Page 46 of White Raven

“Right.” He snorted, standing up. “That amazing schooling you got.”

“Are you belittling me for having an education?” I rose up after him.

“I’m criticizing the fact your education is only what they want you to know, that you have no understanding of what is happening outside your castle walls.”

“They told me Night Ravens are soulless fiends. And that has proven true.”

He stared at me as if I was an impudent child. “And I was shown that Day Ravens are entitled, arrogant, selfish fittes. That seems on point as well.”

“Selfish?” I gaped. “I literally saved your life today!”

A smirk twitched his mouth, his head tilting down to me. “I benefited from you needing to save your own. But let’s not forget the part you somehow escaped the bindings and were running off. My life is inconsequential to you. I am a thrall in your eyes. Less than.” He had the power to completely engulf me, to cause me to feel strangled by his presence without him touching me.

“And I’m not worthless in yours?” I spat. “You keep me alive because you have to.”

“True.”

“Because your king ordered you to? That’s where you are taking me, right? To Ravenshadow?”

His mouth thinned.

“No questions asked. You just did what you were told?” I provoked him. “Letting yourself get captured by my father’s guards, to work in our household, to get closer to me?”

Crossing his arms, the muscles strained the seams of his tunic, showing more of the tattoo on his neck. Fresh blood leaked from his shoulder.

I didn’t stop. “How does that make you anything other than a thrall under your own king as well?”

“You have no idea what is really going on.”

“Don’t I?” I seethed back. “I know you need the White Raven to heal the land. That’s why the Night King wants me. For power? To unite the realms with me at his side? I’m nothing more than a foretelling to you. An object to use.”

“You are so out of your depth, kanin.” His jaw snapped, his torso leaning into me, his teeth gritting. “Do yourself, and me, a favor. Keep your fucking hood up and your mouth closed and do what I say when we get to Blackwater.”

A howl pierced the air, the melancholy wail shuddering up my spine, turning my head toward the woods. His awareness went to the forest when another yowl followed from a different direction nearby.

“We better get going. The wolves here love Raven flesh.”

“Goody, something else that wants to eat me.”

His gaze shot to me, the nerve in his jaw twitching. For a second his attention glided down to my mouth, but then he pivoted, stomping to the horse, climbing back on.

The urge to run, to get away from him, twitched my legs and deflected my attention to the east. The flash of hope that I could elude him, make it home, quickly perished when the draugrhest neighed, stomping its hoof behind me, almost daring me to run. The beast would gleefully run me down before I could even cross the stream, using my bones to pick its teeth.

Sighing heavily, I made my way back to the monster and the thing he was riding. That sinking sensation pitted my stomach again, the fear that I crossed some imaginary line.

And there was no turning back for me.

The township of Silvervale had always seemed like the perfect place to me. The white castle, with its dramatic turrets and snowcapped roofs, nestled high in the mountains slightly above the idyllic town, surrounded by nature. As the capital of our realm, it boasted shops, hothouses, markets, tradespeople, and homes expanding out around the castle grounds, with the beautiful Silver Feather lake and river glinting behind like diamonds.

Sarina and I had walked daily around the village, or as children played games in its streets, and never once did I feel unsafe. It never occurred to me. My handmaidens and I were protected and revered. People moved out of our way and bowed.

I grew up hearing stories of other realms, how dangerous and scary life was outside the Day borders, but my brain never fully comprehended the reality.

The dissolution and licentiousness.

The stench of piss and feces had me pulling my hood over my mouth when the horse sauntered us down the main dirt lane of Blackwater. The street teemed with activity. The dense, multilevel dark wood buildings closed in around us and loomed over, causing my chest to tighten with anxiety. Loud booming voices and music thundered from various buildings, men and women loitering outside the establishments, shouting at us to join them.

I pressed back into the Northerner’s body, overwhelmed by my senses being pulled in multiple directions. Two men tumbled out into the lane, almost crashing into us as they punched and wrestled, while moans came from the shadows. A couple fucking against the building, her tits out of her bodice, bouncing as he rammed her into the wall. She wailed loudly and freely, not caring to hide her pleasure.