The Raven and the Wraith Book 2 (Completed!)

The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 38

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The Raven and the Wraith 2 Chapter 38

Luna looked at Kiera, seeing the same thing I saw. Seeing shock, hurt, and disbelief.

"It's really not what it looked like. I ran after him, I forgot his warrior instincts." She told her.

Kiera looked somewhat relieved at her reassurance, but I could still see her looking back and forth at us. I had told her everything that had happened between Genevieve and me, and she was no fool. Kiera knew I had never really got over Genevieve, even though I had left her and her beloved city.

She set her shoulders, seeming to have reached some inner conclusion, then. "Well, it looks like you've got a few, very difficult choices in front of you, Rahvin."

I walked to her, not taking my eyes off hers. "I made my choice. I'm with you, and this realm is not mine."

Luna spun around and nearly sprinted away, and Kiera watched her go. She looked a bit puzzled, and a bit sad.

"I feel bad for her. She was in love with Kavik, you know that, right?"

I shrugged. It was the safest thing to do. At the moment, I wasn't sure how much I wanted Kiera to know how I understood Luna.

"They were just kids when he died."

Kiera scowled at me. "So you think her love for him wasn't real, then?"

I shrugged again, then winced as I saw her scowl deepen. "I just met her. I probably shouldn't try too hard to pinpoint what she may or may not have felt for someone four years ago."

Kiera grabbed my hand and searched my eyes. "What she may have felt for "someone"? Rahvin, she was in love with you. You and Kavik are the same person, just on different realms."

I opened my mouth to deny that, but she shook her head. "Don't. You know she is Genevieve, just as much as you are Kavik."

I felt a surge of frustration rise up, then. "What do you want me to say or do? Are you trying to rub it in how trapped I am right now?" I snapped.

She looked surprised, then angry. "I could be doing that. Or, just maybe, I'm trying to help you understand...understand everything going on here, so you won't feel so trapped!"

I leaned back against the wall and ran my hand through my hair, looking away from her. I sucked in a few deep breaths, then looked back at her. She was waiting patiently, her anger melted away, staring up at me with her beautiful eyes full of concern.

"Don't look at me like that."

Her lips quirked up. "Look at you like what?"

"Like you care what I'm feeling, what I'm thinking." I thought to myself.

I tugged her hand. "C'mon, let's go for a walk. I could use some fresh air."

We walked around the castle and surrounding grounds for a few hours, chatting easily. Talking about whatever came to mind, except for what was to happen tomorrow, and what my plans were. Kiera understood me, knowing now wasn't the time to push. I wondered how she could be so intuitive with me. Was I so easy to read?

It was a strange thought, as I considered how living alone on the streets could have made me unaware of how much of what was on the inside I showed on the outside.

We ended up having a servant show us to our rooms as the night fell. Kiera had tried to encourage me to sleep well, that tomorrow wasn't here yet, to live in the moment. I wondered if she knew how adept I was at living in the moment. Or how much I wanted to fall back to viewing the world that way right now, but couldn't.

In my room, I stared at the huge, comfortable looking bed. I was anything but tired, my mind racing. How had this happened? It had been so simple, I was to carry the Shadowfall back to its rightful place here on the Cha'el world. To restore Balance. The Balance that had been upset by the limitless greed of the Council.

Now, I had blended with the Shadowfall. And the shattered Kahlraugh of my dead family. I suddenly thought about the Cat. It's touch, it's power, inside of me. Had that blended into me, also?

I closed my eyes and cautiously looked inside, feeling like I was tiptoeing inside my own head, which was ridiculous enough that it made me growl. It did not matter who or what had bonded itself to my inherent magic, I was still Rahvin, and I always would be. I would not be defined by Power. I would not be a puppet to it.

I would not become like the Council. Like Genevieve.

In my mind, in the last hallway of shadows, crouched silently in a cobwebbed corner, I found myself staring at a set of unblinking cat eyes. Eyes glittering with the Touch of The Cat.

Eyes terribly familiar.

I opened my eyes, then threw my arms out wide for balance as the room spun around me. Inside, I could sense the savage power of those eyes as they raked through my every thought. As they began to lift up and out, rising up, casting away the layers of my denial like fragile strands of spider webs.

I gritted my teeth and sank to my knees, vaguely curious what that distant, rasping whine was. Then, even as I realized it was coming from my own throat, I felt my power surge into my limbs. It was a torrent of ice, a raging river stretching past the horizon, funneling down through my veins. I snarled and threw my willpower at it, trying to push it back. It would not be denied. Not this time.

Fear rose up, then. A midnight-quick specter, armed with claws and fangs that cut through logic, training, and experience, and found the deepest scars.