The Ashen Raven's Treason

Chapter 6

Another awkward and unsteady laugh leaves me and echoes down the empty corridor and into the enclosed staircase. I clamp a hand over my mouth to dull the sound, but the guards standing at the bottom of the stairs know all too well that my shaking shoulders don't originate from sorrow. Mutes's side bumps into mine and he shushes me, earning himself a shove in the arm.

"It's not that funny," he hisses, leaning down so passing servants can't hear his voice. They know his standing, but continue to stare at him like he's a figment of their imagination. Same as I do with Cloak or Gustus, I find it difficult not to glare in silent warning.

"You must imagine it," I say through a fit of laughter.

He rolls his deep brown eyes. "I was there, Marie. I don't have to imagine it; I have the horrid memory to remind myself of what occurred last winter."

Despite my best efforts to keep it down, another burst of laughter cracks loose from my chest and I clamp another hand over my mouth to keep that sound from breaking the windows in the sunny hall we walk through. Finally, a day that isn't shrouded by storm clouds. The perfect afternoon to visit Castiel in the capital and return in time for dinner—a large bowl of beef soup with floating celery, carrots, and seasoned with the finest of ocean salt.

Getting Mutes out of the palace has opened the doors to his heart, his memories, and an eternal wonderment of amusement. I have never heard a more innocent and hardly used laugh that the one that plagues him when he attempts to recall another blunder of his past. Standing at the queen's side is not a guarantee of pride and perfection. Not for Mutes, anyway.

He brings a finger to his mouth. "You're attracting the attention of birds outside the window," he warns around a mild chuckle. The corners of his eyes crinkle, a wide smile blossoming onto his cheeks. Their rosy red shade fades from our stroll through the courtyard to reach the warm abyss of the palace interior. "Please, keep your mockery of me to a minimum."

I place my hand on his arm. "I'm not mocking you, Mutes. It's just the idea of you...falling on a patch of ice is more amusing than you make it seem."

Feigning great pride, he squeezes the hand on his arm. His cold fingers send a shock of ice to my shoulder. "Is that truly the part you wish to focus on? What if I told you I took Friava down with me?"

"You didn't." I gape.

He winces, nodding through the embarrassment roiling in his skull. "I needed something to grab onto; she was the closest source of stability. Sadly, Friava is frail and didn't expect me clawing at her shoulder. The poor girl went down harder than I did."

My face turns red with how hard I attempt to hide my delight. The idea of Mutes slipping on ice by himself made me laugh, but taking Friava down with him is a sight I wish I could've seen. I sigh. "You're lucky the queen wasn't there to witness this. She might've sent you so far into the Void Territory, the fog would swallow you."

He hesitates a moment, his smile drooping. I think I might've said something out of my line of reason until Mutes reaches up, scratching at the back of his neck. "I never said the queen wasn't there," he says with a wink.

A guard nearly jumps out of his armor at the sound of my gasp rupturing through the quiet hall near the library. Through the open doors, the walls covered in dusty bookcases and shadowing torn armchairs look on. A servant strolls by, humming to herself and sweeping off the wooden floorboards. They're worn with age, brittle and chipped.

I have to stop myself from skipping with excitement. "What did she do?"

"Nothing exciting, actually." Mutes cocks his head to the side, exposing a thin plane of neck. "If anything, she was more embarrassed than the two of us, and that's saying something. I don't think my cheeks returned to a normal color until hours later when I had time to digest what I had done."