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From down here, his black leather boots are the first thing I see. Half of his torso is hidden by the chair, but his face is prominent as if there was no distance between us. With still blue eyes, he watches me, a crease forming between his brows while he quietly reaches for a small bowl on the low table between the arrangement of three armchairs and sets it down in front of me. “In case you’re thirsty.” Hesitating, he slides out of his chair and kneels beside me. He’s so big. I can’t remember ever feeling that dwarfed by a creature, even when in my bird form, and the distance between us becomes a chasm aching in my chest.

The words I want to tell him don’t matter when I can’t find my magic as I reach for it once more and a soft female laugh echoes in my mind.

Panic rises in my chest; I know that voice.

Ignoring the deep brown ceramic in front of me, I hop aside, fluttering wildly as I try to stretch my wings. Myron’sgaze follows me cautiously around the room as I duck under the table, climb the side of a chair, and launch myself into a glide back toward the floor. Every beat of my wings aches, but the sensation of unease inside my body drives me to keep moving.

“It’s all right, Ayna.” Myron’s voice is calm, but I see it for the facade it is. His heart is racing almost as fast as mine, the pulse in his neck thumping wildly with every time I hit my wing on the furniture and slither across the floor.

It’s not all right.

I don’t give up that easily. My Crow powers might not respond to me, but if I can’t shift, perhaps I can draw water from the bowl Myron prepared for me.

I nearly stumble into it as I flutter past Myron’s shoulder, ignoring the hand he holds out for me to land on.

Come to me,I command the water.

It doesn’t move. Doesn’t even taunt me with a lap against the slanted side of the bowl.

Come to me, please.The pain is spiking as the laugh sounds again, clearer this time.

Vala. I don’t mean to think her name, but it’s unmistakably the Goddess of Water whose voice fills my head.

I’m here, my child.Like a feather, her invisible touch brushes my neck, eliciting a shudder.

“What’s wrong, Ayna?” I’m faintly aware of Myron’s extended hand as he tries to pick me up, but I hop out of reach before his fingertips touch my feathers.

My caw is throaty and off-kilter. I need to shift. Need to tell him what I learned about our gods being the same. AboutVala and Shaelak being the Guardians of Eherea. Need to tell him Vala said there would be a price if I used her powers while using those of her brother at the same time—and that I was willing to pay that price.

My whole body is trembling as I cling to the idea of my human form, pushing hard and harder to make it happen.

You will exert yourself if you keep doing that,Vala says with that benevolent tone I want to shove up her ass.

I ignore her, forcing a part of me—any part—to turn human. A slight shift in my vision is all I get as a result, and Myron stares at me as I keep staring at him.

“Your eyes,” he whispers as if he can’t believe it.

What? What’s wrong with my eyes?I bend over the water bowl, but the surface ripples as if Vala herself doesn’t want me to see.

“They’re gray. The exact shade of your human eyes.” He scrutinizes me with such intensity I might break. “Are you shifting?”

The hope in his voice almost destroys me. Especially when Vala whispers into my ear,Try as you may, Ayna. You cannot shift back. I warned you there would be consequences.