Interesting, indeed.
And the longer she sat, the more she looked at the raphon, and the raphon at her … the less she was afraid. She could see the physical signs that the beast wasa pup. Her neck was still a bit downy, like she hadn’t yet lost those first hatchling feathers. Her cat paws were far too large for her frame.
And Ezer hadn’t seen her fly.
For in the Aviary … the raphon was crawling in the trees. Stalking her, like a cat.
Likeshe didn’t even know she was meant for the sky.
Ezer was nearly done with her food now. ‘Does she just lie here all day?’
‘No,’ Kinlear said. ‘The past many months, she has spent her time wearing holes in the floor with her pacing. We had to replace the bars from how much she’d slammed her body against them, before we finally resorted to the chains to keep her from hurting herself.’
‘As would you, when placed in a cage,’ Ezer said.
The prince yawned and lifted a dark brow. He looked tired, but his eyes still lit up when he spoke to her. ‘Do you always speak to royalty in such a way?’
‘Yes,’ Arawn said beneath his breath.
Ezer lifted her chin. ‘Do you always lock women inside cages?’
‘Fair enough.’ Kinlear chuckled. ‘Six didn’t stop moving until she met you. She’s been this way, a lump of feathers and fur, ever since.’
‘Perhaps because she tasted freedom for the first time since her birth. I’d be depressed as well,’ Ezer said, and shook her head. She sliced back into her meat with the kitchen blade. ‘And now, after her first glimpse of the outside beyond these cursed walls … you’ve tossed her right back into –damn it.’
She winced and looked down as a sudden stab of pain went through her finger. She’d sliced her thumb, deep enough to draw an instant swelling of blood. Deep enough to need stitches, for certain.
‘I don’t suppose you’d let me out of my prison for this?’ Ezer asked and lifted her bleeding thumb.
The prince never answered.
Because suddenly the chains clinked from the corner of the cell.
And she turned to find that the raphon had sat up.
‘Kinlear.’ She could sense the tension in Arawn’s voice. ‘Let her out.’
‘Not yet,’ Kinlear answered.
The raphon’s wings were flat against its back, and even as it stood, as it crouched and lowered before her across the cell … the slits on its beak flared.
In the same way they had before in the Eagle’s Nest.
Slowly,soslowly, it moved towards her. The chains clinked with the first step.
Ezer’s heart roared in her ears.
Gods,she prayed.If you can hear me, if you’re there at all … don’t let it harm me.
The raphon took another step. She lifted the small knife in front of her with trembling hands.
She hated how her legs shook again, how she felt like she was going to soil herself in the monster’s gaze.
It took another step. Then another.
Perhaps it was the fact that she trusted the memory of their first meeting, and how she couldn’t look away from the dried, bloody handprint still marking the raphon’s beak. How its scar marked it as a survivor … just like her.
But on instinct, she lowered the blade and stuck out her hand instead. Just as she had before. She took a step closer, bridging the gap.
