“My liege?”
Malek tore open his eyes and stifled his magic, breaking from his meditation. It was a useless exercise anyway. No matter how often he reached out with his power, Lyana refused to respond. No matter how much time he spent visiting the rift, it wouldn’t close—not without her help.
Fighting back a sneer, Malek turned. His ferro’kine stood in the doorway of the study, her thin lips a grim line. Her black hair hung about her shoulders, unbrushed and unkempt. Only half of the buttons on her jacket were secured. She’d come in haste, which meant this wouldn’t be good.
“Jacinta.”
“I was visited by a dormi’kine this afternoon.”
“Who?”
Her gaze darted about the room. “Is it safe to speak?”
“She’s not here.” Kasiandra, his darling little traitor, the thorn in his side. There was no telling when her haunting spirit might decide to drop in for a visit, but she was, for the moment, absent. “Proceed.”
“There’s been another incident with the raven.”
He clasped his fingers behind his back and squeezed them until his arms began to tremble. If his mage noticed, she didn’t say. Though he prided himself on control, he wasn’t able to keep the bite from his voice as he asked, “What?”
“It happened not an hour ago. A dragon attacked one of the trading outposts and was brought down. The traders thought they’d won, until the raven appeared from the mist, shouting that the battle wasn’t over. Moments later, a second dragon attacked from above. The dormi’kine was there, on one of the ships. He said the fire devoured the raven, burning half the outpost before the mages had time to react. Then the beast, for no rhyme or reason, simply disappeared. By the time the flames cleared, the raven stood alone, unscathed among the wreckage.”
“Did no one think to catch him?”
“He retreated too quickly.”
Fools, Malek seethed, yet deep down he knew it was his own fault. The man was invincible, and on top of that, he’d given him wings. He should have known better. He should have just killed him when he’d had the chance. No amount of information was worth all this, and now the very fate of the world was in jeopardy.
“Say it,” he commanded, noting the hesitation in Jacinta’s deep brown eyes.
“There were rumors…” she offered slowly.
Of course there were. Every ship in his kingdom was rife with them, and now, nearly every city too. Just last night, he’d received reports of the gossip finally reaching Da’Kin. With his presence so close, only the boldest sailors dared question his position as the King Born in Fire—but in a way that made it worse, giving weight to the words, making them even more alluring. Meanwhile, he could do nothing. To speak out would only feed the flames.
Malek was stuck, and the position left him fuming.
If not for one simple fact, he’d fly into a rage right now—Kasiandra didn’t know. He was sure of it. The owl had spent too much of her life among the royals above the clouds. She wouldn’t think to go to the gambling halls for information. She wouldn’t dare step foot inside a brothel, not even as a spirit. While she was shrewd in some regards, she was naive in others, exactly as he’d crafted her to be. Though born beneath the mist, she had no idea how this world within the fog truly functioned, and he had to keep it that way.
Lyana could never know what people whispered. But with each passing day the raven remained free, Malek’s time ran out. A few more daring feats, and the gossip might grow too large to contain.
“Go on.”
“More of the same, but there was one thing I thought might catch your interest. The dormi’kine overheard two men suggesting the raven might somehow speak to the beasts. They said he appeared to know of the second dragon’s presence before anyone else, as though he’d sensed it, as though, somehow, he was connected to them, perhaps mentally.”
Now that was intriguing.
It wasn’t the first time the thought had entered his mind. They could sense magic across great distances, suggesting some sort of connection to the spirits, but he’d never had proof. Was that why they kept coming through the rift? Were they calling to each other? Calling for help? And if so, could he silence them?
This might be the key to ending the war—or at the very least, to delaying it. He needed more information. For that and so many other reasons, he needed to catch the raven. And if none of his mages were up to the task, then maybe he needed to do it himself.
“Anything else?”
“No, my liege.”
“Good. Find Viktor and tell him to prepare my ship. We leave tonight.”
“For where?”
Malek’s lips twisted into a grin. “For a hunt.”