Page 9 of Realm of Crows (Wings of Ink #5)
Seven
Herinor
Winter berry pie, a whole pile of it stacked on my plate, is the only thing I can stare at as the door opens and Kaira saunters into the sunset-flooded room, her hair bouncing against her back with each pace in one of those perfect, waist-length braids I’m tempted to tug on.
Gods how I want to do more than that, but Kaira has restlessly devoted every waking moment since her return to Aceleau to either helping Myron control his black-bleeding power or to putting little pins on the map where she believes her sister to be taken and pulling them out again when Myron reminds her we cannot go looking for her.
It’s driving me mad, watching her suffer like that. So I focus on the winter berry pie instead. On the warm shades of the last light of the day painting my gilded plate orange, and the smell of whipped cream and cinnamon drifting from the bowl at the center of the dining table.
My mind is properly shielded against Astorian’s occasional attempts at checking what’s going on up there, so I don’t need to worry about his assessing glares.
I never do anymore when we sit at the long oak table of King Recienne of Askarea’s dining room, sharing a meal like a family.
Or should I say Rogue , the elegant bastard who fancies himself a rebel?
Perhaps he once was, when his father still ruled the fairylands, but ever since the dispute between him and the King of Crows has been resolved, he’s merely a king trying to hold his kingdom together.
A soon-to-be father, too.
A glance at Queen Sanja, her belly larger and more swollen with every progressing day of her pregnancy, tells me this kingdom has a real future. One the Crows haven’t seen in millennia—since the birth of Myron and Royad.
Across from me, Silas and Kaira are whispering about her latest suspicions of where Ephegos might have taken Ayna, and like every day, they agree over the course of the meal that it doesn’t matter.
That Ayna has chosen to go with the enemy and there is nothing we can do without risking her life or ours.
It shouldn’t be such a relief that, for once, I’m not the only one who made a fool’s bargain. That I’m not forced to consider my every word and every step and control my intentions so as to not accidentally help my queen .
How fucked up did my life become?
“Pretty fucked up,” Kaira agrees in my mind, and I nearly leap off my chair, hand on my sword.
Her chuckle echoes in my mind.
“How did you get in here?” It’s supposed to sound like a threat, but somehow, I feel like a youngling under the scrutiny of a warrior as her attention lingers on me.
“It’s a gift,” she explains with a nonchalance I can only assume is forced because, when I look up, her expression is as worried and tired as it has been for the past weeks.
“More like a curse,” I correct with a grumble.
This hasn’t happened since I let her into my mind to draw upon my memories and prove my good intention toward Myron’s court. Honestly, I’m not certain how I feel about the invasion of my thoughts.
“You love it?” Kaira supplies, a slight smirk lifting the side of her mouth, and for once, she doesn’t seem to dwell on her sister’s fate.
I’ll take it. “Any news from Cezux?” Sanja interrupts the silent conversation.
I shift in my chair. Myron and Royad have been gone too long for my taste, cutting the number of Crows in this palace in half.
“You’d be the first to know if there was,” Rogue tells her, his hand covering hers as he leans over the corner of the table where she’s sitting to his right.
I’ve been observing the Fairy King for weeks, and still, I’m struggling to consolidate the image of the bastard who locked us in the Seeing Forest with this caring, loving male before me .
“It is a bit concerning that Clio hasn’t checked in with us,” Tori throws in, spearing a piece of winter berry pie and eyeing it as if it holds all the answers.
“Clio can take care of herself,” Sanja reminds the general, her hand on her belly where the chiffon of her dress is moving suspiciously.
“The baby is kicking,” she explains with delight, and Rogue’s hand is right next to hers in an instant, a bemused expression on his face as the rest of us watch with mixed emotions.
“We can’t lose this war.” Kaira is back in my mind.
My gaze whips to hers, finding only sadness in the brown of her eyes.
“There will be no safe place for this child to grow up if we lose.”
I don’t need her explanation. It’s clear as day that we can’t mess up, and Rogue and Sanja’s child is only one of many reasons.
“There will be no safe place for any of us.”
Rogue leans back in his chair, face turning serious. “They said they’d spend however long it takes to convince Dimar.”
Sanja shoots him a sideways glance, propping her arm on the side of her chair as she scoots into a more comfortable position. “They also said they’d check in as soon as they spoke to the King of Cezux.”
“Perhaps they haven’t spoken to him,” Silas enters the conversation, loading more pie onto his plate. He’s been quiet since we learned of Tata’s betrayal. Whatever was going on between them, it must have been enough to silence the usually so sarcastic warrior .
“Perhaps everything is going smoothly, and they have been feasting and drinking for three days to celebrate the new alliance.” Naturally, my own suggestion doesn’t earn much amusement. It’s also a fool’s hope.
A long sigh escapes Tori as he shakes his head at me like I’m a nuisance he’s only willing to tolerate because his new best friend begged him to.
Well, Myron isn’t here, and he can tell me he doesn’t want me hearing a word of what is spoken in this room for fear I might tell whatever plan we come up with to Ephegos the next time I find him at the tip of my blade on a battlefield.
“Perhaps we should be focusing on learning as much as we can about Ephegos’s plans from the ones who know him the best,” Kaira says, dropping her fork and shoving her plate aside.
Her eyes, however, find mine, and I know she will be digging through my thoughts in no time once more.
“Tata,” she clarifies, probably reading my suspicions from my mind. “I mean Tata.”
“She hasn’t given us much to go with.” A familiar frustration takes over Tori’s face. “All we know is that she betrayed us to save her own hide.”
An image of the dungeons below the Flame estate flashes through my mind, and I need to force-calm my breathing at the horrors we found there, the fairies strung up from hooks in the ceiling, their arms showing signs of the same torture I endured, the needle pricks scattered along their skin.
Grabbing the armrests of my chair hard enough to crack them, I force the endless days of my own suffering during the drug tests out of my mind. Sweat beads my neck, and my heart races, but I breathe through it. I breathe through it like I’ve done for the past months, and no one notices my panic.
“She hasn’t talked to Rogue or any of the soldiers you’ve sent,” Silas says with a tone too calm for what’s at stake. “But you haven’t allowed Herinor and me to speak with her.”
Kaira’s gaze snaps to the male, and I can’t help the tiny pang of … something in the depth of my stomach.
“Perhaps it’s time we tried,” I agree. “I’m fully aware that one of the reasons I haven’t been allowed to speak to Tata is that I’m too close to Ephegos, but perhaps, whatever she has to say will make more sense to someone who actually knows how Ephegos’s mind works.”
“ I know how Ephegos’s mind works,” Silas interjects, but it’s obvious that it’s not the reason he wants to speak with the traitor fairy.
“How about I speak to her?” Placing her hands on the edge of the table, Kaira gives both Silas and me a punishing look.
“If she doesn’t speak to anyone, and even Tori hasn’t been able to extract information from her, how about letting the halfling who can dig through people’s minds try?
And if I can’t break through the barrier in her head, perhaps we can use one of those vials Myron and I collected in the forest.”
“We need all of it for the battles to come,” Tori reminds her. “Since we haven’t made any progress with reproducing the drug, this limited supply will be a secret weapon for us, to be used only in the most dire of moments.”
I raise my glass. “To the most dire of moments.”
No one laughs .
“Stop drinking to our demise, Herinor.” My name from her tongue sets my entire body on alert. I can count the times she’s spoken it on one hand, and I can’t help but find myself craving for more.
“Not to our demise.” Spearing another bite of winter berry pie, I give her a wicked grin, eagerly listening to the pace of her heart change as I don’t release her from my gaze. “To the moments that will turn the blade of our fate.”
I don’t give her time to recover, pulling out the one piece of information they all have been forgetting about.
I’ve told them before, not knowing that the knowledge would become relevant in our endeavors against the King of Tavras and the megalomaniac Crow he calls his general.
Reminding them of it now might very well count as aiding Ayna and therefore break my bargain with Ephegos, so I focus on my intention to help the King of Askarea and only on that.
“Have you considered that you have been failing with recreating the drug because you’re missing one essential ingredient?”
All eyes turn to me while Kaira’s heart continues racing.
“Whatever it is, spit it out, Herinor,” Sanja prompts, and I might have been genuinely worried the female might try to stab me with her butter knife had she not kept both her hands protectively on her belly.
“Flame blood.” My eyes don’t stray from Kaira’s. “That’s the whole reason Ephegos was so intent on working with Jeseida in the first place.”
“You mean apart from the half-sister whose death he blames on our king?” Silas folds his arms over his chest, his black hair sliding over his shoulder as he cocks his head .
“He cared for Sariell very much, but he cares for his own power more.” It doesn’t hurt to share this part of Ephegos’s secrets, because it truly isn’t a secret.
Everyone who deigns to examine his actions a bit closer will see that none of it was for Sariell in the end, even when it started out that way.
It’s all for himself and his grandeur of power.
“You said you didn’t know the recipe for the drug.” Of course, Tori points out that it looks like I’ve been holding back more information than that, but I’m not.
“I don’t. I told you I was too delirious to remember much other than the endless pain of those trials.
” Thick silence falls over the room as they wait for me to continue.
We all have gone through our own brand of torture.
Even Sanja, whose torment I remember from the days she spent in the Seeing Forest a century ago before Myron shouldered the responsibility of breaking Vala’s curse.
A pang of guilt folds my stomach into a tight knot.
“And the information isn’t new. You merely forgot about it, and I’m reminding you.
Flame blood is part of the drug. Perhaps it’s time you considered using Flame blood . ”
Kaira’s gaze weighs heavy on me as all eyes turn to her. “You mean my blood.” Her voice is hoarse like she’s struggling to push out the words at the realization that she’s the only Flame we have access to.
I don’t allow myself to feel guilty about it as I confirm with a nod. “I don’t see anyone else who has even a remote trace of Flame in their veins.”
Kaira’s mouth opens at the same time Silas starts saying something, but I don’t hear either as something hits the window and a small, black form drops to the windowsill behind the part-Flame’s shoulder and remains still.
“Shit!” Tori is the first of us to be on his feet, drawing the hunting knife strapped to his belt while Rogue throws a gold-glimmering shield around Sanja, shifting his body between the window and his mate.
But it’s me who recognizes the lifeless, feathered bundle first.
“Ayna!”
Without a thought, I leap to my feet, unlatching the window, and reach for the Queen of Crows.