Warbirds | Rebecca Thorne #3
Raiden tilted his head. Their footsteps crunched over snow, filling the silence for a moment. Finally, he dared to ask, “Can you… communicate… with Korvi? I’ve heard rumors that Ralianan riders can, sometimes. But I assumed it was an old fable.”
Cera debated how to answer. “I’ve spoken to him directly before, but only once. The day he picked me as his rider. Everything after is… ah, more of an inherent understanding.”
“Amazing.” Raiden paused in his walk, then stepped away from her.
For a moment, they just stared at each other, his smoldering blue eyes cutting into her green ones.
Cera held her breath, but he didn’t keep her in suspense long.
“Cera, the last few weeks have been… incredible. Your raven has brightened spirits all over town—”
“Even in your library?” Cera teased.
Raiden snorted, thrown off. “Well, my spirit was brightened by that meeting, although my head librarian is rightly terrified.”
“That’s the trouble with Corvidae. They’re kleptos for anything shiny.”
“Well, I’ll make sure the entire palace is covered in metal for your warbird.” Raiden swept his arms out in a vulnerable display, bending half over to submit to her. The guards, wherever they were, had faded into the forest, allowing them this moment of perceived privacy.
“Cera Windswift, Duchess of the Forest of Raliana, you are like no one I’ve ever met.
We both know why you’re in Dalet, but I am truly earnest when I say that you have impressed me at every turn.
While I know you are the one with the power here, duchess, I humbly ask you to consider moving forward in our arrangement. ”
A pause, and he looked up at her through dark lashes.
“Cera, will you marry me?”
Shining Eagle and every warbird in the sky, she was good.
Cera covered her mouth, swallowing a pleased laugh. “Of course. Yes!”
And when he picked her up and spun her around, his warbird ocarina pressed against her chest like a kiss.
* * *
Wedding preparations began after that. Cera didn’t see much of Tasi or Korvi as she was swept through dress sizing, menu discussions, and venue options.
At her request, they centered the planned ceremony around the aviary, which felt like a nice homage to both Pinske and Korvi for making this arrangement possible.
“Can Korvi be the ring-bearer?” Cera asked at one point.
Raiden, lounging in a plush armchair with a cup of tea, quirked an eyebrow. “You want the raven – who is known to steal and hoard shiny metal objects – to be in charge of our very expensive rings?”
Cera grimaced. “Point.”
There were several moments where Cera shared a space with her betrothed, but the duke always had an advisor whispering in his ear, or a guard standing watch. Really, being a duke of Dalet seemed exhausting, based on how much Raiden was responsible for.
This was why she preferred the forests of Raliana. But sacrifices must be made.
And what a sacrifice. One day, after a lengthy bout of meetings fueled by Dalet’s preferred liquor – a dark, sweet drink that flavored every thing from tea and hot chocolate to ale and rum – Raiden finally got her alone in the hallway.
His eyes were dark with desire, and her mind was pleasantly fuzzy from the booze.
“You look phenomenal in that dress, Mistress Rider,” he whispered heatedly.
They’d been having more exchanges like this since the proposal – moments where Raiden’s calm demeanor would slip into something far sexier, where his fingers would trail her skin like a silken promise and heat would slip right to her core.
Cera swallowed past a dry mouth, her gaze dropping to his lips. Surely, Tasi would commend her on this, considering their goal here. “And you, Sir Rider. I could barely keep my eyes off you.”
“Fuck,” Raiden moaned, getting closer than he ever had before.
A distant part of her felt like she should push him away, but it had been ages since she’d enjoyed physical touch, and his fingers somehow felt both admiring and intense.
She drew a gasping breath and let him push her against the wall, let the stone cool her, noting how the overhead torches cast him in tantalizing shadow.
For the first time, they were truly, utterly alone.
Her fingers gripped his biceps, feeling his muscles, trailing along his shoulders.
That shirt really was doing him every favor.
He shuddered viciously at her touch, and she pressed closer to him, her fingers trailing the leather cord that held his warbird ocarina.
She raised her lips to whisper in his ear, “Do you think—”
“Apologies, my liege,” a servant stammered.
“What?” Raiden snapped, even as they sprang apart. The distance seemed to give him more awareness, because he scrubbed his face and forced a smile. “Yes? What do you need?”
“The Earl of Yal is awaiting your attention in the study.” The servant carefully didn’t look at Cera – at least, at first. When she thought Raiden wasn’t watching, she snuck a peek, curiosity in her gaze.
Was this embarrassing? Cera was still fuzzy from the liquor and couldn’t quite tell.
It didn’t feel embarrassing.
It felt frustrating.
“I’ll be right there,” Raiden said, and the servant bowed and left them alone again.
The tension had broken. He forced a smile. “Another time. Something to look forward to. And trust me, duchess… I will be looking forward to it.”
Cera ran a hand through her long curls. “Oh, yes. Absolutely.”
He left, and she drew a slow breath and returned to her suite.
* * *
“He almost kissed you?” Tasi leaned forward in her seat. “Of his own volition?” Her voice was dry now, laced with sarcasm.
Cera threw a pillow at Tasi’s face, but the woman caught it with a swift hand and smirked. Cera flopped back onto the four-poster bed, scrubbing her face. “I don’t know what happened, Tasi. I was buzzed, and he was hot.”
“How romantic,” Tasi drawled.
Guilt prickled through Cera’s chest, and as always with this kind of situation, things got complicated.
She fought past her initial surge of you agreed to this, mostly because they’d had that argument before, and it usually ended with one or both of them in tears.
Instead, she pulled back, swallowing hard.
Opened her mouth to say what she really wanted.
And then closed it again.
Because ever since the first day, when Tasi had pointed out a tube mounted in the stone wall behind a picture frame and mouthed, they’re listening, they’d had to bite their tongues and twist their words.
No matter what it seemed like, they were deep inside enemy territory here. Cera had almost forgotten that.
Tasi sighed. “I just… don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I don’t think Raiden is the type to hurt me,” Cera said.
Tasi shook her head. “I don’t think that matters.”
And the resulting silence said everything they couldn’t.
* * *
The morning after The Almost Kiss, someone rapped on Cera’s door with urgency. She opened it to reveal Raiden, dressed in riding attire, his hooded cowl coiled around his neck, his ocarina on full display. “Cera, please know I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t necessary—”
“What’s wrong?” she demanded.
He grimaced. “The earl’s lands are being invaded by Welk, our neighboring region. I’m obliged to help shore up defenses, as the duke and—”
“—warbird rider.”
“Yes.” Raiden frowned, casting a glance at Tasi. He cleared his throat and brought his gaze back to Cera. “Are you willing to ride with me? No militia in their right minds would attack two warbirds. With your help, we can save lives.”
“Korvi isn’t a fighter.” Cera crossed her arms.
“Korvi is a warbird,” he replied.
They stared at each other, and she could feel the chemistry between them slipping away.
Of course, of course, some thing like this would interrupt the wedding.
She finally set her jaw. “Fine. But I am not a soldier reporting to you, Raiden. Raliana riders operate differently, and I have an obligation to Korvi first and foremost.”
“I will ensure neither you nor your bird comes to harm,” he swore.
She believed him. And that meant Pinske would be in danger instead.
She cast a glance at Tasi, who set her jaw and nodded once. Approval – to do whatever was needed. No matter what, they had to focus; this was a stark reminder that Raiden wasn’t marrying her for nothing. He’d proposed because she carried the rarest gene in the world.
She was a warbird rider, even if her bird wasn’t meant for war.
“I will follow you,” she said, solemnly.
He bowed deeply and said, “Thank you, duchess.” Without a word, he sprinted down the hall. Cera closed the door behind him, feeling sick to her stomach. She pivoted to face Tasi, and was startled to see the anger in her companion’s eyes.
“This can’t continue,” Tasi said.
Cera knew what she was remembering: a forest. A collection of humans walking past mountains, stifling sobs because they weren’t mountains.
Two little girls staring in horror at bloody feathers and vacant avian eyes.
Their elders smoothing the broken feathers of birds felled in a battle that was never theirs.
Warbirds.
Cera hated that name.
“It won’t,” she swore, and pulled on her riding gloves.
* * *
It wasn’t an invasion. It was a scare tactic.
A group of Welkian soldiers on horseback, camping on a ridgeline overlooking the earl’s land.
The moment Raiden and Pinske slid below the clouds, the moment Raiden played a single note on his ocarina and Pinske released a warning shriek, the soldiers scattered.
Korvi followed them. Cera caught a glimpse of approval from Raiden’s eyes as they soared past the snowy owl – but Korvi wasn’t attempting to instill fear with his presence, nothing so human as to keep these soldiers from returning.
No, Korvi was scouting for another warbird.
“You think they have one?” she asked him, when Raiden and Pinske were far behind.