Cormorant Run

by J. C. McKenzie

  She was losing her fucking mind.

  The heat of the fire bathed her skin and she cradled the cup of water in both palms.

  Karla had caught a rabbit and the food warmed her belly. The sun had set long ago and now they had to settle into the waiting game. Would Ronin’s wing take longer than a week to heal? Would the other humans discover their presence before then?

  Cora could leave Ronin and return on her own, but she didn’t trust Sasha’s reaction. Her former friend wouldn’t believe a word out of her mouth or trust a letter penned, signed, and sealed by her own brother.

  Cora would end up on the executioner’s block for a most-likely painful death and Ronin wouldn’t arrive in time to exonerate her.

  Hard pass on that plan.

  Besides, she didn’t want to leave Ronin on his own. She couldn’t provide much assistance in the way of physical defence. If Karla and Phil decided to betray them, she’d just be another body. It was the trip home that caused her to hesitate. The path to the Eyrie from this location was even more challenging than the channel crossing. Only two people alive successfully made the trip—Cora and her father. She hadn’t attempted the crossing from here since…

  She shivered.

  The memories of the last crossing came in broken fragments and waves of intense emotion. She still couldn’t piece them together or recall her journey home when she fled for her life.

  “I’m off to bed,” Phil announced. “Wake me for my watch.” He slapped Karla on the back and disappeared from the firelight. The steps creaked and groaned as he made his way up the winding staircase.

  “I don’t know why we need a watch,” Ronin grumbled. “Those stairs will act as a better alarm system than any of us.”

  Karla stood and stretched. “I’m off to my perch.” She had drawn first watch and would sit out on the balcony from her fourth-story room. “You two should turn in soon and get some rest. Proper rest. None of that hanky-panky crap.”

  Not waiting for a response, she followed her comrade from the room—leaving Cora and Ronin to their silence.

  Karla was right. She needed rest. But—

  “Building up the courage to go upstairs?” Ronin asked, watching the fire instead of her.

  “I don’t think I can do it.” The admission hurt like a dagger to the gut. Asking for help had never been a strength of hers.

  “You need to sleep, we all do.” He turned to her, the fire’s light flickering in his dark gaze. “It’s just wood and stone.”

  “It’s the memories.”

  He moved from his seat—smooth as to not frighten her, and slow as to give her time to bolt. When she didn’t flee, he knelt in front of her, gathering her hands in his. “What exactly happened? Maybe talking through it will help.”

  She sighed but didn’t brush his hands away. “The humans found out we were here.”

  “The place was watched?”

  She shook her head. “My father scouted the surrounding area when we first arrived. There was no sign of anyone camping out or coming anywhere near the keep. There are so many rumours of ghosts, most people avoided this place. He thinks someone from the Eyrie tipped them off.” She let the silence fill in the blank.

  “You suspect my father.”

  She shrugged again. “Getting the humans to take care of us would eliminate his need to get his own hands dirty. Your parents were the only people aware of our destination. It’s possible others guessed. After all these years, my father still hasn’t figured out the source.”

  “Is that one of the reasons why he agreed to come back?”

  “It’s the only reason he came back.”

  Ronin’s smile was sad. “I don’t know about that. I think he came back for you, as well.” His mouth twisted down as if a sudden thought made him want to puke and he looked away. “What happened then?”

  “They attacked when my father was out fishing. We were caught off-guard and trapped inside.”

  The sound of the men breathing heavily as they chased after them. The thunder of their boots hitting the stone flooring, the scrape of their weapons against the walls.

  “We tried to make it upstairs to launch out the window. I made it.” She pulled one of her hands free from Ronin’s grip and touched the scar running down her right cheek. “My mom didn’t.”

  “She held them off so you had time to get out the window and escape,” Ronin guessed.

  She nodded. “They were so much faster than us. We were unprepared.” They’d grown complacent to their surroundings when they should’ve maintained constant vigilance. Sapavians did not move as fast or as easily on the ground as humans. They relied too much on the ability to fly away from danger. When they couldn’t escape to the sky, their wings got in the way. They should’ve anticipated an attack that put them at a disadvantage.

  Ronin squeezed her hand. “You escaped out the second-floor window. The one in the room Phil took?”

  She nodded. “I made the mistake of looking back.” She forced her hand down from her face. Metal flashed through the memory rushing forward, hot and gut-wrenching. She’d leaned back and twisted, just in time to catch the tip of the blade instead of getting her neck severed. She’d fallen out of the window, her last image of the room was the man’s snarling face and her mom lying in a pool of her own blood at his feet.

  With not enough time to right herself and gain the updraft, she’d hit the rocky cliff face. Rushing toward the gray stone was her last coherent memory. She didn’t know what happened next, but she must’ve bounced off the cliff and into the water.

  “And then what happened?” Ronin reached out to hold her free hand.

  The warmth of his touch spreading through her body quickly turned to ice as more memories resurfaced: frigid water, the churning depths of the ocean, lungs so full they wanted to burst, panic, a cave surrounded with cold air and bone-numbing wind, an air duct with sun overhead, and a hauntingly familiar voice.

  She shivered. “I don’t exactly know. I hit my head from the fall out the window but made it home somehow.”

  “Barely.”

  She bit her lip. “Physically, I was fine.” Even her face wound had healed by the time she washed up on the Eyrie’s shore.

  Ronin sighed. “But starving and incoherent. Your ocean healing doesn’t fill your body or fix your mind.”

  “No. Time did that.”

  He smiled softly and let go of one hand to stroke her face. “You’re a survivor. I admire that about you.”

  She sucked in a breath. He was so close. His breath brushed her skin and the heat of his body continued to caress her. It would take so little to close the distance, to press her lips against his and let him take her body and mind somewhere else.

  “What is it you want?” she asked.

  “That’s a loaded question.”

  “I just spilled my heart out,” she said. “Answer it.”

  “I want a truce between the humans and sapavians. I want a solution for our space issues. I want to ensure my sister’s happiness. I want to make my father proud, even though it looks more and more like he’s no longer with us.”

  All admirable things.

  “But that’s not what you’re asking, is it?”

  She shook her head.

  “I want you, Cora.”

  The words should’ve comforted her more than they did, but she’d always been one to let her brain rule her actions, not her heart. “We may as well have this conversation now. You’re the king of the Eyrie, Ronin. You need to marry for connections, position, finances, or any combination of the three. I don’t offer any of those things, only a temporary respite from responsibility and boredom.”

  His brow furrowed and his body tensed. “There would be nothing temporary about us.”

  The truth in his words stabbed at her chest. She needed to steel her heart from the warmth of hope and the subsequent heartbreak. “But you would never be mine. Not truly.”

  “I’m the king now,” he growled. “I’ll do w
hat I want. I have enough connections, position and finances for the both of us.”

  She shook her head again, her hair falling in front of her face. He might think that now, but once they returned and those snotty advisors surrounded him with propriety, rules and expectations, things would change, and her heart would get crushed.

  It was already breaking.

  “Come. Let’s go to bed.” He straightened and pulled her up with him. “You have last watch and need to get some sleep.”

  She nodded and let him guide her to the stairs. The weakness that had temporarily taken over her limbs faded away, and with a deep breath, she climbed the stairs. Each step brought forth a memory.

  Run! Mom’s desperate cry.

  Cora’s rasping breath as she raced up the stairs.

  The pressure of Mom’s hand on her back pushing her forward.

  Their feet smacking the wooden steps.

  The groan and creak of wood.

  Cora shook her head again and continued to place one foot in front of the other, walking through the memories and the ghosts of her past until she made it to the third floor. Maybe this place truly was haunted, but with memories instead of ghosts.

  She stopped in front of the bedroom door. It wasn’t her old room or her parents’, nor was it the room where Mom…She squeezed her eyes shut and banished the flood of memories and emotions. It wasn’t the room she’d escaped from. They’d used this space for storage, and it was one of the few places in the entire keep that held little emotional value or impact.

  Ronin stopped behind her instead of continuing to his room.

  She turned to face him, her hands balling into fists. “Can you—”

  “Yes,” he cut her off, his tone solemn.

  “You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

  “I’ll stay with you.”

  Okay, maybe he did. Maybe she was predictable, or easy to read. “Just to sleep though.” He might be sticking his head in the sand, but she couldn’t lose sight of reality. They could never have a true relationship.

  “Cora, relax.” He reached out and ran his hands down her tense arms to hold her clenched fists. “I’m not going to ravage you.”

  She raised her eyebrows.

  His answering grin was wicked. “Unless you want me to.”

  Ravaging certainly had its appeal. Sex with Ronin would take her mind off other things. If only she could let it be just that, but her heart was already too invested.

  Ronin didn’t wait expectantly for a response. Instead, he let her go and reached past her to turn the handle. The heavy wood door swung open and stale air crashed over them.

  Cora turned and walked into the dark room. A double bed had been pushed against the far wall. A small window let the moonlight bathe the bed and surrounding floor in a silvery, ethereal glow. When the others had scouted the rooms earlier, they’d dusted off the beds and found extra sheets, but Cora didn’t pick up a cozy vibe. The window was too small to squeeze through if there was an emergency. She’d be trapped in this room.

  The walls closed in.

  Ronin cleared his throat and pulled his belt free from his pants. He rested the sword in its sheath against the wall beside the bed and started removing the rest of his weapons. In the cave, he slept beside her in almost nothing, preferring to sleep only in his underwear. His armour would be next.

  Cora peeled off her leather flying gear careful not to rip it anymore. She’d tried to salvage parts of it, but the leather was ruined.

  She folded the clothing carefully and placed it on the old wooden chair. When she turned around, Ronin stood a few feet away. Though he hadn’t moved and didn’t intentionally crowd her, his large presence filled the room. His dark gaze reflected the flickering candlelight.

  “You promised,” she whispered. “No ravaging.”

  “Something I’m already intensely regretting.” He pulled her into his arms, but instead of said ravaging, he held her and dropped his face into the crook of her neck. She leaned into him, resting her forehead on his shoulder. Eventually, they moved to the bed and she curled up into his warm body and drifted to sleep in the comfort of his arms. The memories would continue to plague her but for now, Ronin’s presence dulled their pain and chased them away.

  38

  “It's what you practice in private that you will be rewarded for in public.”

  Anthony Robbins

  “Cora, you’re not holding it right,” Ronin growled. The joke wasn’t just old, it was beaten to death and buried under six feet of dirt. He couldn’t help himself.

  Cora scowled and adjusted her grip on the dagger. “I still say the hammer grip isn’t practical for me. The RGEO is better for defence.”

  “And I’m still telling you, sometimes the best defence is a good offense.”

  “For a couple who spend their nights together, the two of you still have a lot of tension to work through,” Phil quipped from a few feet away where he ran through drills with Karla. “If you aren’t getting those kinks rubbed out, Cora, I’d be happy to step in and help you out.”

  “And I’d be happy to punch you in the face, but we’re not getting everything on our wish lists right now, are we?” Ronin snapped.

  Phil cackled, only to leave himself open for a vicious jab from Karla.

  Hah! Karma.

  Cora’s face reddened. She clamped her mouth shut and launched into the air. If they didn’t have witnesses, he’d join her and kiss her, right here, right now. The tension was slowly killing him. He held her every night, soothing her back to sleep when the nightmares woke her. Not expecting anything in return, he held her because he wanted to. He wanted her to feel safe, and he wanted to be there for her like he should’ve been all those years ago.

  He also wanted to taste every inch of her body, but now was not the time. Ronin always excelled at compartmentalizing.

  What unsettled him most, though, was how much his wants and needs had shifted from when this trip started.

  Cora swooped down from the air, wings wide, legs drawn up and blade out.

  He brought his own weapon up in time to block her attack, but it wasn’t enough. Her body slammed into his and they crashed to the ground.

  “Fuck, Cora,” he growled in her ear. “This is practice.”

  “Not my fault you’re distracted.” She panted as she blocked his strike. “Where’s that constant vigilance you’re always bragging about?”

  He grinned and using her own limb as leverage, disarmed her. The dagger went flying, sunlight glinting from the blade.

  Instead of using his own to get her to yield, he chucked his dagger to the side, far enough away from where they sparred to worry about it later.

  “Careful.” She lifted both her eyebrows. “You’re still mending. You don’t want to pull something.”

  He locked her arms, shifted his weight, and rolled them, pinning Cora to the ground with her wings trapped beneath her. It was the most vulnerable position for sapavians…and the ultimate submissive pose.

  And his thoughts went from fighting to something else entirely. “It’s you who should be careful.”

  “Oh?”

  He nodded solemnly. “You’re the one at risk of tearing something.”

  “Your heart? Please.”

  “Your outfit. You only recently managed to string it back together. Sort off.” His gaze drifted to her chest. “Though I think I prefer the new plunging neckline.”

  Her gaze flashed and she attempted to roll again.

  He blocked her legs and smiled.

  Cora huffed, her chest rising and falling with each breath. She was sucking in air and trying to control her breathing. She did that a lot.

  “Your father taught you well,” he said.

  She laughed. “That’s what you’re thinking about right now? My father?”

  “I don’t think you can handle what I’m actually thinking about right now.”

  “None of us can!” Karla snapped. “Just get on with it or get off
her. We’re trying to practice over here.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Phil grumbled.

  Ronin hopped to his feet and offered Cora his hand. She took it and he helped her stand.

  “Like you’d focus on your technique if we actually went for it in front of you two perverts,” Cora said.

  Phil dropped his sword arm to his side. “What do you suggest we focus on then?”

  Ronin sheathed his dagger and walked over to clap Phil on the back. “My technique. You might learn something.”

  Cora giggled.

  Her eyes widened and she slapped her hand on her mouth and shook her head.

  He met her gaze and she shook her head again.

  Right, like she could deny that happened. Her giggle, a sound almost as rare as a unicorn sighting, was the most adorable sound ever.

  And adorable wasn’t a word he’d ever use to describe Cora.

  He held his hand out toward her. “Come on.”

  She looked down at his open hand.

  He flapped it in the air. “The sun is going to set. Let’s get a flight in.”

  Her gaze sparkled and her whole demeanor changed. From guarded and unsure, she morphed into ecstatic excitement and anticipation.

  She slapped her hand in his and let him lead her away from the others.

  39

  “The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.”

  Helen Keller

  Something about this flight was different. Instead of flying quietly side by side as they travelled in loops around the tower, Ronin took off, swopping in and out, up and down. Playfully tugging on her wings or blasting past her.

  He wanted to play.

  Cora wanted something else entirely, but she went along with it, enjoying the dance in the wind and the air flows rushing by her wings.

  Ronin swooped down and caught her in his arms. They started to fall toward the cliffs.

  “Ronin!”

  He grinned, his teeth flashing white in the moonlight. Instead of letting her go, he pulled her closer and kissed her.