Feathers So Vicious (Court of Ravens, #1)

by Liv Zander

There was something odd in his tone, strangely close to… jealousy? No, that couldn’t be it. It didn’t run in our blood, least not over a human. We were monogamous beings, sure, possessive and deeply loyal, but only with our bonded mate. So what, then?

Because Lorn knew that Malyr was responsible for the fall of Valtaris—a secret she loved to hold, and preferably over his head. It would cost him support among our kind should that ever come out. Then there was the fact that, for a time, Malyr had been convinced that she had to be his fated mate, given what they’d been through together. Years ago, he’d desperately tried to bond with her to no avail.

“I will come for you, Galantia. May it take a year or a lifetime, I will come for you.”

“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.”

“Do you want to know what is worse than being forced to endure the most depraved acts?” Brisden looked down at where I’d wet myself, grinning. “Liking them.”

“Our anoas have the habit of growing quite obsessed with gathering smooth, shiny, or… otherwise beautiful objects. Males often gift them to a female in courtship.”

“Corvin is a white raven, little dove.”

Not a seagull… a white dove. Like her.

Galantia of House Brisden would pay for the sins of her father. A Khysal would be her demise.

What would it feel like to be loved with such intensity? Such unequivocal fortitude, not even death could impose conditions?

“See, there is no love for you here—not from me, not from him. There is no love for you anywhere.”

The force exploded outwards, a silent, blinding storm of white feathers and plumes that eclipsed my conscience and enlightened it at the same time.

With a storm of white wingbeats, my ravens carried me up to the flight hole, and out into the even whiter winter from there. Our plumage blended with the snow and the clouds. Our wings carried us east. Away from the pain.