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Galantia shattered into a million pieces. Only to emerge from them with white wings, revealing her as a white Raven before her unkindness fluttered away…
What in the ever-loving fuck had just happened?
White Raven. Yes. Galantia was a white Raven.
I watched the scene with a shake of my head. How could he hurt Galantia so badly one moment, then fuss over her ailing anoa the next? What the fuck was wrong with his head?
“You fucking bastard put her in the gravest danger. There’s a Raven flying straight into Brisden’s arms, and it is probably not his daughter. All because you can’t be anything but hateful. Well done, Malyr.”
“Yes, you fucking broke her heart, shattering it into so many pieces, her primal forced a shift to escape the agonizing pain. You made sure I was out of the way long enough for you to make her believe you loved her. How can you be so cruel? So vicious?”
I’d fucking failed all over again! Fury ignited within me,
I didn’t protect her. Punch. I didn’t save her. Punch. I failed. Again! Punch. Punch. Punch. Malyr’s groan snapped me out of my fury,
And there, right beside her, sat Malyr’s anoa… … preening her damaged feathers.
head sparking with the onslaught of questions. What had happened? Where was I? No! What was I? A white Raven. A soft whimper tumbled from my lips,
Betrayal and lies. Most recently, heartbreak. There is no love for you here. Not from me. Not from him. There is no love for you anywhere. Malyr’s words
And Sebian… My heart clenched at the thought of him, the place where love should have bloomed now a desolate void of nothing but pain. It hurt. Gods, it hurt…
I was so sick of everyone’s disdain and disappointment!
“Nobody can find any of your feathers, as unsusceptible as they might seem.” She kept yanking on the fabric, letting it pool by my feet. “If anybody finds out, then we are both as good as dead.”
She left with a purse of gold, leaving a child in the cradle.” I love you so much. Aros’ voice echoed in the back of my head.
Why was it so easy for everyone to just… get rid of me? How could she have truly loved me, yet exchanged me for a purse of coins as if I was merely a loaf of bread?
“I was a baby, then a girl, then a woman, and all three never craved anything more than a warm look, a kind word, a gentle touch from you. How can you be so heartless?”
“Bury your thirteen children, Galantia. Do it, and then see what is left to judge of my heart.” Thirteen children. Thirteen.
Captain Asker’s voice echoed in my memories, “I beg of you, my lady, return my mate to me.” Marla!
For the first time, they truly rang because of me. Rang all fucking day long.
“The goddess?” “Your mother,” she said. “The fate Lilieth.”
Gallows on a cliff, with the sea stretched out behind it. A golden-haired woman’s body dangling from a noose, drowning beneath salty waves.
You were but a day old when the goddess showed her your death.” My cheeks turned numb. “My death?” “You were not supposed to live past the age of nine.”
Not sold. Not abandoned. Not unwanted. Loved!
“You, Galantia, are Malyr’s fated mate.
Was this a cruel joke? A terrible twist of fate? A destiny foreseen, yet so utterly, disgustingly wrong? Why him? Why this man who had caused me such pain? My heart broke all over again.
“Never.” The word hung in the frigid air. “I will not be his. Not in this fated life, nor in any other.”
But going back to the Ravens? To Malyr? I just… I couldn’t. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
That was all it took for the little bird to peek out from under her wing, then slowly peck at the meal. “There you go. That’s my good girl. You’re so skinny, you wouldn’t even feed a cat.”
Who was he to feed my mate? To care for her? A simple pathfinder? I could kill him with a single thought, having him twitch on the floor before he even realized—
That was before I fell in love with her…
“Never do…?” Well, shake my tail feathers and call me a peacock, in what kind of reality had he been living over these last months?
“Caught me?” Scoffing, I ran my fingers through the anoa’s feathers, searching for broken shafts that needed preening. “Old man, he was there with us.”
Old me is crazyyyy
“I was happy.” For the first time in years.
“I betrayed who I thought was a Brisden.” Oh, and that set everything right?
“Fly, Galantia.” Then he pushed me off the cliff.
Land on the beach, sweetheart, or the currents will pull you out to sea. Sebian?
The weight of her words landed heavily in my chest. Lady Brisden, who’d never shown me any love, had abandoned the carriage—her only way of escape—to… warn me?
Something small but pointed struck my eye. I snapped it shut with a yelp,
I was so close. So fucking close! Until a merciless stab punctured my heart.
“What is she?” What I’d always hoped she would be. My very own void.
“You, Galantia, are a void.”
“Voids are rare, Galantia. So very rare, blessed with the gift to undo darkness—also to wield it, should it turn out you can indeed mirror the shadows of others.”
“Time will tell why fate wove him into your life as strongly as she did.” She gently shook him by the shoulder. “Sebian. She is awake.”
“You scared the shit out of me, sweet thing. Both of us.”
“What was her name?” “Ravenna.” I’d heard that name before. “Asker’s and Marla’s daughter?” “Uh-huh.”
“Pregnant! Unable to shift, she burned, Sebian. They burned her down to nearly nothing, and where were you!?
“Going after those bones, sweetheart, aren’t we? Checking if there’s some meat on them.”
“That kiss was long overdue, and there will be a lot more in the future, if you’ll have me. But just for the record, because I’m not going to risk your doubt again over three fucking words,” he tugged the back of my head, pulling my mouth back to his as he rasped, “I love you.”
He loves me. Truly loves me.
