Flight of the Raven Read online

“And how old are you now?”

  “Almost nineteen winters. I was born a fortnight after the Turn of Winter.”

  He hummed thoughtfully. “So you’ve only had your gift for a year?”

  Selene smoothed out the blanket in front of her. “Yes.”

  “And yet your dreamwalking ability appears powerful. It took me years to master raising the waters. Is that common for all dreamwalkers?”

  She shook her head. “No. My mother said I was special since the day I was born. My mark is not small like my predecessors and has not faded. And it didn’t take me long to control my gift.”

  “Interesting.” Damien grew quiet as he stared up at the canopy. Just how strong was Selene’s gift with a mark like that? Then he calculated their ages. “I’m twenty-four harvests. So we’re not far apart in age compared to most couples.”

  “That’s true.” He could feel her eyes on him and looked over. “You became grand lord at twenty-two, my father said. That’s young.”

  “Yes.” He let his breath out. “It’s not been easy.”

  She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled down at him. “I know.”

  His heart beat faster at her touch. Sunlight filled his bedchambers, casting a warm glow across the room. He didn’t want to leave. He wanted to stay here and spend the morning with Selene. To talk. To share their lives. To be a married couple. But there was much that needed his attention.

  He sighed and sat up. “I wish I could stay with you this morning, but I’m afraid I have a lot to do today. Soon most of the ice will be gone and we’ll need to be ready to leave for Lux Casta. And the navy will need to be ready for when the empire moves.”

  Selene gave him another smile. “I understand.”

  Her look made his stomach turn inside out. “I would love for you to join me again tonight. Or every night if you want. I know most grand lords and ladies have separate rooms, but perhaps you would consider something different?”

  He held his breath. Maybe it was too soon to ask.

  Her smile widened. “I would like that.”

  He felt like he had been hit upside the head with the blunt end of the sword, knocking his thoughts out of his head. “I-I will have Steward Bertram see to it that your belongings are brought to our room today.” Did he really just stammer? Like a youth? Then what he had said hit him.

  Our room.

  There was something right about those words. “Let me know if you need anything. I’ll be with Taegis or in my study.” On impulse, he leaned over and kissed her, savoring the feel of her lips. Reluctantly, he pulled away. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  “Yes,” she said breathlessly, her eyes shining.

  He stared at her, mesmerized. She was so beautiful. Never did he realize what they would become when they stood beside the Hyr River and said their vows.

  Move, Damien, his mind demanded.

  He mentally shook his head, rolled to his own side of the bed, and stood. Compared to the comfort and warmth in his room, he had no desire to head out and plan more strategies or talk to his naval personnel or prepare for a war. Why couldn’t things have remained peaceful? Then again, he would have never married Selene if the times had been peaceful. They probably would have never even met.

  Life could be both bitter and sweet.

  Damien headed outside into the frigid cold. He stood upon the cliff outside Northwind Castle and raised his hands, then began his usual morning routine of raising the waters and praying for his people.

  His oiled cloak whipped around his boots as his hands grew cold inside his thick gloves. But he needed this. He needed this time to commune with the Light and to continue to strengthen his gift. He had grown used to the pull of both water-walls on his power, but he would be happy when he could take the sea barrier down when they left for Lux Casta.

  As he went through his intercessions, he paused on Selene. The water roared in a wall reaching the edge of the cliff he stood on, spraying his boots and cloak with salty mist. His heart swelled with love and thankfulness. He closed his eyes and breathed in the cold air. Thank you, Light. Thank you for my wife.

  The corners of his lips turned upward as he resumed his exercises. What would his family have thought of Selene? Would they have been shocked that he had married a Ravenwood? Would they have accepted her? Would Quinn have joked with her in his usual manner?

  His throat thickened as he raised the waves again. They would have come to love her as he had.

  30

  Snow covered the city of Nor Esen in a thick blanket of white. Damien stared out the window of his study, lost in thought. The sweet scent of Selene still lingered in the air even though she had left a half hour ago.

  Had it really only been a fortnight since the Festival of Light? So much had happened. It was hard to believe there was a time when they barely knew each other, dancing around each other as strangers, sleeping in separate rooms, going their separate ways each day. Now they broke their fast together each morning and worked together in his study, talking and sharing ideas. Each night they fell asleep together.

  She was a partner in the truest sense. And yet . . .

  He ran a hand through his hair and turned back. She never spoke of the night terrors she experienced every night. When he asked her about them, she seemed to almost physically retreat behind a mask. Was she hiding something? Or did she feel like she couldn’t share?

  There was a knock at the door, and then it opened behind him. Damien frowned and turned around.

  “My lord, may I speak to you?” Taegis said.

  “Yes, come in. I finished my writing a short time ago.”

  Taegis shut the door behind him and approached the desk. Damien’s frown deepened at the serious look on his guardian’s face. “Is there something wrong?”

  Taegis let out a long breath. “I’m not sure.”

  “You know I value your words and thoughts. You can share whatever you need to with me.”

  Taegis paused, then answered, “It has to do with Lady Selene.”

  Damien stiffened. “Lady Selene?” This was not what he was expecting.

  “Yes. Do you remember the dreams you had when we were at Rook Castle during the assembly?”

  The hair lifted along the back of his neck. “Yes. I dreamed a lot about my family.”

  “You also dreamed of a raven, remember?”

  There was something in Taegis’s voice that triggered a warning in the back of his head. “Yes, I do remember.” He now knew it had been Selene in his dreams. “Why?”

  “It would seem a dream raven has been visiting Northwind Castle. Apparently for a while now.”

  “What do you mean?” He consciously forced his body to relax.

  “I’ve heard the guards talking about a raven in their dreams.” Taegis looked keenly at him. “Perhaps you brought something back from Rook Castle without knowing it.”

  Damien stared back. It couldn’t be Selene. She was now with him every night, so she wasn’t visiting others and dreamwalking. But only Selene could dreamwalk. Was Taegis referring to events before the Festival of Light? Was it possible Selene had been dreamwalking in the minds of those who lived here without him knowing? “Tell me more.”

  Taegis sat down with a sigh. “It’s more than just the guards. The servants have also experienced this dream.” He glanced at Damien. “And so have I.”

  “Tell me all of it. Leave out no details.”

  “At first, it started with dreams of a dark figure and a raven. Then, if you’ll recall, a handful of people were found unconscious around the castle before the Festival of Light.”

  “Healer Sildaern found nothing wrong with them.”

  “Nothing wrong, yes. Other than they’d all had the same dream. And Lady Selene was in it.”

  Damien gripped the arm of his chair. “Why wasn’t I told about this?”

  “I didn’t want to alarm you. At first I thought the people here were simply adjusting to Lady Selene’s presence, hence why she was showing up
in their dreams. I’ve had dreams about new people I’ve met. But when I overheard two of the guards talking about the exact same dream, and not on different nights but on the same night, I began to wonder. After investigating more thoroughly, I’ve come to believe that the same phenomenon that haunted your dreams back at Rook Castle has come to Northwind Castle.”

  Damien shook his head. “I don’t understand.” Selene said she had to be touching a person to use her gift. But how could she be touching so many people at the same time and entering their dreams? It wasn’t possible.

  Or was it?

  What about her mark? And what her mother said about her power? Was it possible her gift had expanded?

  A cold chill swept across his body. There were varying degrees of giftedness within each house. His gift was on par with his father’s. Quinn’s had not been as powerful. His ancestor who helped build the wall along the empire border had been very powerful.

  Was Selene more powerful than she or even her own family knew? So much so that her power had broken the known confines of her gift?

  “I’m assuming by your silence that this has something to do with Lady Selene, doesn’t it?” Taegis said quietly.

  Damien pressed a fist to his lips. “Yes.”

  “Can you talk about it?”

  He shook his head. “No.” He paused, trying to find the right words, but they tumbled from his mouth. “It would be so much easier if I could just tell you that Selene is a dreamwalker.” No loss of voice, no stopping of the tongue.

  Taegis stared at him, his face changing from disbelief to shock. His brows pressed together, and his lips went tight. “What did you say?”

  Damien’s mouth was agape. “What did you hear?”

  “I thought I heard you say that the dreamwalking gift still exists. And that Selene has it.”

  Damien had done it. He had shared House Ravenwood’s secret, the one guarded by the matriarch of the house. But did that mean . . .

  Was Selene the new grand lady of Ravenwood? Had her power surpassed that of Lady Ragna, and the ancient power of House Ravenwood now recognized her as the new head?

  He stared down at his desk. A change in the head of house due to the presence of a vastly more powerful house member was rare, but it could happen. Long ago, House Friere had experienced such, and there were a few other records of this occurrence. If these dreams were indeed Selene’s doing—that somehow she was dreamwalking in multiple minds without touching them—it meant that she was more powerful than even she knew. And Damien himself had seen her mark and experienced her power.

  “I think the shared dream with the raven and the dark figure are Selene’s doing,” Damien said slowly, looking up, “but I’m not sure how.”

  Taegis shook his head, dazed. “I thought the original members of House Ravenwood were wiped out. The dreamwalking gift gone.”

  “Not quite.” He still couldn’t believe he was sharing this.

  Taegis seemed to catch on to that. “I don’t know much about house secrets, but isn’t this one of them? How are you telling me these things?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but I have a feeling I know why.” Damien held his head in his hands, a jumble of thoughts scattering through his brain as if a great wind had come and torn through his mind.

  Selene was the new head of House Ravenwood. Did Lady Ragna know? And what were these dreams about? Who was this dark figure, and why were people collapsing from the dream? Was Selene’s burgeoning power a threat to him and his people?

  He stared down at his palms. He now held in his hands a potent secret, and he wanted to be very careful with what he did with this information—not for the sake of House Ravenwood, but for the sake of Selene. The dreamwalking gift had not been seen publicly since the first razing of the empire. This kind of secret exposed could cause distrust and fear if not handled carefully, even amongst his own people.

  Even within his own heart.

  He loved Selene, but the safety of his people came first. He would need to see to that. However . . .

  This new development meant that House Ravenwood’s secrets were theirs. This could change everything, both with the coalition and with the Great Houses.

  Maybe even the war.

  31

  By the time Damien finished speaking to Taegis, it was close to midnight. Too tired to eat, he headed for his own room for the night. The hallways were quiet, with only the occasional guard on his nightly watch.

  With the secrets of House Ravenwood under Selene’s control now, they could share with the other houses at Lux Casta that the dreamwalking gift still existed, what it had been used for in the past, and what Ravenwood’s role had been in inciting the events that had led to the invasion of the Dominia Empire. He wanted to be careful to navigate the talks in such a way that it did not color House Ravenwood in a bad light, but rather provided a cautionary tale. Yes, Ravenwood had become a bitter and hateful house, but it began when the other houses left Ravenwood to be ravaged by the empire during the first razing. It was a warning of what not to do in the upcoming war.

  Then there was also the question of what Selene was potentially doing with her growing gift to those around her. Did she know? Was that the source behind her nightmares?

  Damien rubbed the back of his neck as he opened the door to his bedchambers. So many questions. So many decisions to make. But it would have to wait until tomorrow. At the moment, he could barely hold his thoughts together.

  The fire across the room had burned down to glowing embers. The room was still warm, but a chill clung to the corners.

  He shut the door quietly and made his way to the changing screens. As he passed his bed, Selene moved beneath the mound of quilts and furs.

  “Damien?” said a groggy voice.

  “Yes, it’s me.” Just hearing Selene’s voice did things to his heart. Light, what do I do if her gift is hurting others? His throat tightened at the thought. She must have fallen back asleep because moments later, there was the soft sound of metered breathing. He sighed and stepped behind the changing screens.

  Shortly afterward, he crawled beneath the thick covers and furs. Sleep was already pulling at him. But before he succumbed, he reached over and felt for Selene’s arm underneath the covers.

  Her skin was warm and soft to his fingertips. He smiled in the darkness and settled down across the pillow, his hand along her arm. “Good night, Selene.”

  She didn’t answer.

  Damien closed his eyes and let go of the physical world.

  Images began to play across his mind: the gentle waves of the sea on a summer morning, bits of conversation with Taegis, camping under a starry night. His body relaxed in sleep’s embrace.

  Suddenly, an invisible rope tightened around his waist and hauled him forward, sending his head and legs flying back. He flew through the darkness, dragged by the invisible rope. Then the pressure around his waist disappeared, and he found himself plummeting down, down, down—

  He landed in a crouch on the balcony outside the throne room in Northwind Castle. At least, it looked like Northwind Castle. The edges of his vision were hazy, as if going in and out of focus. The area was completely dark, and yet he could still see, like gazing into a bank of fog at twilight. His mind cleared the longer he stood there, going from a dreamlike state to clarity.

  What’s going on? What’s happened to me?

  Damien turned and glanced at the door that led into Northwind Castle.

  Why am I here? Is this . . . a dream?

  He stepped forward and entered the door. The layout of the castle wasn’t like he remembered it. The rooms seemed to shift fluidly. First he was in his throne room, then he found himself in the kitchens. The dream changed, and he was standing beside Taegis near the dining hall.

  “Taegis?”

  Taegis lifted his head, his eyes half-lidded as if he were sleepwalking. Then he slipped away like an apparition. Others appeared and disappeared around the castle in the same way Taegis had.

 
Damien lifted his hand and gazed at his palm. His appearance was solid, more flesh than spirit. He was different than those he met. Like he was more cognizant of the dream than the others he encountered.

  A woman screamed inside the castle.

  Damien twisted and ran toward the sound. He rounded the corner, then staggered to a stop. On the ground lay an elderly woman, her eyes wide and lifeless. Ahead, a robed figure disappeared at the end of the corridor.

  He knelt down beside the woman. One of the kitchen staff. He brought his hand up and went to place his fingers on her neck, only to have his hand pass through her before she faded seconds later.

  What the—

  He stood and stared at the spot. What just happened? He looked around, then back at the spot. What is this place? It was Northwind Castle—and yet not—at the same time.

  There were more shouts ahead where the robed figure disappeared. Damien turned and dashed down the hall. Answers. He needed answers. As he reached the end, the dream shifted, and he found himself right inside the main doors.

  A dim light moved down the hall to his right, like someone holding a candle. He headed in that direction when something large and black brushed his head and soared along the hallway, disappearing around the corner with the light.

  A raven.

  Wait. Was Selene dreamwalking in his mind? But what about that feeling, the one that felt as if he were being pulled . . . ?

  The temperature dropped inside the hallway. A sudden shiver swept across his body. Damien sucked in a frigid breath and rubbed his arms.

  What now?

  Long tapered fingers spread across his shoulder as a putrid smell filled his nostrils. “What do we have here?” a hoarse voice whispered in his ear.

  Before he could look back, the castle changed. He was now in his bedchamber near the fireplace. The room was swathed in shadows. Selene stood by the window, dressed in a simple white nightgown. She lifted her head and spotted him. Her mouth fell open and she flinched slightly. “D-Damien?”

  He glanced down as if to confirm his own body. “Yes.” He looked back up. “What’s going on? Are you dreamwalking inside my mind?”