So, he lied, as he often did.
He told her he was only sick from a cold, that’d he’d drank too much, slept too little...
She stared at him, not buying it one bit.
You’re not building trust,Kinlear told himself.You’re stacking a tower with broken bricks and if you’re not careful, it’ll all come crumbling down.
But he couldn’t stop.
This was how he’d always built things. With shattered pieces and shaking hands.
“Let’s go, Raphonminder,” he said. “The clock is ticking, and there’s a war to be won.”
She moved past him, into the darkness...
But as he was shoving the handkerchief into his cloak pocket, she quickly glanced back. And saw...he was certain shesaw...the smear of blood upon it.
She’d tamed the beast.
Oh, she most certainly had.
The two were a pair, both stubborn and full of sass that made Kinlear weak in the knees. They were a force.
And he...
Had his hands full. That much was clear.
He tried his best to guide her through the motions of saddling, for he’d donethata thousand times with the war eagles. Always with the help of a scribe, for how weak his arms, and how enormous the saddles, but he knew the motions. He could have done them with his eyes closed.
The problem?
Shedid not enjoy his helpful tips.
Every time he spoke, she snapped at him.
Every time he offered a bit of advice...she looked like she was going to rip his head off.
“Are you aware how many war eagles I’ve minded? How many I’ve saddled and sent to the skies?” Kinlear asked her, as he sat on a stool outside the cage.
Six was lazy as usual, sighing through her nostrils as she stood there, and Kinlear realized how much she’d grown in the last few weeks. She was looking more like the raphon from his dreams.
Ezer shrugged. “Quite frankly, Your Highness, I don’t give a damn.”
Gods, she was mean.
He adored it.
He was reveling in that fact when he caught Six glaring at him. Like...she very much wanted to rip his head off, too.
You’re alive because of me, demon!He thought.
He swore he saw the beast’s claws slide a bit further out.
“I know,” Ezer said, crooning at the monster like it was a newborn babe. “But he’s here, whether we like it or not.”
“You know I canhearyou, right?” Kinlear asked from his stool.
Ezer ignored him and kept working.
