“What did your…what did General Hyton doto you?”
Riyan turned his head slightly to look at me. “Do you remember that bridge we crossed the other day? The one over the river separating Hytonand Bloodstone?”
I nodded.
Riyan clenched his fist in front of his chest and each of his knuckles cracked. “First, the General made me get up before sunrise to cut down two trees and carry each log over to the bridge. Then, he ordered me to destroy the first supports on the bridge—those stone columns on the Hyton end of the bridge, you know? A few hours later, it’s sunset, my palms and knuckles were bleeding from breaking the stone apart, but I still wasn’t done. I had to support the bridge on my shouldersall night.”
“All night?”I exclaimed.
“All night, and all the next day,” Riyan said proudly. “So many horses and carts drove over me, and General Hyton made all the soldiers run across the bridge over and over the next morning. I can still feel the pounding of their footsteps on the back of my head sometimes…well, all of themexcept Thornebow’s.”
I imagined Riyan underneath the bridge—waist-deep in river water, his shoulders red and bleeding from the stone, and dust falling in his face with every stomp of a foot or trot ofa horse.
My heart was heavy from the image, but Riyan laughed. “This troll eventually was allowed to emerge from under the bridge. All I had to do was replace the supports with the logs I had cut down—easy enough. But Thornebow didn’t get off so easy. That leg was in a splint for a year. He had to switch from being a swordsman to an archer so he could stand in one place and shoot his little arrows from a distance instead of being in the action like areal hero.”
Riyan’s fingers gently wrapped around my calf to hold me in place as he stepped over a fallen tree. A spark of fear jolted up my spine—he could close his fist and breakmyleg ifhe wanted.
He must have sensed the tension in my calf muscle because he let go of me as soon as he returned to a steady gait. The moment his fingertips left my stocking, I wished theywould return.
“Do you think Grigory learned his lesson?” I pictured speckled bruises on the insides of Annalisa’s fair wrists. Acid crept up my throat but I swallowedit down.
“If not, he knows I will teach him that lesson again,” Riyan said with a smirk. “I had a little…conversation with him the night of the ball. Told him that if I heardanythinghappened to the Duke’s daughter, he could say goodbye to hisother leg.”
I glanced at his smirk, knowing his dimple was on the other side of his face. Annalisa could handle her own, but Riyan was so…gallantthat my chest swelled with an airy heat. I brushed some of his hair away and leaned over to kiss him on the temple. My lips let out an appreciative hum against his skin and his eyelashes fluttered closed,savoring it.
If only Annalisa knew Riyan was looking out for her, maybe she would not be so eager to shove a knifein him.
Riyan stopped near the bank of a sparkling stream that blocked our path. Withered and moss-covered remnants of an old wooden bridge laid in disarray on either side ofthe stream.
He reached up with his left hand and secured me. “Hold ontight, sweetheart.”
Even though he would not let me fall, I still gripped the rope of hair as Riyan ran to the edge of the stream. I closed my eyes as he jumped over the water. His feet thudded into the earth with a boom and theground trembled.
I opened my eyes. Over the tops of the trees, the golden spires and gilded turrets were so close I could make out small windows in the towers. As I admired the distant palace, my eyes flicked up to two black birds flying toward us. The birds beat their wings against the blue sky like they were in a panic. Their glossy black beaks pointed downat Riyan.
Ravens.
I tugged on a strand of Riyan’s hair to get him to look up. His head tilted back and one of the ravens dove toward us. The bird nipped at the fabric around my wrist as it flew over Riyan’s shoulder. I squealed and drew my hand againstmy chest.
“Did it hurt you?” Riyan asked. He turned his head toward me as much as he could without knocking me offhis shoulder.
I rubbed mywrist. “No.”
The raven swooped around Riyan’s back and perched on his right shoulder. Riyan turned his head just as the bird peckedhis neck.
“Little shit!” Riyan cried. He swatted at the raven with his right hand and it fluttered up in the air tododge him.
The second raven, larger than the first, swooped out of the sky and perched in my lap. I screamed, but did notdare move.
“Just hold still,” Riyan ordered. “I can’t swat it away without knocking you off my shoulder. It will go away once it realizes we aren’trotting corpses.”
The large raven ruffled its feathers and croaked at me. The gurgling from its throat and clips of its beak were not the normal call of a raven. Ilistened closer.
“Se-ra,” croaked theraven. “Se-ra.”
I screamed and my knuckles hit soft feathers as I knocked the beast off my lap. The raven flew up and joined its smaller companion as it circled around us inthe air.
“It talked to me!” I cried. “It knewmy name!”
