Ravenborne

by Chandra Ryan

  The Oracle was right. It was a question Sara would undoubtedly spend the rest of her life asking. Was it worth it? Was saving the woman who had tried to kill her worth losing everything? But, regardless how many times it was asked, she had the sinking feeling that her answer would be the same. She wouldn’t have done it in the first place if she hadn’t believed it was the right thing to do.

  Taking the stairs two at a time, they emerged into the ground floor corridor. Maybe death wouldn’t find her just yet. Maybe escape wasn’t out of the realm of possibility. But turning the first corner, the not so distant jingle of armor told her differently.

  “The guards are coming. There’s no way the three of us can make a stand against them,” she shouted to Lord Quince.

  “Then we have to pray we escape them,” he shouted back.

  As they rounded the next corner, though, their time had run out. Sliding to a stop, she just avoided running into Kavin’s men.

  “Halt!” Kavin gestured with a hand to the guards behind him before lowering it again to draw his sword. “What is the meaning of this?”

  Lord Quince stepped in front of her and the Oracle. “We were just leaving. Surely this isn’t a matter for the guard?”

  “Funny, seeing as you’ve taken a member of said guard captive to assure your safety.” Kavin’s gaze flickered between Sara and Lord Quince, concern reaching her through their bond.

  Lord Quince looked back at Sara as if asking how she wanted him to handle this. That he was letting her decide which side of this she was going to be on was—honestly, more than she expected, but the Oracle was right. It was going to be the most painful thing she had ever done, but she was responsible for her decisions. And she couldn’t live with herself if she did something she knew was wrong.

  “They aren’t holding me, Kavin. I’m here of my own will.”

  His concern turned to disbelief. “You don’t know what you’re saying, Sara. I’ve felt your fear and pain. You’re safe now. Come over here.”

  “No. I won’t turn her over to the king. To the one responsible for torturing her.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying. Please, come over here before it’s too late.” Kavin’s voice was pleading.

  “I know what I’m saying. More to the point, I know what I’m doing.” Her indignant anger helped to fortify her, but even it wavered when his disbelief turned to a combination of hurt and anger.

  “You expect me to believe you would choose these traitors over the king, over me?”

  Her heart clenched at the waver in his voice. It would be so easy. It was a matter of a couple of feet and she would be beside him again.

  “Stop playing, Sara. Get the hell over here.”

  Her back straightened with his words. “No. This is where I stand. But it’s not against you. It’s against the king’s treatment of one of his citizens.”

  There was a moment when his anguish washed over her that her knees almost buckled under its raw torment. And she honestly believed she had reached the depths of despair. But in its wake she found such betrayal and anger that she knew she had been wrong.

  Tears burned the corners of her eyes as she backed away from his pain, but she refused to shed them. Instead, she watched him intently as he moved his sword to face her.

  “You would draw swords against me. You would live with my blood on your hands?”

  He was struggling. Anguish was warring with his rage and Sara honestly didn’t know which she wanted to win.

  “Surrender and I’ll see you have a fair trial,” he offered.

  “Like the trial I was given at Keep Livingston? Like the trial she was allowed?” Sara stepped out of the way to allow him to see the Oracle—to allow him to see the injuries the regal woman had endured at the hands of his king.

  “Don’t listen to her, Right.” The king stepped forward, his face a vindictive sneer. “She used you. This was her goal all along.”

  If he believed that, the king truly was mad. “How could that be? I knew nothing of this—wanted nothing to do with this—a week and a half ago,” Sara insisted.

  But the king, apparently, had come up with an answer to that. “We’re to believe those lies? You’re a telepath.” There were mumblings and gasps in the group behind him at the statement. “You have access to everything. You know everything there is to know. And instead of honoring your king, you’re caught helping traitors escape on the very night of your arrival.”

  The magic was out. Whatever the outcome of today, nothing would ever be the same again. Not for her, not any of the royals. There might even be real struggles to hold the wilder, more superstitious lands. Whereas magic in the bigger cities was spoken about in hushed tones, in the rural areas—the lands that carried the worst scars from the Great War—it was hunted. Anyone suspected of working magic was burned alive.

  Sara took a deep breath as she readied herself for the worst. “I assure you, I don’t know everything. But what I do know is the Oracle’s not a traitor and you locked her up and had her beaten without any evidence of a crime.”

  “She’s conspired against the crown. I have a witness.”

  “Her only plot was to bear a child. A child powerful enough to take the throne. And that’s not against any law.”

  Kavin’s gaze moved from Sara to the king. “Is this true? Is what she’s saying true?”

  That hurt more than any of the accusations being thrown about by the king. “You have to ask, Kavin?”

  Kavin’s attention returned to her, pain and torment flowing from him to her through their bond. But then he looked past her to the Oracle and Lord Quince. “But she’s the one responsible for the raid on the Lyman temple. That’s why the king had her in custody.”

  “No. I saw nothing of the Lyman fire in either of their minds.” Fear flickered on the king’s face. It was so quick, she almost didn’t see it. But, it was there. He had been afraid at the mention the fire. “But I haven’t seen what’s in the king’s mind, yet.”

  The king jumped behind Kavin, as if seeking shelter. “You can’t use your gift against me.”

  “I owe you no loyalty. You’ve already labeled me a traitor.” She looked up at Kavin and prayed he understood, that he would believe in her. “There is a time for blind loyalty and there is a time for truth.”

  His nod was so slight, she was sure no one but herself saw it.

  Pushing herself into the king’s mind, she saw nothing. But knowing what he did, it was possible he was clearing the thoughts somehow, so she pushed deeper and harder. She used everything she had learned over the past week and a half to push into the darkest corners of his mind. She was even deeper than she had been in the assassin’s mind when she found what she was looking for. His guilt. And the joy he took in it. It was all there. The mercenaries, gold and fires he had tried to hide. And something even more sinister, his love of the power and the lengths he would go to, to preserve it.

  He wanted to destroy her. He wanted to destroy her entire line. Her family had been a threat. Not just her line, though. He wanted all the powerful lines brought down. That was what Lord Smy had warned her about. The king wouldn’t stop until his line had complete power. Her stomach rolled with the betrayal and her heart begged for vengeance.

  Her dagger in hand, she jumped at the king. But he was still hiding behind Kavin and he easily saw the attack.

  “Kill her.”

  The guards rushed forward at the order like water after dam’s breaking. But she was closer to Kavin and the king than they were to her. If she could just get around Kavin…

  But he wasn’t going to let her pass and she couldn’t bring herself to hurt him to get to the king. “Put down your dagger, Sara.”

  “I won’t.” She lunged around Kavin trying to get to the king, but her blade missed.

  Kavin stepped out of arm’s reach, taking the king with him. “I let you read him, but I will not let you hurt him.”

  “You don’t understand…”

  It was too
late. She was too late. Another guard had made it to her. Strong hands grabbed her wrist and yanked it behind her back, forcing her to drop the weapon.

  Taking a deep breath, she spoke through clenched teeth. “You want your traitor? Then take a good look at the man you’re protecting. He burned down Raven’s Keep because I was to marry a Hunter. My grandchildren might have been strong enough to challenge. Then he ordered the Lyman temple destroyed because Devin wanted Jasper’s oldest son for a match with Alex. He’s killing his own people to stay in power.” She struggled against the guard holding her, but couldn’t find any give in his stance. “He’s corrupt, Kavin. We’re at that bridge—the one we discussed the first night of our journey. I’ve picked my side; it’s time for you to pick yours.”

  Kavin looked from her to the king, his pain almost overwhelming her.

  “She’s trying to manipulate you. Lying to you,” the king insisted. “I’ve nothing to do with the raids.”

  How could she win against the king? It didn’t matter who was right, Kavin would side with the one he trusted more.

  “He does love you, Raven,” the Oracle whispered. “Don’t give up on him.”

  He might love her, but did he trust her? Everything they’d been through together, was it enough? “We don’t play games, you and I,” she reminded him.

  After taking a deep breath he nodded to the guard holding Sara. “Release her.”

  “No! I am the king. You can’t counter my orders.” The king drew his sword and held it between him and Kavin. But Kavin stood his ground.

  “If you’ve broken the law—”

  “I am the law,” the king said, turning to the guard members behind him. “Arrest them all.”

  But the guard didn’t jump at his command. Instead, it fell into a state of confusion as some pulled their weapons and squared off against Kavin, but the majority of them pulled them in defense of him.

  When the first clang of metal on metal rang out through the hall, the king leveled his sword at her. He was going to kill her. She could see it all so clearly in his mind. Without her, there was no evidence, without her there would be no more Ravens. If she were dead, and Kavin arrested, things would go back to the way they were—to the way they were supposed to be.

  “Kavin!”

  But he couldn’t hear her over the battle that waged around them. Grabbing her other dagger out of its sheath, she dodged the king’s first lunge.

  There was no question who would win in a match of a dagger against a broadsword, but the king’s years as a swordsman had passed him by decades ago and she was quick. She could hold him off—for a little while, at least.

  She moved to dodge another lunge, but tripped over the body of a dead guard. The wind rushed out of her as she fell to the floor, but there was no time to catch her breath. Rolling onto her back, she stared up at the king as he readied his sword to thrust into her ribcage. But just as she expected the pain, a sword pierced the king’s heart through his back.

  Sara jumped up as Jar pushed the king to the side and down to the ground, where he drew his last wheezy breath and blood bloomed around his torso.

  “Thank you.”

  He looked at her, a sad smile playing about his mouth and shook his head. “I owed you.”

  She looked at him in confusion, but never got to ask him why he had been in her debt. As he tossed her a sword, someone screamed his name. They both turned at the voice to find Kavin running toward them, his face white with fear.

  It was a warning received too late, though. When the sword pierced Jar’s side, there was nothing to do but fall with him to the ground.

  “No!” Pulling him onto her lap, she pressed her hand over his wound as his blood spilled over her uniform. “You’re going to be fine. You hear me.”

  “No. I’m a dead man.”

  She looked up at Kavin, but he had already jumped over them and was fighting the man who had injured Jar.

  “No. You’ll make it. Just hold on a little longer.”

  “I don’t want to make it. Sara, look at me.”

  She looked down into his eyes and lost herself in them. So much pain and misery.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Stop. None of this is your fault.”

  “Not this, but there is something I have to confess.” But he didn’t have to say anything. He wanted to tell her so badly that his thoughts were forcing their way into hers.

  “You were the traitor? You poisoned my wine?” She couldn’t bring herself to ask about the assassins. She didn’t have to anyway. It was all there. The cut on his leg had even been of his own hand. He had given it to himself after killing their hostage to remove any suspicion they might have, though he never intended for it to become infected. “But you were a brother to me. I trusted you.” She was beyond heartbroken by the realization. Why couldn’t the traitor have been a royal playing for power in the game? That she would’ve understood. But Jar? It only made the grief of the moment more heart wrenching.

  “They were going to go after Shemeek if I didn’t do it. You’ve seen how the others treat her. Even those in her own team doubt her loyalty. They would’ve gladly had her shipped back to Rhuevia.”

  Where she would’ve been executed, no doubt. Even in times of peace it was a high crime to fight under the banner of another king.

  “I loved you as a sister, princess. But I loved her more.”

  The woman was more than family. She was his world. And Sara might not have understood a week ago, but she did now. “We’ll watch over her, I promise.”

  He smiled before he let go and his body relaxed.

  Kavin, having the assailant pinned on the ground, chanced a glance her way. But all she was able to do was shake her head. There was nothing anyone could do for Jar, not even Kavin.

  Her grief doubled as Kavin cried out in pain at the loss. His anger and frustration were hers also as they washed through him before he buried his sword in the assailant’s neck. Yesterday the attacker had been his family, but today he was his enemy.

  She could only imagine the betrayal he would feel if she told him what Jar had just confided in her. But, as far as she was concerned, Jar’s secret died with him. The kingdom had lost so much that day; her shoulders were wide enough to bear this loss on her own.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cold rain hit the window harshly as it made its way down from the heavens but Sara didn’t notice. She was too busy staring at her reflection in the mirror.

  “It’s going to be spring soon,” Liv said, looking out the window.

  “Thank the gods.” She had much to be thanking the gods for as of late. Of all those things, though, her friend’s presence was always on the top of the list.

  “Do not tell me you are sick of pregnancy so soon.”

  Turning, her gaze met Shemeek’s as the woman entered the room. With Jar’s death, Shemeek had needed family and turned to her and Kavin to fill some of the void. And Sara had been happy to welcome her into their lives. After all, Sara could use a sister to fill the void of her own.

  Sara smiled as she moved to sit on the edge of her bed. So soon? She was a full five months along. But, even at five months, it wasn’t the pregnancy she that she was sick of. “No, I’m sick of being pregnant and stuck inside this keep. Gods, I swear Kavin’s been treating me like I’m made of glass.”

  Liv smiled reassuringly at her. “He’s just worried. You know he’s been under a lot of stress since…”

  “Since the uprising?” Sara finished her friend’s statement, her disgust clear in the sharpness of the question.

  Shemeek looked away from her at the word and Sara kicked herself for being so thoughtless. It’d been Shemeek’s lover who died in that fight. It had been his killing of the king that sent the kingdom into their tales of conspiracy. And some had been quick at making the connection to his relationship with a Rhuevian. Shemeek felt the sting of the questions and doubts of the people more than Sara ever would.

  Liv, however, chase
d away the awkward moment. “And I think it was high time for an uprising. I would’ve put the man’s head on a pike if I’d had been able to get my hands on the damned thing. The pain and suffering he caused.”

  Shemeek’s whole body shook with laughter. “Now that is a sight I would’ve paid to see.”

  “As would I,” Sara said, thinking of her family. They would have liked that. They had always been big on justice. “But I’m happy just knowing he’s dead.”

  “But not everyone is.” They all three turned at Kavin’s deep voice.

  “Which is why I should be out there finding and talking to those people before they can organize a rebellion,” Sara argued. Having her secret out was awkward at times, but she was glad she didn’t have to hide it anymore. Also, since most people knew what she could do, they either went out of their way to avoid her or to keep their surface thoughts clean. It made her life a lot easier.

  “Five months pregnant and you want to be riding around the kingdom searching for political dissidents?”

  “And that’s our cue to leave,” Liv said to Shemeek with a smile.

  Sara waved at them as they left, but kept her attention focused on Kavin. “It is what I was hired to do, is it not?”

  “And they tell me I take my job too seriously,” he teased.

  “You do.”

  He studied her for a moment before switching tactics. “You’re right. We both do. I think we’ve earned a vacation.”

  “Clever man.”

  “I have my moments.”

  “Are you thinking a couple hours…” her eyes moved to the bed as she asked the question, “…or a couple months?”

  “I could use a couple months away from this. But do you think the regent and Lord Quince would give it to us?”