25. Raven
“Wakey, wakey, sweet cheeks.” Lucas stood in the open doorway between my bedchamber and receiving room, a mischievous grin thick on his lips. “You have an early morning with Valen, and we must be ready to play our part. After all, he now believes we’re a couple.”
He turned, flipped a cloth napkin over his shoulder, and marched into the next room, where my breakfast undoubtably awaited on the table.
I stretched my arms wide and groaned. “You’re wrong. He didn’t believe that ridiculous story for one second.”
A gasp from the other room, and a second later, Lucas reappeared in the doorway. “Are you suggesting I’m not desirable enough for our fictitious relationship?”
Lucas had been fairly open and friendly with me from the get-go, but since our run-in with Valen the day before, when Lucas claimed that he was interested in time alone with me…well…Lucas had dropped all pretenses and was being himself without fear of royal reprimand.
“You are most desirable.” I hugged my pillow to my chest. “It’s me who Valen isn’t likely to believe is of interest to you. I’m all kinds of wrong.”
“Just stop.” Lucas tossed me a dismissive wave.
He marched back into the other room, where the clatter of moving dishes ensued. He prattled on about the breakfast menu, Neive’s wardrobe plans, and my intended schedule, but I tuned him out. My thoughts pulled to other things. Reaper- and Chace-related things.
Chace had sent me another warning the night before that had given me a few things to consider. The glove, definitely. I’d need to ask Winter about that. But the implications that the prince was dangerous… I wasn’t so sure.
Chace likely didn’t have all the details and therefore didn’t fully understand the situation. Yes, Winter could be dangerous, but he didn’t mean to be. Or at least I didn’t believe he meant to be.
Of course I’d need to keep an eye on his magical addiction. He might have extracted all his lingering magic from me, but if he was drawn to the magic that constituted a reaper, sticky issues could arise.
So, my thoughts when it came to Winter…stupid and reckless when drunk or magically drugged, definitely. Seriously dangerous to me…not likely. At least not on purpose.
“You can’t stay in bed all day,” Lucas called out. “You are a female in demand.”
“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled in reply, yet I made no move to rise.
The line in Chace’s letter that had bothered me the most, though, was the mention of Winter being in possession of Chace’s earlier message to me.
After reading that, I had immediately checked my hiding spot, and sure enough, the note was missing.
I’d checked the floor and bedding, and the folded slip was nowhere to be found.
If Winter had the message, he could have only gotten his hands on it by coming into my rooms and taking it. He must have been watching when I removed the others before giving them to the raven for hiding. Winter had clearly seen more than he had admitted to.
His lack of respect when it came to boundaries left me fighting the desire to scream. And maybe pummel something.
I wanted to trust Winter, but I couldn’t. Not after all that had transpired the last week. For that reason, I summoned the large bird shortly after having read the latest note and had him fly Chace’s incoming correspondence away to be added with the others, in whatever place the raven had chosen.
The apartment front door clicked.
“Neive is here,” Lucas called from the other room. “So, get up, or she’ll make me help her drag your lazy ass out of bed.”
His yammering brought a smile to my lips, and I minded his request, sliding out of the bed and allowing Neive to choose my attire. Because…thanks to Camilla, I finally had apparel options. Only the options were of a rather foreign style for me, so I deferred to her judgement.
After breakfast, and while Neive cleared the table, Lucas assessed my overall look and deemed me worthy to face the day. He turned to lead us out the door when a soft rattle emanated from the full-length mirror set in the back wall. The mirror swung open, and Winter stepped into the room.
Lucas huffed. “You’re supposed to knock and wait for approval. Not knock and come in regardless.”
Winter’s gaze immediately found me. “Sorry.”
His tone didn’t even remotely match the attempted apology.
I narrowed my attention to the mirror and pointed. “So that’s how you’ve been getting in here. Sneaky. And rather uncool.”
“Told you there were passages,” Lucas said, his tone flat, then he zeroed in on the prince. “She has a schedule, and you shouldn’t be here.”
“Out,” Winter ordered Lucas and Neive.
Lucas shook his head. “Winter—”
“I said out.”
“Sire—”
“Need I repeat myself a third time?” Winter’s eyes shone like a collection of razor-sharp crystal shards.
Neive scooped all the dishes onto the awaiting tray and hurried from the room without a word, but Lucas hesitated, as if he were debating a continued argument with the royal, possible-sometimes friend.
I stepped to the center of the room. “You’re not the only one who wants to talk, so yeah, let’s do this.”
“But Raven,” Lucas pleaded.
I gave him a half-hearted smile. “Don’t worry. I’ll deal with Valen and Winter.”
His face pinched.
“Go on. I’ll be fine.”
Wary but outranked, Lucas left me and Winter alone.
Since Winter was the one to barge into my rooms, I waited, giving him the chance to speak first. Only, he stood motionless, staring at me, and with each passing second, my patience abated. His fingers twitched, and his eyes burned with an intensity that reminded me of that night.
I didn’t believe he was magically high. If he were, I doubted Lucas would have left me alone with him.
Still…
“Are you all right?” I whispered.
He shivered, breaking free from whatever spell held him. “Yes. Sorry about that. I shouldn’t have been so rude.”
“To Lucas and Neive,” I said. “Definitely not.”
“They’ll be fine.” He shook off his treatment of the staff with a shoulder wiggle. “I wanted to talk to you before you met with Valen.”
I dropped my hands on my hips, conscious not to close myself off by crossing my arms. “Well, you got me, so talk.”
He stepped forward, a heavy sigh moving through his upper body. “I have concerns about you spending time with the royal healer.”
Great. So few males currently in my life and they all acted like overprotective knobs.
“I can take care of myself.”
“I have no doubt.” His words and expression lacked conviction. “But I paid his workshop a little visit yesterday while he was busy working with you, and, well—”
“Is that when you found the glove?” I interrupted, unable to hold myself back.
“What?” His mouth popped open. “You already know about the glove?”
He blinked, then glanced toward the bedchamber.
“He sent you another message, didn’t he?” His tone hardened.
I didn’t deign to answer and instead pushed with a question of my own. “And you took the other message he sent me?”
His jaw tightened, and we both stared at each other, trapped in a silent stalemate.
“The glove,” I prompted.
“Right.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess that would be of interest to you, given your team has one just like it.” He dropped his hand, shoved both in his pockets. “What does it do?”
“Nothing good.”
“Aoes told me where he found your glove. You used it on me that day, didn’t you?”
That day being the one when Winter had become trapped in a frozen magical coma.
“I did,” I replied with a frown. “And look how that turned out.”
He jerked, confusion settling onto his features. “You saved me.”
“Yes,” I deadpanned. “But that wasn’t all.”
“My magic,” he whispered, understanding dawning across his brow.
“Your magic.” I nodded once.
The theft of magic was all he needed to know regarding the glove. My previous experiences had shown me the item was capable of worse things.
“Then I suppose you want the one I found?” He tilted his head and dropped a scrutinizing gaze over my stance…which I tried to hold in a relaxed pose.
I shook my head slowly and sharply. “Not particularly. Give it to Chace, if you would.”
Winter’s back snapped straight, and he made a face I could only identify as disgust. “If that’s what you so desire.”
“It is.” I crossed my arms, growing bored with our uncomfortable discussion. “But the glove wasn’t the reason you wanted to talk to me, was it?”
“No.”
I regarded him with a healthy dose of caution. “You want to warn me about Valen because why?”
“Because…” He took a step forward, and when I didn’t retreat, he braved another. “He has something caged in a hidden room behind his workshop.”
My breath caught, and Winter nodded at my apparent shock.
“I haven’t been able to get a close look…yet…but whatever it is, it has a powerful screech, so I’m thinking a monster.”
Made or captured, I wanted to ask, since I knew the citadel’s magical barrier created monsters. To some, Chace and I would be considered monsters. But…
I grimaced. “If you didn’t see the source, how can you suspect it’s a monster?”
“I say monster because it had a screech so powerful it knocked me across the room and on my ass…with a closed door between us.”
Holy reaping demons.
With the kind of scream Winter was describing, a banshee was the only thing that made sense.
Leaving Winter to return to his rooms by way of the mirror-hidden secret passage, I stepped into the hall, prepared to ask one of the guards stationed at the door how to find Valen, when the royal healer rose from one of the center seating areas.
“Ms. Gunn,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind me waiting outside your room for you?”
I shook my head, to which he smiled.
“I thought we might take a walk and discuss some of the issues in need of consideration.”
I had detected a change in our rapport yesterday after the incident with Lucas.
He’d seemed less overbearing tyrant and more down-to-earth working man.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the walk idea, if it was some kind of ploy to get me beyond the palace protections, but I accepted his offer with a gentle smile and a tilted nod.