Now was her time to speak, if she wanted to, but her tongue was heavy and her lips fat. Her mind was in such a whirlwind that no cohesive sentences, let alone thoughts, could be strung together. It was hard enough to focus on Xander and the steps as her legs shook and they walked in shadows for the gods knew how long. Suddenly, light appeared in the distance. A priest stood, holding open a golden gate. Lyana heard the chirping of birds, but her eyes immediately went to the god stone floating in the center of the room, barely visible through the trees, its power releasing a silent shriek that rattled her bones. A vibration shuddered through her, visible enough for Xander to notice as he turned toward her, curious, maybe even concerned.
Lyana blinked, trying to clear her vision.
The lights wouldn’t disappear.
They came swiftly, emanating from the god stone, glittering and flickering across the air, shooting toward her skin. The stone was so black it swallowed the rays of the sun streaking through the trees, yet it sparked with every color of the spectrum in short bursts and long bands that reached for her like phantom hands. Her arms quivered. Her knees trembled. Her heart continued to drum faster and faster, more and more loudly, rhythm speeding and growing to match the one pulsing through the stone.
They reached the center of the sacred nest and knelt, preparing to speak the prayers, the first step in the long ceremony that would eventually end with the exchange of their vows. Lyana turned to Xander. He was oblivious to the beat drowning out every other noise in the world and the rainbow spiraling around her, making her dizzy, making the nest swim.
She turned to the priest and stopped cold.
He didn’t look like any of the ravens she’d seen. His eyes were a midnight blue, clouded with angry storms yet bright with the piercing fire of lightning. His hair resembled flowing gold. His skin was sun-kissed, and a spatter of freckles covered his nose. No wings fanned from his back, and they weren't expected in a priest, but his robes didn’t fit. The hem of silk was two inches from the ground, ruining the belief that those chosen by the gods floated on a different plane. Underneath the robe, she could see a pair of scuffed, muddy boots that didn’t belong to the scene. The sight set her on edge, but it was the penetrating expression on his face that made her freeze, the knot in his brows, the tempest in his eyes, spinning as though attracted by all the lights around her, every spectacle of magic—as if he were waiting for an answer only she could supply.
Lyana opened her mouth.
Before she could think of what to say, her world exploded.
61
Cassi
Cassi stood in the dark corner of the room, watching the lone figure on the balcony, his onyx wings draped across the floor, his head hung low, two swords strapped to his back and two bags dropped by his side.
He’d been easy to find.
After so many weeks of watching and waiting, Cassi had known exactly where Rafe would go when his world fell apart. He was predictable, just like Lyana. The only one who had truly surprised her was the prince, with his steadfast loyalty and stubborn inability to see evil in the people he cared about. Manipulating him would leave a lasting scar in her. Exposing him to the harsh realities of the world would be the newest item on her long list of regrets. But there had been no other choice. Xander was the only person who would have missed Rafe when he left, who would have noticed his absence and maybe gone looking. But now, he knew who his brother truly was. And Rafe was alone, the way she needed him to be.
Because the end was near.
The sign would come.
The buzz of magic had been building beneath her skin all day, a current in the air that made her hair stand on end and chest thud. The sky sparkled with hidden static. Anyone with magic—well, anyone with magic who wasn’t heartbroken and overcome with despair—would have been a fool to not recognize the signs that something was coming, something big.
And she was ready—ready to be done, ready to be with her king and her queen, ready to be with her mother. No more duplicity. No more lies. Free.
Rafe was her last job.
Her final task.
She stood in the shadows of the burnt-out room at the base of the castle where no one else would venture, deep beyond the line she knew the raven wouldn’t cross, hidden from sight.
The bow in her hands was pulled taut.
Her arrow and eye were perfectly aligned.
Still she waited, as she had promised her king she would, for the inevitable.
62
Xander
By his side, Lyana fainted. Her body twitched, back arching painfully as her spine bent, her arms curled, and her legs dragged along the ground. Invisible fingers lifted her into the air by her hips so her wings and toes skidded across soil and stone.
“Ly—”
Xander was cut off as a force slammed into his chest, knocking him back. He rolled on the ground and crashed into a tree, landing just in time to turn and realize with horror that Lyana's body had begun to glow. Fiery sparks lit her skin, filling the space around her with glitter, as though the air held diamond dust, as though she were a star that had fallen from the sky, as though she were a god stone in her own right, one made of gold instead of deep, deep shadow. He couldn’t say how long he remained limp on the ground, eyes wide as he watched her, stilled by a strange mix of awe and terror, unable to look away or speak or move or act.
Then it stopped.
Her body fell, as though the string that had been holding it aloft had suddenly snapped.
Xander jumped to his feet.
The cries of a thousand ravens stopped him cold. Every bird in the sacred nest leapt from the trees at once, a black cloud flooding the cage, the flapping of their wings an ominous roar as they searched for a way to get through the bars that had held them for their entire lives. There was no way out, no escape for those ebony feathers casting shadows in the sun.
The ground lurched violently beneath him.
Xander joined his brethren in the sky as the nest shook, the swish of leaves and the groan of the earth joining the rustle of a thousand wings. Fissures snaked up tree trunks. Branches cracked and fell. Solid dirt crumbled, filling the air with dust, and the god stone quivered where it hung, suspended. At the center of it all, Lyana remained unaffected in an odd mix of peace and pain. The ground beneath her trembled, sending her body this way and that as her eyes remained closed and her wings limp.
When the ground fell still, the priest knelt beside her. A hand emerged from his robes to gently brush her cheek, and a victorious smile curved his lips, elation glowing in his eyes. That was when Xander noticed the muddy boots, the robes that were far too small, and the sun-kissed face.
He dove.
“What did you do to her?” Xander shouted as he crashed into the priest, grabbing a fistful of the man's clothes, pumping his wings and using his weight to keep him flat against the floor. “What did you do?”
The man offered a smile made of razor blades, sharp enough to cut. “I did nothing, raven prince. This is her destiny.”
“Who are you?” Xander pressed his forearm to the man’s throat, making him choke on a sound eerily close to laughter. “Where did you come from?”
“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, truly I did,” the man said with a sigh, as though he were the one pinning Xander to the ground. “But I can’t leave any witnesses.”