Page 154 of The Queen’s Shadow

“Yeah, let me help get her settled. Where should I meet you?” She asked.

“We have a war room for such things.” Dossidian said, standing up. “It’s in the West Wing. Past the library and up the stairs on your left. We’ll get the table set up, while we wait for you.”

Raven nodded, turning her attention back to Kasha. Zayne silently got out of the pit as Dossidian led the way out of the common room. I followed them out, glancing back only once to see Raven helping Kasha into the now empty pit.

I met Rycon’s gaze as I left, and he jerked his head at me in thanks. I gave him a sad smile and a nod.

I wasn’t blind. Something had changed in him, and I had a feeling it had to do with the broken blue haired daemon that was currently doing her best to simply exist.

I hoped, for her sake, that di puss’ was as good at fixing things as he was at breaking them.

Raven

Ihad been lost in my own head at breakfast, slamming myself into the dark wall of magick that separated Amon’s mind from mine. I rammed myself into that impenetrable black wall again and again until I felt my own mind cracking.

I had woken up crying and alone, and the memory of the way he held me on that beach was breaking my already fractured soul.

My back was killing me, and no matter how much I stretched or pressed my shadows into my taught muscles, the throbbing just seemed to get worse. I had already been so close to the brink of exploding, when Conrad had offered me a coffee, I almost crumbled. It had only made me think of Amon, and how he used to bring me a coffee every morning, before he was taken away.

The anger, constant pain and the sadness were all starting to blend together, to the point where I couldn’t tell where one feeling ended and the other began. I had barely been listening to the conversation at breakfast until Kasha had walked in, adult sized and hurting.

Suddenly, my own pain felt secondary, as her eyes met mine. Physically, she was back to her old self, but when I met her eyes, I knew that she was far from okay.

She had shied away from Rycon when he had approached her, and I blocked the bond against the unbearable wave of heartache that rolled off of him.

I was in enough pain myself; I couldn’t handle feeling his pain too. Forcing myself to swallow back my own grief, I hopped out of the pit to help.

Kasha didn’t shy away from me the way she had from Rycon, but the sight of Zayne had stopped her in her tracks. I wondered if it had more to do with the fact that he was a male than anything else.

Suspecting what I did about Rycon being her mate, I wanted to facilitate their initial interaction, hoping she would warm up to him. Especially since he would be taking her with him to Olkuyrbe.

Seeing how unwell she was had only solidified the fact that she could not come with us to Wrath. It was too dangerous, and she was too fragile.

Once Conrad, Dossidian and Zayne were gone, I helped her into the pit. Rycon paced back and forth behind me, clearly itching to get closer to her, but unsure if she would allow it. Once she was settled, I slid in next, glancing back at Rycon before taking her hand again.

“Rycon is going to come sit on your other side, is that okay?” I asked, and she looked at me for a long moment, before glancing nervously back at him. I saw her steel herself, and swallow, before she nodded once, and both Rycon and I let out a sigh of relief at her consent.

He slid carefully into the pit next to her, leaving enough space between them so that she wouldn’t feel crowded. He reached forward and started fixing a plate full of food, before placing it on the table in front of her.

She looked at it with disinterest, and my chest tightened. I remembered how hard it had been to eat after Clair had died. Food had tasted like cardboard, and I wanted nothing more than to just waste away into nothing.

“Eat.” Rycon urged her, nudging the plate closer. She shook her head.

“I’m not hungry.”

“Eat what you can,” he told her, “I know it’s hard but try to eat a little for me.” He looked terribly sad as her brandy eyes welled with tears. She stared at the plate of food as if it were a treacherous mountain she was being forced to climb.

“Come on Kasha, just a couple bites.” I urged her, and finally she sighed and reached forward, picking up the fork Rycon had put next to her plate. She pushed around a few blueberries before skewering one and popping it into her mouth with a grimace.

“That’s my girl.” Rycon said softly, and her eyes flashed. She glanced at him, as if she were taken aback by being referred to as ‘his girl,’ and I felt a slight sense of relief. That fire, that small reaction, meant she was still in there. There was hope.

“I need to go find that war room and chat with the boys.” I said softly. “Will you be okay here with Rycon until I get back?” I asked. She tensed for a moment, and I watched Rycon do his best to look harmless, which was quite the undertaking, considering he was coated in armor and dripping in weapons.

“It’s just me, Kasha.” He said softly, and it was impossible to miss the pain in his voice. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

I nodded in agreement. “You’re safe with Rycon.” I told her with conviction. “There’s no one I would trust with your safety more than him right now.”

She looked at me, eyes wide in surprise at the statement.