Flight of Fate (Wings of Ink, #4)

by Angelina J. Steffort

“Step away from that crow if you value your life.” Not a threat but a promise. I will happily tear them to ribbons if they dare get in my way.

Talons sprout from his fingertips, black and sharp like those of a crow, and his grin widens as he drags his index finger along the Flame’s cheek lightly enough not to cut deep but hard enough to draw blood. “We’ll have fun, you and I.”

“My sister didn’t get you stuck as you call it. You made a choice to use her power while in the form I gifted you. It’s the law of nature that requires balance. Only true immortals can wield their powers as they wish. Unless you step into your destiny, you will remain in this form. You will age in this form and die in this form, and your immortal mate will die of a broken heart once you do.”

“Not wrong, Ayna. You are his equal in every way that counts, or I wouldn’t have made you into what you are. But it’s only you who can take that final step. It’s only you who can choose to leave the mortal world behind.”

“If I’m guessing right, you are a descendant of the God of Darkness, Ayna, his blood passed down through your father’s line. Every other generation there was a female child, not often enough to increase chances by much that they’d ever cross the Crow King’s path—or any Crow’s whatsoever, but it was his loophole to Vala’s curse. A key to unlock us all and buy us freedom.”

His protection of Shaelak’s bloodline in exchange for Myron’s death.”

“You were the first female born to my line in Eherea. My first chance to break my sister’s curse on my own creation. A child of both royal and godly blood through your father’s line. The first female Crow born since the curse.” He pauses, scanning me with those eyes of sparkling light, and something like approval flickers in the brightness. “A child of loss through your father’s treason, of hardship through your mother’s choices, a child estranged from her own culture through the years aboard a pirate ship I steered across the waters. A child who fell in love with a human man when I needed her to fall in love with a Crow King.”

“I told him that I won’t kill for him, but if he managed to kill you, Myron of Winghaven, I’ll give him something better.” I hold my breath as I wait for him to continue, star-bright eyes cutting from Myron to me. “I’ll make Ayna his mate.” Which would make him King of Crows; he doesn’t need to add that.

Myron nods at his cousin, but before he turns to leave, he bends over the bride, studying her sleeping face, and brushes a thin strand of ash blonde hair from her forehead. “I might not know you yet, but one day soon, I will love you,” he whispers so softly I’m not sure I heard him. “Even if you’ll hate me. Even if I’ll never break the curse, I will love you.”