Once the parchment was safely in my hand, I leaned down and whispered, “Behave, today is her birthday.”
“Ugh!” Annalisa scowled, pulling her lips from the edge of the teacup. “That new maid has no clue how to make tea. This is way too bitter!”
Erik flapped his wings and flew out of the window. Few things were more offensive to Erik than bad tea.
“Hm, he must not have been that hungry,” Annalisa said before popping a grape in her mouth.
I stepped over to Annalisa’s dressing table and unrolled the parchment. I ran my eyes over the inked scrawl that had to be Evereon’s.
Still have two feet on the ground? Soldiers getting restless. We need you back.
I rolled my eyes. Freeing Fraleigh was taking longer than I had thought, but his impatient ass could wait.
Unlike Brandt, Evereon had not included charcoal for me to respond. I set the parchment on Annalisa’s writing desk and dipped a quill into the inkwell.
I flipped the parchment over and scribbled my reply.
Making progress. Be patient.
I rolled the parchment back into my hand when the whisper of wings entered the room.
Erik landed on the table with a small vine of yellow cone-shaped flowers in his beak and hopped over to Annalisa’s teacup. He ran his beak down the length of the yellow petals, squeezing drops of nectar into the tea.
After repeating himself with a second flower, he tapped on the edge of the cup with his beak. Annalisa warily picked up her cup and drank. She raised her eyebrows and hummed in delight.
She smiled and stroked his back with her fingertips. “What a clever bird you are!”
I held the parchment in my hand as I sat next to Annalisa on the couch. I could not help but smile as I poured myself a cup and watched Erik drip nectar in my tea. I took a sip and savored the light sweetness that balanced out the burned leaves.
Tears lined my eyes as I drank, and not from the steam of the warm tea. I had never liked tea after Erik left. I only ever drank it out of politeness or forced it down when I needed medicine.
Tea was finally sweet again.
I wiped a tear away with the inside of my wrist as Annalisa continued petting Erik, completely ignorant to who he was and what he meant to me.
“You are such a pretty bird,” Annalisa said with a gentle smile. “I always liked ravens, even though the rest of Lycaster hates them. I never saw them as bad omens because…well, because my grandmother was from Ravenwood.”
Erik cocked his head, like he was actually listening.
I leaned my cheek on my fist. I had not seen Annalisa that serene…ever. Maybe she just needed a pet.
“I am named after her, at least my middle name.” Her voice went from an airy calm to pensive. “I have gone through life with a part of myself that I was supposed to be ashamed of…even if none of it was my fault.”
The door clicked open and Brietta walked in, her Hyton Blue robe around her nightgown and her hair still in a braid. She closed the door behind her and locked it with a sigh. “Finally escaped that damn room. We have a big party planned for tonight and we need to strategize.”
Annalisa scowled. “We?What is this ‘we’ shit?”
Brietta folded her arms and sat in the chair across from us. “All the nobility will be there and now that we know about Derrick’s new name—”
Her brown eyes widened when she found Erik. She looked over at me, silently demanding an explanation.
The white flame spun beneath my ribs. I could not slither my way out of that commanding stare.
I swallowed and gestured to the raven on the table. “This is Erik.” The white flame pulsed hotter. “My…my brother. He never died, he was transformed into a bird.”
Brietta’s mouth fell open. “What?”
“He is a man? Ew!” Annalisa swung her arm and smacked Erik in the chest, sending him flying backward through the room. He crashed into the wall with a pained squawk.
