Cassi snorted. “Is it not enough?”
The captain reached across the space between them and pressed her palm to Cassi’s cheek, there and gone, a touch so swift it could have been imagined except for the warm tingle that lingered. “Leave your worries to your waking hours, Kasiandra. They will always be there, waiting. Dreams, especially your dreams, are made for so much more.”
Cassi followed her mother’s eyes as they moved to the sky and then returned to her, sparkling with streaks of silver. The corner of her lip lifted, as did a single brow in silent question as she nodded toward the blinding sun.
With that her mother turned, ran, and launched into the sky with the graceful speed of a predator, a hunting cry spilling from her throat. Cassi leapt after her, a set of matching hawk wings on her back. They dipped, dove, and sped in unison, drawing arches in the wind, two birds moving as one. The landscape changed to fit Cassi’s mood, into canyons they could swerve through, mountains to scale, trees to dodge, or even crashing waves that splashed water on their skin. Whatever she wanted. Whatever she imagined. Her mother was right—her dreams were beautiful, and they were made for more than dark thoughts and draining ruminations.
In the real world, Cassi was an owl because that was the only bird they had been able to steal for the transformation at the time. Her fears and doubts were sometimes suffocating. Her double life hung around her neck like an ever-tightening noose, one that was becoming more and more difficult to ignore. Her mother was a sea captain because standing at the bow of her ship, a single wing wide to catch the wind, was the closest she could come to flying. She was lonely, though she’d never admit it, and always searching for something more in that distant, ever-deepening horizon.
But here, in Cassi’s magic, they could be whatever they wanted. A mother and a daughter. Together. United. Just two hawks racing in the breeze, for a few short hours at least.
37
Lyana
A quiet knock on the door pulled Lyana from the last vestiges of sleep, forcing her to finally open her eyes and stretch muscles still recovering from the long flight the day before.
“I’m coming,” she called, wondering who it could be.
Cassi was still asleep on the chair in the corner, and the sun had barely risen in the sky, if the lingering pink hues outside her window were anything to go by. When Lyana opened the door, an unfamiliar sight greeted her—a raven girl in simple clothes, whose head was lowered.
“Good morning, Princess,” the girl whispered, voice on the edge of apologetic yet tinged with something else—curiosity, maybe. “The queen requests your presence at breakfast.”
Lyana sighed.
Before she had time to respond, three other raven girls appeared and shuffled into the room without a word. One quickly moved to the bed, tugging the sheets into place and fluffing the pillows. Another went to the closet, pulling the door open and shifting through a wardrobe. The third hurried to the vanity near the balcony, opening drawers and arranging bottles full of salves. The girl who had knocked walked to Lyana, removed her sleeping garments, and pushed her through a door she hadn’t yet noticed. A bath had already been drawn for her.
“I’m—” Before Lyana could finish speaking, a bucket of warm water was poured over her head, drowning the words.
“I can—” Another bucket came.
“Please—” She started again, but the raven girl’s lips were drawn with quiet determination, and Lyana knew better than to try to stop her. Clearly, the queen had ordered she be prepared, and prepared she would be. The only time she piped up was when they began attacking her hair with brushes that snagged and caught in her voluminous curls, eliciting a hiss of pain. Lyana used her fingers instead, yearning for the combs hidden somewhere in her travel trunks, and quickly twirled a large bun on the crown of her head to keep the strands out of her eyes if she flew.
Through it all, Cassi slept, still wearing her heavy flying leathers from the day before but looking cozier than Lyana.
She eyed her friend enviously as a violet dress was pulled over her waist, tied around her neck, and topped with a creamy overcoat to keep the exposed skin around her wings warm. The House of Whispers was much balmier than her home, but the morning air was still brisk as it fluttered in through curtains she’d forgotten to close the night before. The sliver of sky visible through that opening was more enticing than ever, but before she could get any ideas, the raven girl led her from the room.
The halls of the castle were wide and high, yet the dark, opaque stone made Lyana yearn for the crystal palace she called home. This was a maze of twists and turns and steps and doors, designed for walking instead of flying, nothing like the open atrium she’d grown up in. By the time she was deposited in the dining hall, Lyana was so confused she could hardly tell up from down, let alone how to return to her rooms.
Xander immediately stood when she walked in, offering her a bow. Queen Mariam merely looked up, taking a brief moment to inspect Lyana’s attire before returning to the parchment in her hand. For her part, Lyana tried to smile, but her mood only soured further when her eyes landed on the piles and piles of books stacked between the plates of food. She spared a longing glance at the sky outside the windows flanking the hall before taking a seat beside the queen.
“I hope you slept well,” Xander said cheerily.
“I did,” Lyana replied with a forced smile, fighting her unease.
The silence stretched on, serving only to remind her how different her new life would be. Back home, breakfast was grabbing a bit of fruit on her way to Cassi’s room, fluttering any which way she chose, exchanging teasing remarks with Luka, enduring the occasional lesson, all while being surrounded by the invisible presence of love, a tender sort of quality in the air she’d never even noticed until now—when it was nowhere to be found.
The air in this room was stuffy and cold, and it had nothing to do with the temperature.
Lyana cleared her throat.
“Would it be possible for my friend to join us tomorrow?” she asked lightly, trying not to betray how much more at ease Cassi's presence would make her feel.
“I’m afraid not,” the queen responded, the authority in her voice almost reminding Lyana of her own mother—a woman who could see right through her. But while her mother often chided her, affection always lingered in the soft edges of her words. Here there were only sharp sentences, clipped, precise and not to be questioned. “In this castle, breakfast is shared only with family.”
“She’s like a sister to me,” Lyana countered, turning toward Xander unintentionally, her thoughts going to a different raven, one she’d feared to find here. “A sibling, surely…”
Xander winced.
At the same time, the heat in the queen’s glare pierced the periphery of Lyana's vision, striking like an arrow.
Lyana swallowed the rest of her words. She didn’t really know her mate at all—they came from two different worlds, one of ravens, another of doves—and she was starting to understand that their differences ran much deeper than mere feathers. Who was this family she’d chosen to join? Where two brothers could switch identities for their most sacred ritual, but couldn’t dine at the same table? With a mother who seemed colder than the tundra she’d left behind? Who lived in a place where smiles had to be forced, friends kept away, and trust earned instead of freely offered?