Raven Song: Shifters Bewitched #4 Read online

  “On the other hand, Juniper Krantz couldn’t access her magic at all,” Cori went on. “It was intense. She cried. A lot.”

  “We have to do something,” Luke said.

  But none of us knew what to do.

  The Brotherhood of the Broken Blade had used Jared’s blood to open a portal in the veil between our world and the fae world. And as they hoped, the Raven King had stepped through.

  He was beautiful, and terrible. And just before he killed us all, I stepped forward and asked him to wait.

  He didn’t say a word, only met my eyes and then disappeared.

  And the portal had crumbled behind him.

  Now magic was ebbing and flowing wildly at the school. It seemed certain that he had left something of his power behind.

  But what were we supposed to do about that?

  Suddenly, Calvin shrieked and launched himself off my shoulder, his brother following suit an instant later.

  “Whoa,” Reed said, eyes at the ceiling where the birds were circling.

  “I guess I should get them out of here,” I said, jumping up.

  “You’re not going to eat that?” Luke asked, eyeing my plate.

  “Do not try to feed that to me,” Bella said immediately.

  “Help yourself,” I said, trying and failing to hide my smile.

  Calvin screamed again and I hustled toward the cafeteria doors, knowing the ravens would follow.

  Everyone was staring at me. I hoped the school wouldn’t rescind my permission to keep the ravens. They were normally very polite for wild animals. I wasn’t sure what had gotten into them today.

  Maybe they just craved the woods, like I did. More likely, they were hungry.

  We rushed out the back doors of the school and into the courtyard. A brisk wind lifted my hair and whipped my robes around my legs. The bite of winter was in the air, but the sun was warm enough for now.

  Normally, Calvin and Hobbes were happy to hunt in the meadow between the courtyard and the boxwood labyrinth. But today they sailed over both and disappeared into the dark forest.

  I repressed a shiver and followed after them, slowly.

  I could just turn around and go back to school. The ravens were old enough to be fine on their own, and my dorm window was open.

  But there was something about their strange behavior that made me want to stay near.

  And whether I wanted to admit it or not, I had my own dark fascination with the woods.

  I had never skipped school before, at least not at Primrose. Today was going to be an exception.

  I turned and headed back to the old stables. There was no way I could keep up with my charges on foot. With any luck, Silas Brake, the groundskeeper, would be otherwise occupied, and I could take one of the horses.

  He was sure to be furious when I returned, but I was also skipping school, so a punishment was inevitable. I might as well live it up.

  After a few minutes’ walk, I saw the steep slate roof and slightly askew weather vane of the stables.

  “Mr. Brake,” I called out tentatively.

  But there was no reply.

  I stepped inside to the musty scent of sweet hay. The horses stamped at the sound of a guest.

  “Hi,” I called softly to them, letting a sliver of my magic wash out around me.

  I had a way with animals. I hadn’t learned it at school. It was just something I felt, something that had always been special about me.

  The nearest stallion whickered back at me. He was monstrously huge, with ink black fur and mane, and long feathers at his fetlocks, and I loved him immediately.

  “Would you like to explore the woods with me?” I asked him.

  He jerked his head up and stamped on his stall floor in excitement.

  “How do you feel about fast travel?” I asked him.

  But he was already bumping his muzzle against the stall door.

  “Come on, love,” I chuckled. “We’re going.”

  He pushed the stall door as I was unlatching it, almost knocking me over.

  But he stopped and nudged my belly with his tender snout.

  “It’s okay,” I told him. “I know you don’t get to pull the carriage much these days. Ready?”

  He lowered his head, as if to invite me onboard.

  I placed my hands gently on his withers and threw up my leg while pulling.

  Somehow, I managed to slide on top of his back.

  There was just enough time to tangle my fingers in his mane before he took off through the stables and out the front door. He seemed to know where we were heading, hooves beating the ground in a steady tattoo as we ate up the distance between the stable and the woods in no time.

  “Beautiful boy,” I praised him, as we reached the darkness of the forest.

  I nearly shuddered with relief at the feel of the trees around me at last. What was wrong with me?

  I glanced around, but the ravens were nowhere to be seen.

  “Do you want to go faster?” I whispered to the stallion.

  His velvet ears pricked up and I whispered something else to him, the ancient words of a simple spell that would let him go as fast as he desired.

  Suddenly, the trees were streaking past as the horse sped up. I held in the desire to squeal with joy as the forest absorbed us.

  3

  The Raven King

  The breeze picked up, intensifying the putrid scent of the town below the mountain. Car fumes mixed with cooking smells to cover up the weak odor of the lackluster flora on the sepia-toned hillside.

  “In my kingdom, the air is sweet and the trees are ancient, with deep roots and a healthy canopy,” I remarked aloud. “I do not like this side of the veil. It is not as I remember.”

  But it had been a long stretch since I visited this realm. It was clear that hard times had befallen the mortals without our magic to soften the rough edges of their world, and without my kind to keep them on their toes with our wickedness.

  Everything was grey and sad here now, as if this side had come to terms with its bleak and endless future and simply given up. And although everyone knew the Raven King was all powerful, and feared nothing, something about the place made me restless.

  “I’m going home again,” I announced. “I just have to open the portal. I have no reason to be here.”

  Or did I?

  I tried not to picture the girl, with her dark hair and her pale white ravens. Winter ravens did not belong on this side of the veil.

  And the girl did not belong here either. There was something about her that called to me, told me she belonged under my protection.

  I shook my head to clear it, and looked around. Nothing would keep me in this bleak place, not even that strange girl.

  The clearing with the river, mill, and altar stone couldn’t be far. My sense of direction here was imperfect, but I could smell the vestiges of the magic that had been spent to bring me here, as if they were the fragrant remains of a campfire.

  I followed the coppery taste of shifter blood on the air until I found it.

  The clearing looked smaller without all the bothersome mortals scurrying about. There was the stone, still rusty with the panther shifter’s blood. Beyond it stood the mill and the stone bridge over the frigid grey river, leading to all of it.

  “Almost there,” I said.

  Crossing the bridge, I could see the pile of rubble behind the altar stone that had made up the archway that held the portal between worlds.

  Lifting my hand, I spoke silently to the stones, reminding them that it was time to lift themselves up and rebuild.

  They trembled, and then slowly began to roll into place. It was as if this world had air of honey. On my side of the veil the stones would have whirled like dancers to carry out my will.

  “Okay,” I said, pointing to the altar. “This shouldn’t be too difficult. You just lie down there.”

  There was no reply.

  I turned expectantly to the shifter I had captured and entranced.


  I wasn’t sure if sacrificing the shifter would be enough to reopen the portal without the magic of the broken blade, but it was worth a shot.

  The beast in man form gazed up at me with hazy eyes. I probably should have given him something to drink or let him rest along the way. We had made a two-day walk in one night.

  But there was no point in it now, he was going to die in a few minutes anyway.

  Minutes, years, decades…

  What difference did it make? All the milestones that marked the short lives of these mortals seemed too short to even bother counting.

  “Lie down on the altar,” I said flatly.

  Understanding cleared the haze in his eyes, and they went wide with terror as his body obeyed my words.

  But before I could watch him spread himself out on the stone for me, the breeze carried a burst of color into the gray meadow.

  It was nothing I could see or hear, or even smell, just a breath of life that shivered in my blood.

  I spun around just as a dark horse galloped into the clearing with a woman on his back.

  But not just any woman.

  The woman.

  Her dark hair swirled around her and fury lit her piercing eyes.

  If I knew fear, I might have felt it at that reproachful look.

  “You can’t do that,” she told me, meeting my eyes without the slightest show of deference.

  Something deep inside me purred like a cat.

  “Why not?” I asked her lazily. “Are you attached to this beast?”

  Women liked my half-smile, so I lavished it on this small one, eager to see her lips part and her eyes go soft.

  But my usual magnetism seemed to have no effect on her.

  “That is a person,” she said, her bell-clear voice enunciating each syllable. “You can’t just murder him.”

  Her eyes flashed, and I was starting to feel a bit entranced myself.

  “It will die within the century anyway,” I pointed out, trying to recover myself. “There’s no point coddling it.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me, and I found myself craving something I had never craved.

  Despite my power, and her lack of reverence, I had no wish to dash her to the ground. Instead, I wanted only to please her.

  Never one to resist temptation, I waved a lazy hand at the shifter, releasing my hold on him.

  He scrambled off the stone altar and headed for the woods, stumbling and crashing into the undergrowth with all the grace of a wounded hippogriff.

  “He’s going to regret not stopping for a drink of water,” I said, looking after him.

  I was doing my best to ignore the feelings the impudent woman stirred inside me. But I wasn’t sure it was a fight I could win.

  4

  Anya

  The Raven King turned back to me, curiosity sparkling in his pale eyes.

  I should have been cowed by his power, but I wasn’t afraid of him. I had thought that it must have been the adrenaline that let me meet his eyes the first time. Even looking down at him from atop the horse, he seemed larger than life.

  But I had just scolded him into letting a man go. And now he was studying me with a bemused expression, the hint of a half-smile tickling one corner of his mouth.

  “So you’re trying to go back,” I heard myself say.

  “Naturally,” he said. “I’m king beyond the veil. This place is not my home.”

  He was right, of course.

  And with his powers, he was just going to capture another guardian the minute I turned my back. He had obviously only stopped this time because he was curious. I needed to give him an alternative.

  “What if I can get you back without murdering anyone?” I asked, stalling for time to come up with something.

  “How would you do that, girl?” he asked.

  That was a good question.

  “I’ll talk to the Primrose headmistress,” I decided. “She’ll know.”

  “Primrose?” he asked, seeming surprised. “There are still witches at Primrose?”

  I blinked at him in surprise.

  “There have always been witches at Primrose,” I told him. It was true, as far as I knew, anyway.

  “The rest of this side seems different,” he said, narrowing those beautiful eyes as he gazed over the meadow. “I wouldn’t think the witches would like it here anymore.”

  There was no right answer to that, so I just gaped at him, trying not to notice the godliness of his physique, or the way the breeze seemed to be tousling his hair lovingly - not just whipping it around like it did with mine.

  “Fine,” he said at last. “Take me to the witches.”

  He strode over and leapt onto the back of the horse behind me, wrapping his arms around me to tangle in its mane.

  I repressed a shiver at the feel of his body entangled with mine.

  Get it together, Anya.

  The ride back to school was a long one, even if I lent the stallion speed. I needed to pace myself.

  “They’ve been back here,” I said, noticing fresh footprints near the bank. The Order of the Broken Blade might have gone quiet, but they weren’t gone.

  “They won’t let me catch sight of them again,” he said.

  I could hear his smile. His voice rumbled through me, sending off a shower of awareness.

  Think about the Order of the Broken Blade, I admonished myself.

  “They’re so angry at us,” I thought out loud.

  “Our kind need not worry about offending theirs,” the king chuckled.

  Our kind?

  “We’re far from Primrose,” he pointed out. “Can this creature not be enchanted.”

  “He was enchanted all the way here,” I told him. “I’m letting him walk awhile.”

  “You’re enjoying the ride,” he said.

  I opened my mouth and closed it again. How did he keep saying things I couldn’t answer?

  “I’m enjoying it too, girl,” he whispered into my hair.

  I will not swoon. I will not swoon…

  “I have a name, you know,” I told him primly.

  “We all have names,” he remarked.

  “Mine is Anya,” I told him.

  “As good as any to use in company,” he said. “Well met, Anya.”

  “You’re not going to tell me yours?” I asked.

  “You may call me Your Majesty,” he replied. “And if you think you’re going to have my true name because of one romantic ride on horseback, you’re cockier than I thought, girl.”

  “Anya,” I said automatically.

  “Anya,” he allowed, the smile back in his voice.

  We rode on in silence for a few minutes through the trees.

  The birds were awake now, filling the forest with their morning song.

  I thought of Calvin and Hobbes and hoped they had found their way home again. It had been almost like they were leading me into the woods.

  And now they had left me alone with the Raven King.

  “How did you get here?” the king asked me softly, as the stallion picked his way across a shallow stream

  “I rode the horse,” I laughed. “You saw me.”

  Harsh cries cut through the forest gloom and Calvin appeared, followed by Hobbes, as if I had summoned them by thinking about them.

  “Hello, boys,” I called to the snowy birds.

  They circled us but did not land on my shoulders, as usual. They seemed overexcited.

  “These are your familiars?” the king asked in a pleased way.

  “I raised them,” I told him proudly. “They came to me as hatchlings.”

  “Beautiful,” he said, letting go of the stallion’s mane to raise his arm into the air.

  Calvin sailed down to rest at his elbow, and Hobbes surprised me by following suit. Hobbes was normally shy, and glad to let his brother try things out before joining him.

  The king made a lovely crooning sound, and the ravens nodded their heads up and down repeatedly.

  “I see,”
he said. “Thank you.”

  He gave his arm a slight lift and the boys sailed off into the sky again, crying out happily.

  “What was that?” I asked him.

  “Lovely creatures,” he said in a satisfied way that told me I would learn no more.

  When he lowered his arm, he wrapped it around my waist instead of reaching for the stallion’s mane.

  Every cell in my body seemed to strain toward his. I closed my eyes and fought off the attraction. This was the Raven King. He wasn’t to be trusted, and I certainly shouldn’t be fantasizing about him.

  I bent and whispered to the stallion, feeling a little guilty for egging him on to enchanted speed once more.

  But I wasn’t sure what was happening between myself and the Raven King, and I was eager to get back to Primrose, where someone wiser could help me sort it out. Or at least distract me.

  As the stallion leapt forward, the Raven King laughed and pulled my body closer to his, until there was no space between his hard body and mine.

  Magical speed or not, it was going to be a long ride.

  5

  The Raven King

  The ride to Primrose pleased me immensely. The girl, Anya, as she liked to be called, was delicious in my arms, in spite of her lithe figure. The mystery of her existence excited my mind as much as her scent and softness enthralled my body.

  It had been an eternity since there had been a worthy puzzle for me to solve, and I worried at it with some enjoyment.

  She was so fearless. Why did she not explain herself to me?

  I turned it over in my mind as we sailed through the trees and found that with the girl occupying my arms and my thoughts, I no longer cared about what else was lacking in this world.

  Too soon, we reached the edge of the forest and the beginning of the witches’ tiresome labyrinth.

  I noted that it was as well-tended as it had been when I was last in this land. And just as boring.

  On my side of the veil, the walls of the labyrinth would shift and move, allowing the traveler to experience a true confusion. Nothing like this stale mockery.