Windburn

I name you as my heir, Larkspur. Should I fall, or should my mind break, you will be the one to see our family through. There is none other who can do this; the mother goddess has made it clear you are the choice for the Rim.

I love you, daughter. No matter what happens, know my love for you is true. You have always been the one I loved the best. The one I pinned all my hopes on.

Again he paused and dipped the feather, but this time he stopped with the tip hanging over the paper. The black liquid dripped off the tip, leaving a blob on the bottom of the page that spread in a shape he knew all too well.

The raven’s wings spread wide across the page, and he shook his head. “No. I must finish this. Blackbird, be gone from my mind!”

I wobbled, even though I was on one knee in the Traveling room within the Rim. The memory would have brought me to my knees if I hadn’t already been there. Claws dug into my leg. I turned my attention to my familiar. “Peta, did you see—”

“No. I felt things that were not you.”

“What are you two talking about?” my father demanded.

The doors burst open and several guards poured in.

Everything jumbled together. The journey, the destruction of the Eyrie, the death of Aria, my father’s memory, the oubliette. I slumped forward to my knees.

“Father, Vetch tried to kill Bella and me. The guards will corroborate,” I said.

The guards nodded one by one.

“Why would your brother try to kill you?” His eyes were filled with confusion.

“Because he thought he was the named heir. Because Cassava set him on us.” Slowly I pushed myself to my feet, though I was anything but steady. “I need to rest. You need to name an heir.”

I walked out of the Traveling room, Peta right with me at my side.

One of the guards, Arbutus, caught up to me. “I will see you to your room, Princess.”

I snorted. “Where is Raven?”

“Gone, missing for the last week.”

“And Blackbird?”

Arbutus shrugged. “I don’t know who that is, but none with the name has been here.”

I stopped. “I need a message sent to Bella and Ash. Tell them the queen is dead. And give Bella this.” I took the small leather pouch from my side and turned my back to Arbutus. I pulled the emerald stone from my vest and dropped it into the bag. It was the best I could do with what I had at hand.

I gave it over to Arbutus.

He bobbed his head and turned back the way we’d come. “I’ll take the message myself.”

I should have been happy, but the truth was, I knew Blackbird was far from done. Likely he was licking his wounds and preparing some new trap for me. Then there was my father’s memory I’d seen. It tore me up from the inside out. Knowing he knew he was losing his mind to the damage Cassava had done.

We reached my room and I slipped inside, closing the door behind me.

I’d lost my father, just as I’d found him within his memories. A rough tongue flicked over my cheek, swiping away a tear. I dropped to the bed, then rolled my head so I could tuck my face against Peta.

“Lark, what did you see?”

Carefully I pieced the words together. “The letter, I’m sure it was the one he sent to me in the Pit. The one Blackbird took. He’ll have destroyed it by now.”

“Of course.” Peta stretched out further, yawning. “He’s not a fool.”

I closed my eyes, feeling like I was missing something. Something out of reach that if I could put my finger on everything else would make sense.

Peta was right, Blackbird was not a fool. I thought about the final thing my father had said. Even now, with Cassava and Blackbird gone, he couldn’t understand how destroyed our family was.

Dysfunction on a royal level.

“You need to sleep, Lark. Close your eyes.”

There was no use in arguing. Already the warmth of the bed, the comfort of Peta beside me, and the knowledge that my father was back where he was supposed to be, lulled me into dreamland.

Once there, my dreams were anything but restful. I saw Ash banished, Cactus whipped with the lava whip while Cassava shrieked with laughter, Peta skinned and her hide put on Samara’s back. None of the dreams made any sense.

The last was a dream I’d not seen for months. My mother and Bramley killed by Cassava. I held my mother in my arms, sobbing. Her dead eyes stared up at me, empty of soul, empty of anything that made her my mother except the brilliant blue color.

“You have failed me, Lark.”

I shot straight up in bed, panting for air, tears streaming down my face. I wanted to believe it was yet another game of the mother goddess . . . but I couldn’t be sure. And that doubt hurt me as much as the thought of failing her. I pressed a hand to my eyes and struggled to control my emotions, but the heart pain would not leave me.

Peta slept soundly as I dressed and slipped out of the room into the hall. The night beckoned to me as I walked out of the barracks. The pull of the dark was a visceral sensation that tugged my feet forward until I stood in the center of the blasted field, where everything lay dead around me. Slowly, finally, the dream faded.

My ears caught the shuffle of cloth on cloth, and the faintest snap of a twig underfoot. I held my ground, even as my body tensed. I called the power of the earth to me and held it tightly.

“Blackbird, I’m surprised you would show your face.” I kept my back to him.

“Lark, please. Call me Raven.”

“You are not my brother.” I turned then to stare at him. He wore his cloak, though it did not cover his face for the first time.