“I know all about the queendom.”
He hooks an arm on the back of his chair and pivots to face me. “Do you really?”
“Yes. I really do. I know they’re savages who detest the Fae and use humans as slaves, which incited King Costa to erect wards around their island to keep them out of Luce.” Those wards had marked the triumphant end of the Magnabellum, the Great War between Luce and Shabbe waged five centuries ago. “I know they practice blood magic, which tints their eyes pink. I also know that only the women have powers.” I dip my fingertip into my wine and glide it over the rim. “I admit I didn’t know the crows had flocked to their shores.” A soft hum lifts from the glass and winds itself through the ominous silence. “I understand that staying in Luce wasn’t an option, but why not migrate east to Nebba? I hear they have incredible forests and mountains.”
“The crows went to Shabbe because the Shabbins venerate animals.” Giana’s gray eyes gleam silver in the light of the oil lamp.
My finger freezes mid-circle. Her revelation doesn’t abruptly make me feel a kinship to them, but it does make me question their barbarity.
Riccio’s chair creaks as he reclines into it. He twirls his glass of wine, making the bubbles lacing the sweet liquor fizz. “Why such interest in crows?”
I pull my fingertip away from the rim of my glass and dry it on my lap. “Because it was my first time in Rax, and since some humans aided the mountain tribe that attacked us”—I keep my eyes on his to cement my lie—“it got me thinking about Primanivi.”
Riccio nods slowly. “All the ones who aided the tribesmen, Fallon . . . they went down with the tribesmen.Literally.”
“Meaning?”
Mattia taps his knuckles against the scratched tabletop. “After Primanivi, Marco trapped the dissenters on a galleon, which he sank off the southern coast of Luce, in the graveyard of boats.”
My heart clocks each bone in my corset. “The graveyard of boats?”
Riccio watches Giana refill his glass, and yet he seems kilometers away, adrift on Mareluce. “Seas and currents are so wild, they’ll shatter any ship that wanders through those waters.”
“Marco fed them to the serpents?” I gasp in horror.
“Why so surprised?” He snaps out of his daze. “The Regios have always disposed of their enemies in that way.”
There are no windows in this part of the tavern, yet Mattia glances toward the wall that gives onto the wharf. I think he’s worried someone may be eavesdropping, until he says, “I wonder if serpents would drag you into their den, Fallon.”
Giana hisses. “Don’t say such things, Mattia. Don’t even think them.” She swipes her thumb through a puddle of spilled wine, then stamps his lips with the ruby droplet, a Fae tradition to prevent spoken words from occurring.
“I know everyone thinks I can charm beasts, but it’s not true.” As always, I perpetuate Nonna’s lie. “That day in the canal, the serpent attacked me.”
He gestures to where I sit. “Yet you still breathe.”
“Because it was a juvenile. That’s the only reason I still breathe.”
Antoni reaches under the table and clasps my bouncing knee. “No more talking of serpents, crows, or wars, all right?”
“Aye, aye.” Mattia raises his glass.
Antoni’s hand remains on my leg, and although it doesn’t calm me, it seems to calm him, so I let his palm linger.
As the cousins alternate between debates on fishing spots and women, Giana disappears into the kitchen to fetch some food.
Although I try to pay attention, my mind keeps returning to Bronwen’s prophecy. Whyfivecrows? Could five of them have been trapped in Luce?
It’s been over two decades, though. How long do crows live? Cauldron, I hope I’m not looking for corpses.
I long for pen and paper to jot down everything I learned, but a written trace is surely a terrible idea. So I run everything on a loop inside my mind instead. Sometime during the twelfth loop, I’m struck with a thought.
The crows that lived flocked to Shabbe.
The Shabbins like animals.
My knee bangs against the underside of the table. What if these relics have a link to Shabbe? What if Bronwen is Shabbin?
Antoni leans over and murmurs in my ear. “Am I moving too fast?”
