CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A FINGER TRACES DOWN THE side of my face, waking me from my sleep. “Are you awake yet, Mousey?” There is an edge of worry to his voice but it doesn’t quite register.
My head snaps towards the offending voice—okay, maybe not offending, but how dare they interrupt my sleep—and I narrow one open eye at Jesper who’s staring me down at me with concern. “No,” I mumble, closing my eye again.
All of a sudden the night before comes back to me and instantly I’m wide awake, jolting upright in the bed and surveying the room as my heart nearly pounds out of my chest.
“Hey, you’re okay. You’re safe and in my room,” he tells me, pulling me closer to him.
I swallow hard. “What happened? Did someone just try to kill me?”
Nero hops into my lap and nuzzles me. “I tried to save you but the fucker was wearing a mask and was invincible against my attacks,” he says sullenly.
Scooping him up, I cradle him into my chest, kissing him softly on the head. “We’re okay and that’s what matters,” I whisper to him, causing him to burrow into me.
Jesper squeezes me as he pulls me onto his lap.
“Someone sent an assassin after you, and it’s apparently not the first time.
We don’t know who’s behind it but Aemon has upped the guards around the castle.
We won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll be taking turns staying with you each night.
Unless you just want to live in my bed. I’m fine with that too. ”
I open my mouth to tell him that’s not necessary but he cuts me off.
“Ravina. We have lost you once already. We will not be losing you again. I don’t care if I need to hunt you down and tie you to my bed each night. One of us will be in the room with you.”
My eyes widen as my thighs clench together.
“I can take care of myself. I know they got the drop on me last night, but it’ll be different moving forward.
Plus, if he didn’t blow that dust in my face, I could have taken him,” I mutter, seemingly annoyed with how weak I feel.
I can and will protect myself. All these years, I did what I had to survive; this is just another bump in the road.
He growls and Nero chitters dangerously at him, his plumage puffing up as he glares at the male over my shoulder. “She obviously doesn’t want you in her space at night. Take the hint, male,” he hisses.
Jesper chuckles darkly, his voice sparking with mischief as he speaks to Nero. “I figured you would be the most difficult to convince, so I brought you a peace offering.” I scoot off of his lap, peering at him with worry. Who knows what would count as a peace offering to him.
He reaches over to his end table and pulls out a clear vial with something floating within it. My mouth drops open and I’m flooded with Nero’s excitement.
“I carved this out of the bastard’s face just for you, so you can add it to your collection,” he sings gleefully, passing the jarred eye to Nero who practically snatches it out of his hand with his beak.
“Tell him: You have my most heartfelt permission to hold Rav hostage every night. He’s officially my favorite. You may keep him,” he tells me with adoration and awe. He chirps his thanks and flies the vial out of the room, presumably to store it with the other.
I huff out a breath. “Traitor. You’re supposed to be my familiar,” I bellow after him, although I can’t help but feel amused at their antics.
Jesper chuckles and nuzzles my neck. “How long do you think we have until he comes back?”
“To be fair, he’ll probably stay away for a bit.”
Within a breath, he has me flipped on my back as he hovers over me, peering down at me with a mix of concern and adoration. “You really gave us all a fright,” he murmurs, the softest I think I’ve ever heard him speak. “I don’t ever want to feel that kind of fear again.”
My heart softens and I trace my finger over the scar that goes through his eye. He melts into my touch. “I don’t think that will be the end of it. Not until the war is over.” I pause, my fingers resting on the puckered silver scar. “What happened here?”
He stiffens, searching my face for something. “My father’s mate did it not long after you went missing.”
My heart clenches, hurting for the male before me. “Why in the fucking fates would she do that?”
He shrugs, moving off of me, settling against the headboard.
“Jealousy, I think.” His gaze seems to zone out on something that isn’t there.
Somewhere far in the past. “She’s only had daughters, you know.
Three of them. Ugly-hearted bitches, too.
She didn’t like that my father’s whore’s bastard fledgling is the heir to the Lordship of Skyrivene.
When he wasn’t taking his anger out on me for not being more like him, she was.
She convinced my father that because I was a bastard heir, she wanted something from me. An eye for an eye, you could say.”
His hands fist the blankets, his hurt practically palpable.
“So, after my visitation with my mother and Evander, he called me into his office. He told me that if I was truly his son, that letting her do this wouldn’t be a problem.
That it would be an honor to gift his mate this, considering everything I took from her children,” he scoffs.
“He could have made one of his daughters the heir, but you know how he feels about females. They must be seen and not heard, blah blah blah. Only good if they’re on their backs.
It’s fucking bullshit, but back then I wanted him to be proud of me, to respect me. I was young and a fucking idiot.”
Unable to stop myself, I take his hand in mine and squeeze, my hatred for Lord and Lady Verlice growing with every word out of his mouth.
“She laughed. Laughed as she almost carved my eye out with an iron blade.”
“Fucking fates,” I whisper in horror, covering my mouth.
He chuckles darkly. “Before you ask, I can’t see out of it. It’s basically decoration at this point. Fates, I should gift it to Nero.”
I smack his shoulder lightly. “You will do no such thing.”
He boops my nose and smiles slightly as he wipes a stray tear from my cheek. “It’s nothing, compared to what you went through…” His fingers slide under my sleeve, tracing the heavy scarring around my wrists. “I wish you would tell me what happened,” he growls in frustration.
With a shake of my head, I pull my arm away from him. “Not yet. But I promise I will one day. I just can’t relive that right now.”
The muscles in his cheeks bulge as he clenches his teeth. But not even a moment later, his expression clears and he’s grinning ear to ear. “Come on. We should get to breakfast before the others come looking for us. Fates know they’ll just burst in here without a care if we are… indisposed.”
Mirth dances in his eyes and I can’t help but laugh, the weight of our discussion dissipating a bit. But I swear to the fates themselves, if I ever come across his father and Lady Verlice, I’ll fucking gut them and feed their entrails to Nero.
A COUPLE OF days go by in a flash, and things between my males—should I be calling them ‘my males’?
I mean they are my mates… I’m just going to do it.
Things between my males and I have been going great.
Even with Talyn, though we haven’t talked.
He isn’t avoiding me or glaring daggers, so I’m taking that as a win.
I haven’t heard any updates from my friends yet, which has me worrying, but Aemon assures me that the moment he hears anything from his spies, that I’ll be the first to know. I have to trust in their abilities, otherwise I will drive myself crazy.
“Okay, I think that’s enough for the day,” Killian states, nodding. “You’re improving and fast. That’s good.”
I practically preen at his approval, even though I’m drenched in sweat, and huffing so hard I’m afraid I might burst a lung or black out.
“What the fucking fates did you do to her?” a voice calls out.
Killian grunts, “Training.”
Talyn comes into my vision. “It looks like she’s about to keel over and pass into the aether.”
I wave him off, swallowing down some air. “I’m fine.”
“Such a good girl,” Killian growls. Which sends shivers down my spine for an entirely different reason.
Killian smirks and winks which has me blinking to make sure I’m not hallucinating. “We were just about to go another round. She’s fine, right Ravina?”
Talyn growls and scoops me up off the ground. “She’s done for the day.” He starts heading back inside before I realize what’s happening.
“I’m fine, Talyn. Put me down. Why do you care anyway?” I snap, struggling to remove myself from his grasp.
He scoffs. “You’re my mate. Did you forget that?”
With a newfound practiced ease, I use air to blast myself out of his arms, renewed with energy thanks to the anger that’s now coursing through my veins.
“No, but since you’ve gotten back it seems like you did.
What kind of ‘mate’ treats their partner like that?
Not one of mine, I’ll tell you that much. ”
Talyn crosses his arms across his chest. “Shit hasn’t been easy for me either.
Have you ever thought about that? While you got to hide away and shirk your duties, playing make-believe in a small village, the rest of us have been trying to save your fucking realm.
So excuse me, if I try to make sure you don’t kill yourself before you can sit that pert little ass on your fancy throne.
” A touch of regret and what I think might be confusion rests in his brows but it’s smoothed out before I can blink.
He turns and strides away, leaving me standing there gaping. Is that what the void he thinks I was doing? Fucking living my best life in that fates-forsaken village?
“You’re a fucking piece of work, you know that?” I bellow after him but he ignores me, turning the corner out of my sight.
I storm in the opposite direction, heading off castle grounds toward the Dragon’s Keep. I haven’t visited Vasari today. Maybe she has some insight on how to deal with that particular male.
Nero soars down from the sky, landing with ease on his favorite shoulder. “Speaking to your least favorite mate?” he asks.
“How did you know?” I mutter, swiping a loose lock of hair behind my ear.
He chitters. “Well he’s the only thing that makes you angry around here and the bond is brimming with seething sexual frustration.”
“He’s just a know-it-all male who seems to make all the wrong assumptions about me instead of having a conversation.
I think I’m allowed to be snappy with him until he pulls his head out of his ass,” I tell him, ignoring the one part of his comment.
Sometimes it’s better not to feed into his delusions.
Vasari—clearly listening in to our conversation—adds her two coins in. “Maybe the male is traumatized and doesn’t know how to deal with it. You know how I would handle it?”
I walk into the Keep and Nero hops into the air to float in front of Vasari’s face. “Let me guess,” he drawls. “You’d roast their ass and then let them mount you as a reward.”
It takes everything in me to smother my laughter but with the daggers she shoots my way, I know she felt my amusement.
“You daft flying ferret. How you got chosen to be a Queen’s familiar is beyond me.
No. I would challenge them to a fight and force them into submission.
Once they know who’s in charge, they fall into line easier than hatchlings taking their first flight.
Then once they’ve grovelled and filled your hoard with precious gems, then you may let them mount you.
” She blows smoke into Nero’s face and squirms with joy as she listens to him complain about how he’ll never get the brimstone scent out of his feathers.
The amusement is evident in my voice as I respond back. “Challenge them and win. Got it.”
“Don’t forget the precious gems,” she nods seriously.
“Right.” I nod back, failing at suppressing my smile.
Suddenly Aemon blinks into the Keep, worry etched into his handsome face. “We have a problem. There’s been another shadow creature attack. It wiped out a small village near our border just over in the mountains in Imperset.”