Page 42 of Unkindness of Crimson Ravens

His gentle touch sent a chill through my body, my lips parted at the impact without my permission when a shaky breath escaped them.

The room suddenly felt small. Or infinite.

“Cordelia?” Francis said again, making me drunk on the word alone. Yet his worried expression forced me to sober up.

Only then I realized I hadn’t said a word since he walked into the room.

Say something.I screamed at myself, but the words didn't come.

“I was shocked too the first time I bit someone.” He let go of my lips; I already missed his cold rough fingers.

The bite.I’d just bitten someone for the first time, yet my mind was somewhere else entirely. What was wrong with me?

Fool, fool, fool!

You are a fool, Cordelia! Moon help me, stop this nonsense.

“You will be all right,” Francis offered a small smile. “I promise, Your Highness.”

Your Highness.

“It is time.” The voice pulled me out of my dreamless sleep. Francis shook me by my shoulder, forcing my eyes to open. “Your Highness, we have to leave now if you want to get home by dawn.”

The moment he’d left the room this morning I’d fallen asleep almost immediately, not wanting to spend another moment alone with my own thoughts. Thankfully, the trip to the cabin had exhausted me enough for my mind to have mercy on me and allow me the rest I desperately needed.

Sitting up on the bed I’d claimed as mine for the day, I wondered where Francis had slept. Was there another room upstairs?

“I will go prepare our horses for the trip. I will be waiting outside. Hurry up!” Francis ordered me on his way out of the room, without waiting for my reply: as if I was a puppy that would follow him around.

Francis being back to his rude, arrogant self was nothing new to me, yet somehow it made me upset. How could he actas though nothing had happened?Hadsomething happened? I thought we...We what?I shook my head, laughing at the ridiculous line of thoughts.

He’d told me about his past, let me drink the blood from his throat—that had to mean something, right? Did it mean anything to him, or did he do this with everyone?

Well, what did you expect, Cordelia? That you are going to talk about what happened, share your feelings perhaps?I rolled my eyes at my own foolishness. I needed to quit thinking about him right this moment! Tonight was not the night to allow any distractions into our already very dangerous journey.

Putting on my cloak, I checked if the map was still in my pocket. I studied it for a moment, memorizing the quickest route back home in case something did indeed go wrong.

Home.Calling Francis’ castle my home felt odd, even in my own thoughts. Was it my home, or was Francis waiting for me to learn how to tend for myself in my new being to finally throw me out?Guestwas what Roxanne had called me.

Stop it, Cordelia!Why was I suddenly so sentimental on such an important night? Getting the documents needed to be the only thing on my mind: I would figure out the rest later!

If I survived.

Rebraiding my hair into a tight bun, I secured it with a hair pin, hiding it underneath the hood. By dawn I would either be dead or happily celebrating my success. I could do it. Iwoulddo it! For Sandra, for Frederick, for Eleanor... for every human my mother chose to neglect.

“Princess, we have to go!” Francis’s voice brought me back to reality. “Hurry up!” He loudly knocked on the door.

The banging did not stop until I opened the door with more force than it required. I officially loathed this man. What was his problem? I walked right past him, ignoring his outburst altogether.

Getting up on my horse, I sent Francis an annoyed, impatient look that he returned with even more force. Splendid!

If this interaction was any indication of how our night was going to go—it would be really bad.