“Who?”
He pushed the food tray in front of her and she reached for the baguette.
“Creatures.”
She met his narrowed gaze and she swallowed the bread in her mouth. “I do.”
“All creatures?” he asked.
She nodded just as the raven squawked outside, and she felt a smile rise on her lips.
“I take it she’s yours?” Draven asked.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because she showed up here this morning.”
He paused and swirled the wine in his cup a few times. “Can you communicate with them?” he asked after a few moments.
“Why are you so interested?”
“Because I have a lot of creatures in my realm who cannot converse with me. It might be nice on occasion to have someone who can.”
“I’m not your servant, Venari,” she argued. “You cannot summon me to do your bidding.”
“Perhaps we can come up with some sort of trade. Your help for mine.”
“I have no need for your help.”
His brows raised. “Really? So you and your horse are both better now? A miraculous recovery after only one night. I did not know it possible.”
She glared at him. “Fine,” she mumbled before taking a long swig of her wine. “What do you need?”
An elongated sigh emitted from his lips, and he allowed his cup to tap on the table a few times, avoiding her gaze. She watched him as he stood, and he hovered over her a brief moment. “Get some rest,” he said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE ONLY THING Aydra remembered about her second day in the Forest of Darkness was Draven bringing her breakfast.
He’d brought up a tray at sunrise of roasted potatoes, and he’d urged her to eat it all before drinking the thick liquid he’d brought up as well.
“Trying to poison me, Venari?” she asked him.
“Poison is not how I would kill you,” he promised. “I would have thought you’d know that by now.”
She eyed him, but trusted his words nonetheless. “So what is it?”
“Potion the Nitesh taught us to make,” he said as he rummaged through some of the papers on his desk.
She brought the cup to her lips and sniffed it, immediately regretting the decision. “This is disgusting.”
“You’ll drink it unless you’d like to stay here longer than the dead moons cycle,” he told her.
A great annoyed huff emerged from her nostrils, and she started to pick at the potatoes. He left her without another word after finding whatever map or letter it was he’d been looking for.
Her raven flew inside and perched itself on the chair across from her. She did a double-take as it stared at her and the food she wasn’t sure she wanted.
Is it poison?she asked it.
