Her purr filled the cage, the sound rumbling off the walls.
Ezer reached out and placed her hand on her beak. So large, it spanned her entire torso, and Six wasn’t even fully grown. The scar was deeply indented, like a blade trulyhadswiped across her, barely missing her throat. She probably carried the memory of that blade, the feel of it …
Like Ezer carried the whisper of shadow wolf claws against her skin.
‘No more chains,’ she promised the pup. ‘I swear it.’
The moment she said it, the beast leaned forward, pressing harder against her palm.
She was gone in an instant.
Her body, here in the cell. But her mind …
It carried her away, back to that same vision as before.
She saw that dark, endless sea, the waves rocking slowly from side to side. There was no shore in sight, nothing to mark where it was, beyond the single feather.
It floated alone. No matter which way the waves carried it, it never sank. And there was that awful feeling again. A deep, unending sadness, like Ezer was lost. Like no one would ever find her, and this dark, endless sea was all she would ever know.
Ezer gasped as she pulled her own hand away.
The vision cleared at once, and there was Six, standing there before her, dark eyes intent.
‘You’re lonely,’ Ezer whispered. ‘Aren’t you?’
The raphon’s tail twitched once.
And she swore Six inclined her head.
So Ezer lifted her other hand and placed it on the raphon’s neck.
The feathers were soft, delicate and silken.
She’d never felt anything so lovely before.
‘It’s all right,’ Ezer said. ‘I’m here now.’
And she meant it.
Before she left, she removed her outer cloak and dropped it on the floor of the cell.
It was something Ervos always did, when a new raven arrived at his tower. A way to get the birds to trust him, to know him, not just when he was there in the present, but when he wasn’t there at all.
He wanted them to think of him like a fond memory. A space to be safe and sound.
‘She’s done for the day,’ Ezer said, as she turned away from Six.
She met Kinlear’s eyes, nearly forgetting he’d been there the whole time.
‘I expect a new halter for her, onewithoutchain link of any kind.’
‘I’ll see to it,’ Kinlear said.
He was looking at her like she was a puzzle, like a set of stars in the sky that he couldn’t quite remember how to name.
He stood slowly and opened the door for her without a word. His eyes were limned with silver.
He coughed, and turned away, leaning heavily on his cane.
