is in your hand, it should be."
A flicker passed over his eyes, there and gone before she could see exactly what it was. Maybe they weren't so different after all. "Speak with the king tonight. Your answers lie in him. When you return to the castle, say I got away and all you saw were my raven wings. My family lives in a village far away from Pylaeon, where they won't think to look. In the meantime, the royal family will believe one of their own has turned against them, a rebel after the crown. They won’t suspect it was an assassin sent by our king."
Cassi nodded.
No matter Malek's beliefs, she was still loyal to the prophecy and to Lyana, if nothing else. The avians wouldn't learn the secrets of the lands beneath the mist from her. She did want to save the world—she just didn't want to lose herself in the process.
The man left. Cassi waited for his outline to disappear into the night, then followed suit, making her way back to the castle and its tallest spire, still lit by a soft orange glow. The wrong end of a sword was the first thing to greet her upon her return. She frowned at the blade and landed inside the broken window, arching her brow at the guard with unmasked disdain.
"Put the weapon away, Dimos," Xander drawled.
He sat shirtless by the fire, a healer kneeling by his side while the queen watched with a furrowed brow. He was thin, as expected, but not in an unpleasant way. The ridges of his abdomen caught the golden glow of the flames, muscles lean and defined, forming two distinct lines that disappeared into his waistband. Shadow and light danced across his skin. It took more effort than Cassi cared to admit to shift her attention to his wound, which was already cleaned and nearly bandaged. Not quite able to hide his grimace, he rested his head in his palm, his onyx hair in disarray as it spilled over his forehead.