The three-legged crow continues to tap its middle foot on the ground. It squawks at me, red eyes glued to my form with unusually rapt attention. The longer I watch the crow, the colder and darker the feeling in my gut grows. Its eyes are too… aware. I don’t like it one bit.
As the minutes tick by, the crow stares and stares and stares—
And then flies right at me.
It pecks at my forehead, my nose, my eyes. It scratches me with its talons, mincing my forearms when I bring them up as a shield. The bird screeches at me as it goes for my jugular, but I manage to grab it by its wing and tear it away. I throw the blasted thing to the ground with a sharp cry, my torn flesh searing.
The crow recovers, hopping to its three feet and stretching its wings to their full span. It’s there beneath the creature’s primary feathers that I spot a thin piece of yellow parchment marked in red ink.
A talisman?
My heart lodges in my throat. What in the nine suns could that mean? I can’t allow this creature to escape. Something tells me that could spell disaster, and I’m frankly very tired of having things go wrong.
I hastily throw off my tunic and charge the little beast, tossing the fabric over it before it has a chance to fly off. It frantically struggles against my makeshift net, crying out loudly as it tears at the linen with its sharp beak and even sharper claws. For something so small, it’s terribly strong. I have a difficult time keeping it contained as I gather up the fabric in my clenched hand.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I turn just in time to see Jyn descending from the sky, transforming back into a woman before my eyes. The shift is seamless and takes not even a full second, her body shrinking down and her features morphing into those of the heartbreakingly beautiful woman I still yearn to know. I probably look a fool with my jaw on the ground as I hold out my catch.
“It attacked me,” I mutter lamely. “And where did you disappear to?”
“Kept watch while you slept,” Jyn grumbles flatly, avoiding my gaze.
I smile, still struggling to keep my fabric parcel down. “Were you worried about me?”
Jyn ignores me outright and reaches into my tunic, grasping the crow by the neck with one hand. She frowns deeply when she spots the talisman beneath its wing. Jyn swiftly yanks it off and studies the red-ink markings.
“What is it, my lady?” I ask. “Can you read it?”
She doesn’t need to speak for me to get my answer. I can sense her mood turning frightfully cold over our connection. It’s almost like taking a deep plunge into a cavern, no light or hope to be found.
“A tracking spell,” she hisses. Jyn stares the crow dead in the eye. “Like the one on your scroll earlier.”
My breath catches in my throat. “Was that what that was? But how did you even know it was there?”
“I could smellhisscent.”
I frown. “Whose scent, my lady?”
“Come after me again,” she says not so much to the bird, but through it to its sender, “and I will devour you. Don’t forget—a heart for a heart.”
The crow pecks at her hand, its sharp beak piercing her flesh.Jyn grunts as blood drips from the shallow wound. Overcome with fury, she snaps the crow’s neck without hesitation, squeezing it tight in her fingers, and tosses its corpse to the ground.
I stare at her, alarmed. “What was that for?” I demand. “Who were you just talking to? Who’s tracking us?”
Jyn turns her head to the sky, looking out for something my mortal eyes can’t comprehend. She sniffs the air, her tongue flicking out subtly at the corner of her mouth to taste the breeze. “We can’t stay here any longer. I don’t know how, but he’s coming for me.”
“Whois coming for you?”
She grits her teeth in a snarl. “The man you call Róng.”
My heart rails against my rib cage. “The emperor is coming here? How is that possible? I was led to believe he didn’t know the location of the dragon—”
Swift as lightning, Jyn whips around and grasps me by the shoulders. “You’ve spoken to him?” she growls.
“That I have, my lady, but I swear I meant you no harm. He sent me to find you, that’s all.”
Pure fury spreads across her features. “And you agreed to work for that monster?”
