The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire, #1)(47)

“Hunting.” The princess turned to face Kol as Jyn and Trugg flanked him, their arms crossed over their chests and their expressions grim. “A mardushka uses her magic by calling to the heart of the thing she touches. Every heart feels a little different—the best way I can describe it is that it feels like the characteristics of the person, animal, or thing I’m touching. I’m going to see if I can trick my magic into believing the heart I hold is Gabril’s.”

“Whose heart do you plan on holding?” Kol asked, half afraid the answer would be his, though he thought he was far enough away from her to have a chance at shifting before she could hit him with her magic.

“An animal’s,” the princess said. Sasha returned, carrying the limp carcass of a rabbit in her beak. She swooped past the Eldrians and smacked Trugg in the head with the rabbit’s body as she passed.

“Stupid bird,” he muttered as he scrubbed a hand over his hair.

“My bird can drive her beak straight through your neck and into your artery in less time that it takes for you to draw a weapon, and she already dislikes you intensely. If I were you, I’d do my best not to antagonize her any further,” Lorelai said.

“I thought the bird obeyed you,” Trugg said.

“Better not antagonize me either.” Lorelai knelt as Sasha laid the rabbit at her feet.

“I’ll have you know that I am a Draconi warrior who graduated from the academy with honors befitting a warrior who— Oh skies, that’s disturbing.”

Trugg fell silent as Sasha tore the rabbit’s chest wide open with one strike. Her second strike ripped the heart free, and then the bird cocked her head and glared at the Eldrians, blood dripping from her beak.

“I see your point,” Trugg said.

The princess held out her hand, and Sasha deposited the rabbit heart on her palm.

“Can you tell it was a rabbit’s heart?” Kol asked, stepping forward despite the forbidding look the princess aimed at him.

It was his fate on the line. His life, his kingdom. He had to see the magic at work for himself.

Brilliant white light shot from her palms and surrounded the heart. “It feels like a rabbit.”

“I should think so,” Jyn said.

The princess stared at the heart. “No, I mean the essence of the heart is very . . . rabbitlike. Arrow-quick thoughts, wariness, and speed. It would never pass for human, even if the size and shape were right.” She looked at Gabril. “Would you be willing to cut your hand and put your blood on the heart so I can see how that changes the essence?”

Kol took another step forward. “Let me. This is my problem to fix. There’s no need for him to have an injury, no matter how small.”

The princess locked eyes with him, and the disdain in her expression was worse than the disappointment he’d become used to seeing in his father’s face. At least with his father, he could tell himself he’d been misunderstood, or that something his father had done justified Kol’s behavior.

There was no misunderstanding here, and the justification that he was desperate to save Eldr didn’t change what he’d nearly done to the girl who’d saved his life.

“My magic has already touched Gabril’s heart. I know what his feels like.” She cut each word into sharp little pieces. “I’m not interested in having anything to do with yours, even if it could pass for human and not Draconi, which it can’t.”

He absorbed her words and held her gaze. She didn’t have to have anything to do with his heart, but he wanted her to see it in his eyes anyway. Regret for what his choices had nearly cost her. Regret for being at Irina’s side when her brother was killed. And desperation to change the fate of his people without making the princess pay the price for their salvation.

Something soft flickered through the princess’s gaze, but then she turned away as Gabril said, “Ready when you are, Lorelai.”

Swiftly, Gabril nicked the fleshy side of his palm against his sword. Lorelai placed the heart on a nearby rock and watched as Gabril allowed his blood to drip over it. When his cut began to clot, he reached down with his other hand and smeared the heart on all sides, covering it completely with his blood.

“Now try.”

She reached for the heart and cradled it in her palm. The same white light surrounded the heart, and the princess frowned.

“Did it work?” Kol asked.

Lorelai’s frown slowly eased into fierce smile that had Kol’s dragon heart thumping hard in his chest.

“It worked. Now instead of rabbitlike thoughts, wariness, and speed, I feel quick intelligence, speedy reflexes, and a stubborn sense of duty.” She looked at Gabril. “If I hadn’t recently felt your true heart for myself, I’d believe that this was yours.”

“Except for the obvious problem that it doesn’t look anything like a human heart,” Jyn said.

“No, but a deer’s heart would.” Lorelai looked at Trugg. “How fast can you hunt one down and bring it back to me?”

Trugg looked to Kol, and the king nodded.

“Fine. I’ll go find a deer. That’s exactly why I excelled at flying and battle strategy at the academy. So I could hunt down a deer.” Trugg stabbed a finger at Lorelai. “My king had better be in one piece when I get back.”

“I’m not the mardushka he needs to worry about.”