Raven Unveiled (The Fallen Empire) by Grace Draven

Author:Grace Draven [Draven, Grace]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-11-07T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Siora had never considered herself a reckless sort, even when she shielded Estred from a stoning with her own body or helped a draga rescue an old woman by betraying an assassin. Doing the right thing wasn’t reckless, it was just that—the right thing. Kissing Gharek of Cabast, on the other hand, was reckless. There was no justification for it, no nobility attached to it unless one wanted to put desire on a pedestal. Neither right nor wrong but still incautious, and she regretted none of it, even when he set her aside and turned his back to her.

His words, designed to cut, had done their job at first, making her bleed inside with mortification but only for a breath or two. Her greatest talent might be conversing with the dead, but she was an excellent judge of people as well. It was why she’d never given up on the cat’s-paw, seeing under all that cold brutality a man worth her faith and patience, even if only for the sake of his daughter.

She remained awake the rest of the night, counting the number of shooting stars passing overhead and the breaths of the sleeping man beside her as she replayed that lovely kiss in her mind, dwelling on the ephemeral moment and wishing it had lasted far longer, gone further than just the kiss. While she’d never admit it to anyone, he’d always intrigued her. Dangerous men usually made her wary and eager to avoid them. Even Malachus, whose character was more merciful than Gharek’s despite being a draga, had made her glad to end their brief alliance and escape into the city’s labyrinth once she’d shown him where Asil was hidden. Gharek was the exception. Sometimes the draw of another couldn’t be explained, and he’d been a lodestone for her from the moment she met him in a Domoran alleyway, his daughter in her arms.

Her musings turned to the charm Asil gave her, one that was far more than the bits and scraps of thread and flowers woven into a disk. Siora wasn’t gifted with magic, but she could sense it, and the charm had practically breathed with the sorcery of earth when Asil had adorned her with the gift. The old woman herself had the feel of earth magic about her, Halani even more so. Siora wondered who had created it—mother or daughter? Whoever had done so carried the power of rock and soil, plant and all manner of living things in their fingers. Gharek might not have felt the charm’s power, but to Siora it was unmistakable. And valued. She and her companion could use every bit of protection given to them.

By the time sleep overtook her, Gharek was shaking her awake. “Time to go,” he said, and his shuttered expression warned he wasn’t in the mood for questions, explanations, or conversation in general. They were back on the road just before the sun crested the horizon, and Siora saw at the edge of the fields a thin seam of light in the window of a distant house.

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