The Emperor's Betrothed Consort

Five

“ N o.” I turned away, finding a chair near my bed.

The room was too awkward for the bird to comfortably fly, but it managed to coast from my dresser to the bed frame before dropping to the ground and hopping up to me where I sat.

I considered the bird. It was a typical raven: dark feathers that moved between black and iridescent blue. Its eyes were intelligent, but it had the same greedy glint as the rest of its kind. A long, hooked beak was half threat, half indication of how far it would go for food.