A quiet knock on the door pulled Lyana from the last vestiges of sleep, forcing her to finally open her eyes and stretch muscles still recovering from the long flight the day before.
“I’m coming,” she called, wondering who it could be.
Cassi was still asleep on the chair in the corner, and the sun had barely risen in the sky, if the lingering pink hues outside her window were anything to go by. When Lyana opened the door, an unfamiliar sight greeted her—a raven girl in simple clothes, whose head was lowered.
“Good morning, Princess,” the girl whispered, voice on the edge of apologetic yet tinged with something else—curiosity, maybe. “The queen requests your presence at breakfast.”
Lyana sighed.
Before she had time to respond, three other raven girls appeared and shuffled into the room without a word. One quickly moved to the bed, tugging the sheets into place and fluffing the pillows. Another went to the closet, pulling the door open and shifting through a wardrobe. The third hurried to the vanity near the balcony, opening drawers and arranging bottles full of salves. The girl who had knocked walked to Lyana, removed her sleeping garments, and pushed her through a door she hadn’t yet noticed. A bath had already been drawn for her.
“I’m—” Before Lyana could finish speaking, a bucket of warm water was poured over her head, drowning the words.
“I can—” Another bucket came.
“Please—” She started again, but the raven girl’s lips were drawn with quiet determination, and Lyana knew better than to try to stop her. Clearly, the queen had ordered she be prepared, and prepared she would be. The only time she piped up was when they began attacking her hair with brushes that snagged and caught in her voluminous curls, eliciting a hiss of pain. Lyana used her fingers instead, yearning for the combs hidden somewhere in her travel trunks, and quickly twirled a large bun on the crown of her head to keep the strands out of her eyes if she flew.
Through it all, Cassi slept, still wearing her heavy flying leathers from the day before but looking cozier than Lyana.
She eyed her friend enviously as a violet dress was pulled over her waist, tied around her neck, and topped with a creamy overcoat to keep the exposed skin around her wings warm. The House of Whispers was much balmier than her home, but the morning air was still brisk as it fluttered in through curtains she’d forgotten to close the night before. The sliver of sky visible through that opening was more enticing than ever, but before she could get any ideas, the raven girl led her from the room.
The halls of the castle were wide and high, yet the dark, opaque stone made Lyana yearn for the crystal palace she called home. This was a maze of twists and turns and steps and doors, designed for walking instead of flying, nothing like the open atrium she’d grown up in. By the time she was deposited in the dining hall, Lyana was so confused she could hardly tell up from down, let alone how to return to her rooms.
Xander immediately stood when she walked in, offering her a bow. Queen Mariam merely looked up, taking a brief moment to inspect Lyana’s attire before returning to the parchment in her hand. For her part, Lyana tried to smile, but her mood only soured further when her eyes landed on the piles and piles of books stacked between the plates of food. She spared a longing glance at the sky outside the windows flanking the hall before taking a seat beside the queen.
“I hope you slept well,” Xander said cheerily.
“I did,” Lyana replied with a forced smile, fighting her unease.
The silence stretched on, serving only to remind her how different her new life would be. Back home, breakfast was grabbing a bit of fruit on her way to Cassi’s room, fluttering any which way she chose, exchanging teasing remarks with Luka, enduring the occasional lesson, all while being surrounded by the invisible presence of love, a tender sort of quality in the air she’d never even noticed until now—when it was nowhere to be found.
The air in this room was stuffy and cold, and it had nothing to do with the temperature.
Lyana cleared her throat.
“Would it be possible for my friend to join us tomorrow?” she asked lightly, trying not to betray how much more at ease Cassi's presence would make her feel.
“I’m afraid not,” the queen responded, the authority in her voice almost reminding Lyana of her own mother—a woman who could see right through her. But while her mother often chided her, affection always lingered in the soft edges of her words. Here there were only sharp sentences, clipped, precise and not to be questioned. “In this castle, breakfast is shared only with family.”
“She’s like a sister to me,” Lyana countered, turning toward Xander unintentionally, her thoughts going to a different raven, one she’d feared to find here. “A sibling, surely…”
Xander winced.
At the same time, the heat in the queen’s glare pierced the periphery of Lyana's vision, striking like an arrow.
Lyana swallowed the rest of her words. She didn’t really know her mate at all—they came from two different worlds, one of ravens, another of doves—and she was starting to understand that their differences ran much deeper than mere feathers. Who was this family she’d chosen to join? Where two brothers could switch identities for their most sacred ritual, but couldn’t dine at the same table? With a mother who seemed colder than the tundra she’d left behind? Who lived in a place where smiles had to be forced, friends kept away, and trust earned instead of freely offered?
A plate of oats and berries was set before her. Lyana picked at it halfheartedly.
“If we can move on to more important topics,” Queen Mariam suggested, rolling the parchment in her hand closed, her tone demanding obedience. “You turn eighteen in three weeks, correct?”
Lyana nodded, already anticipating where the conversation was going. Traditionally, no mates could be joined before the gods until they were both eighteen—the age at which magic either made itself known or didn’t exist. Lyana’s magic had, of course, already announced itself, but she’d hidden it for years, and she could hide it for a few more weeks until she and Xander were united before the gods. Maybe then, with enough trust and ties to bind them, she’d consider what Rafe had told her just before she’d left his room two nights ago, words barely more than a whisper, so soft they almost weren’t real. That Xander knew his secret—knew of his magic and didn’t mind.
A bit of her heart warmed at the thought, and Lyana glanced up from her plate to find Xander observing her and gauging her responses, the lavender in his eyes soft in a way the queen’s deeper color was not.
“Since we’ll have been waiting longer than most of the other matched couples,” the queen continued, not bothering to wait for Lyana’s response, “my advisors and I have decided to proceed with the mating ceremony on the same day as your birthday so the two celebrations can be combined.”
Lyana nodded, although the queen had formulated no question, because she’d expected as much. Most of the matched couples were probably, at this very moment, standing in their sacred nests, performing the ritual before the gods, declaring their unending loyalty to someone who was little more than a stranger. Luka and his mate had probably celebrated their vows yesterday while Lyana had been flying farther and farther away, leaving him and the rest of her family behind. How strange to think they’d shared everything growing up, their deepest, darkest secrets, and yet one day after she left home she’d already missed the most important moment of his life.
They were already moving on without her.
And Lyana was here, sitting at a table, surrounded by books and a foreign new family, her eyes on the windows across the room, on the balcony and the fresh air and the rising sun. But the idea comforted her, because that, of all things, hadn’t changed.
The endless blue sky had always called to her.
And her soul still ached to respond.
“Excellent,” Queen Mariam said, regaining Lyana’s attention as she slid a bit of parchment across the table. “I’ve arranged a schedule for your next few weeks if you’ll take a look. There is much to learn about our people and our customs before you become their queen. This afternoon, the owners of our mines and our most affluent tradesmen will be coming to the castle so Lysander can introduce them to you. In preparation, this morning we will be reviewing their names and stations, talking points for you to remember, as well as the goods they sell to the other houses—raw materials from our mountains like metals and stones, obviously, but we also have a small array of crops and specialty crafts we exchange as well. All of this will be very important for you to understand in the future, when it is Lysander’s time to rule.”
Inwardly, Lyana groaned.
Outwardly, she took the paper and kept a smile glued to her face as Xander opened the first of many volumes, his face more animated than she ever recalled seeing as he began to tell her of his home.