Feathers So Vicious (Court of Ravens, #1)

by Liv Zander

Your mouth is talented in many things, but none so much as running it.”

Sebian reappeared seated… at the high table. Beside Malyr. They were close friends.

“Lady Galantia of House Brisden!” Malyr’s sudden shout silenced everything. Everything but my heart, which stumbled into a quicker pace. “Will you not sit beside me, where you belong?”

WHERE SHE BELONGS?! the hell is you talkin about!

“I said where you belong, little white dove. On your knees. By my feet. So you may kiss my boots and pledge allegiance to your future king.”

“You have no kingdom, no crown. If you call this farce a court, then I can only assume that you’re its fool.”

how nicely you are displaying my mark tonight, showing everyone just whom you belong to. Mine to hurt. Mine to torment.”

“Should I tell him how wet you are for this, sweetheart? How needy your little cunt is for his shadows?”

My gaze went back and forth between them, hairs rising along my arms at this strange energy that quivered the air between them, and my nerves right along with it. I watched the quiet looks they exchanged, like an unspoken conversation I wasn’t privy to.

“Lick the knife until you bleed. Sebian likes the sound of your moan. Indulge him.”

To the five hells with him! Did he think that a cut still bothered me? My neck was bruised, my lip aching, my chest carved-up! He wanted me to lick the knife?

“Oh, sweetheart,” Sebian groaned, shifting in his chair. “Maybe you do like his attention after all.”

I looked up at Lorn. Watched how she draped herself over Malyr’s lap, twirling a black strand of his hair around her finger. The sight stunned my mind for long moments, though it shouldn’t have.

No, he didn’t just believe; that bastard knew what had transpired the day of my capture. How she’d killed the only person who had ever shown me love.

He kissed her, passionately, moaning into her mouth, lapping at it, caressing it with his tongue.

Lorn took no issue with the women Malyr bedded. They were nothing to him—the same way the sorry bastards she fucked were just prey to her.

“That’s bold, coming from the girl who goes around licking knives.” I settled my hand on her hip, kneading, stroking. Fuck, she felt so good in my palm.

Don’t call me a liar just because you don’t like the sound of the truth. You liked it.

What a fucking strange response.

if Brisden refused this exchange and landed us with this girl, I wasn’t sure what Malyr would do with her. Or to her.

Or remain untethered. Forever alone. Like me.

What would it feel like to be loved with such intensity? Such unequivocal fortitude that not even death could impose conditions? I wanted to experience such a love so badly…

I stared behind him, not knowing what to make of this Raven. How could someone be infuriating one moment and kind the next? Fickle bastard.

A strike of dread hit my stomach. Oh, merciless gods, what was he doing here? Malyr set a stack of books on the table that stood in front of a massive window,

Someone so cruel shouldn’t be quite so attractive…

“Delos’ta lay.” Delos’ta… what? What did that mean?

Until he placed it on the ground before me, making me stare at Harlen’s black ink mark beneath his ear. A river of blood welled from his head, seeping into his abandoned eyes, turning them crimson.

Omg so she killed his brother. That makes sense now

This place quickly cured me of that romantic illusion. It smelled like shit, urine, and unwashed bodies. And I loved it!

“It means The Endless Ache. Right in here, remember?” A tap against his chest. “It’s where our anoa longs for our fated mate, to a point it can be physically painful.”

“Be honest with yourself just once, Galantia. You want this. And if Malyr was here right now, chances are that you’d want him, too.

“There we go. That’s my good girl, moaning my name

“You’re so beautiful, Galantia,” he murmured. “Fuck, I want you so badly.” My heart sang in my chest. He wanted me. Badly. Nobody had ever wanted me at all.

“Fuck, I love it when you say my name like that,”

“Where is your fated mate?” Time passed in strikes of lightning and rumbles of thunder before he finally said, “Sparkling among the stars.” Dead.

Raven or human, they didn’t get to sleep beside me. Didn’t get to wedge their frigid toes under my calf. And they certainly didn’t get to drool down my armpit.

Goddess help me, she was so fucking beautiful in my eyes, drool and all.

Malyr had gone to her chamber this morning. How did I know? Because he was right beside us.

Lmaooo

So what, then? Annoyance? Disbelief? A fart sitting wrong?

Pleaseee im dead

Because Lorn knew that Malyr was responsible for the fall of Valtaris—a secret she loved to hold, and preferably over his head.

Give me your come, little dove.”

A single tear snaked down Malyr’s face, clinging to his jaws where it trembled at his roar. “You killed my brother!” My blood froze over. His… brother?

“These are no mere trunks of coins. For these…” Captain Theolif gave a wave at the heavy things, “are the Lady Galantia’s dowry.” My blood froze over. “What!?”

“My lady, your lord father proposes your betrothal to Prince Malyr,” Theolif said

Malyr retreated his fingers and lifted them, a thin string of blood clinging to his glistening knuckle for everyone to witness.

Yes, I was worthless. Never wanted, never loved. And how could anybody love something so deranged? So broken?

“No matter how much you want to hate me, it’ll never measure up to the loathing my father clearly harbors for me. You think you rendered me worthless? Don’t flatter yourself, Malyr. I was born worthless.”

But violently finger-fucking through Galantia’s maidenhead in front of her father’s envoy? That shit wasn’t right.

Women came to my bed to lick my balls, not their damn wounds.

“I think… I think I’ll just feel safer here. With you.” She feels safer with me… That tightness in my chest,

“You can kiss me where my tail feathers grow, Malyr,”

“Oh, and also, you’ll never seek her out alone, without me.” “Why?” His question came behind me. “Because she feels safer with me.”