Page 73 of Heart of Night
“Then there is the antidote that lifts the effects of the drug. The one they gave you, Ayna.” Her face doesn’t show a sign of our silent conversation from before as she meets my gaze, but her eyes do. The softness there has nothing to do with the warrior I met that first day at the Flame estate. “You really should be fine soon.”
“Did that one turn me into a Crow?” I can’t help asking even when it sounds ridiculous.
Clio shakes her head. “I don’t think there is any substance capable of turning you into something you aren’t already.”
“Truth.” Kaira is quick to agree. Too quick, and I groan in frustration as another surge of nausea hits.
“How do you know?” I demand after breathing through the assault, forcing my stomach to keep it in since there is nothing left to expel.
Kaira’s cheeks turn darker—or it might have been the clouds pulling tighter. “Herinor and I have a theory.”
“A theory?” I prompt, unable to muster the patience I’d usually have for someone who’s already in the middle of explaining.
“Let the female speak,” Clio interjects, and of course, she’s right.
“So, the theory,” she says with a sideways glance at the fairy, never pulling her attention from the streets for longer than a few breaths, “is that you’ve been a Crow for a while.”
My mouth opens then closes, no words spilling from my tongue even when I have a million thoughts about how that’s impossible.
Welcome to the world of the fae, Ephegos had said. Not as in, welcome to a new world, but welcome to a world I could finally see now that my senses are cleared of the drug. It makes a painful lot of sense.
“Think about it,” she responds to all those thoughts at once, encompassing the main issue. “The antidote took the blanket off your powers and your senses. You started perceiving the world differently—like a fairy.”
“Or a Crow,” Clio chimes in, getting on board with that theory way faster than I could have imagined.
“Right.” Kaira nods, gesturing at me. “The tattoo on your shoulder is a mark of Vala, a reminder of what you did and who you are.”
“And who am I?” I’m no longer sure I know.
“The Queen of Crows, breaker of the curse, and chosen by the Crow King,” Kaira recites as if she’s been studying these lines for exactly this moment. “Or, in other words, Myron’s mate.”
“We already know that,” Clio interrupts, her patience spread as thin as mine. “Get to the interesting part.”
“Herinor believes Vala wasn’t the only one involved in the mercy of bringing Myron back from the dead.”
I don’t breathe because it’s easier not to get sick from the stench of my own vomit all over again if I don’t. And I can’t miss a word.
“He thinks, as their maker, Shaelak might have been involved in creating the marks on both your shoulders and gifting you more than just a mate.”
Herinor’s words come back to me in a flash. Vala gave you a mate to fight for. Shaelak gave you wings to match his. Now go and fly, little bird.
He didn’t mean that metaphorically. He meant it literally.
“Herinor thinks Shaelak made me a Crow?” The disbelief is hard to hide.
“Herinor has been alive long enough to know the gods interfere rarely, but when they do, things are brutal and final. But if a deity deems you worthy, they will grant you something to mark you theirs as well.”
“Water magic from Vala,” Clio says with a nod as if it’s the most logical thing in the world.
“And Crow wings from Shaelak,” Kaira adds. “You redeemed his creatures and saved them from Vala’s curse. It’s his way of thanking you.”
“By making me one of them?” I am suddenly cold, shaking like a little child waking from a nightmare. It might be the drug or the news or both.
“By making you Myron’s equal,” Kaira corrects, much to Clio’s chagrin, because the female whirls around on her knees, baring her teeth at Kaira in the first real fairy move I’ve seen her make since the battle in the Seeing Forest.
“Don’t for a second try to make her feel like she was ever any less than his equal. Ayna was born his equal. Survived hardship just like he has.” Green fire flares in her eyes. “She fucking saved him. Saved his entire people by deeming him worthy of her love.” Her fingers curl at her sides. “If anyone was made anyone’s equal, it is him.”
Not daring to speak, to even move at such a display of fierce loyalty, I hold my breath as I wait for Kaira to respond.