40. Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty

Raevyn

I awoke to the soft glow of a dying fire. There was a chill in the air, but I couldn't really feel it. I had no idea where I was. After I'd left with Apollo, the grief had been overwhelming and, combined with the loss of energy from pretty much depleting my magic, I had been exhausted. I vaguely remember falling from the sky as my wings gave up carrying me. After that it was just darkness.

I rolled over and froze when I saw who was behind me. His chest rose slowly with his deep slumber and the lines of his face were softer in sleep. It made my heart stutter in my chest as I looked at him. there was something buried in my soul, something that yearned just for him. I didn't know if it were fate or something else, but I knew, instinctively, that he was mine as much as the others were.

I was curled into his side and wrapped in his feathered wings. They were as dark as his hair, and I trailed my fingers along the length of the plumes. He stirred a little beneath me but didn't waken. I followed the ridge of the wing that was wrapped around me and marvelled at how soft it was.

"That tickles," he said softly by my ear, his voice thick with sleep.

I pulled my hand back. "Sorry."

"That's okay." He pulled me tighter to him and I fell across his chest. "I don't mind. Feels nice."

Gods, the guy was so adorable half asleep. I brushed his hair back from over his eyes and a little contented sigh escaped his mouth. His hand captured my wrist, and he pressed a kiss to the tips of my fingers. Heat pooled in my core at the gentle caress.

I traced the shape of his mouth and down the line of his jaw, his neck, and to the edge of his collarbone the peeked past the collar of his tunic.

When I looked back up at his face, his eyes were open, and they were watching me with an intense heat. I shivered under his glare, unable to look away from those eyes that swirled like fire.

"Raevyn." He said my name on a groan, like he couldn't bare my touch. I pulled away but he stopped me with a hand around the back of my neck. "Stay. Please."

I nodded slowly, and lay back down, tucking my head under his chin.

His hand trailed through my hair, and I listened to the soft beat of his heart in his chest. It was slow and languid. Peaceful. I didn't know how he could be so calm after escaping his prison. I was all over the place after leaving home. Home … was that what it was now? Had I just walked away from my home and my family? Grief clenched my heart in a tight grasp. I was going to miss them. How had they wormed their way into my heart in so short a space of time?

"Talk to me, Raevyn."

A whimper clawed its way out of my throat and Apollo pulled me tighter into his chest.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what it is."

I shook my head. I couldn't put my emotions into words, couldn't get what my grandmother wanted to do past my lips. Everything was a mess, and I didn't know how to fix it.

"Did you know, Corvus used to be white. A brilliant white, as bright as untouched snow," Apollo said softly, his voice low and husky.

My eyes flicked over to where Corvus was perched by the window, and I looked to the snow beyond, wondering how different he would look as white instead of the colour of pitch.

"All ravens used to be white, but in my pain, anger and jealousy I scorched Corvus' feathers and turned them black."

"It wasn't your fault, Master. I should have done something," Corvus croaked softly.

"No, Corvus. There was nothing you could have done, and I shouldn't have demanded that from you."

"What happened?" I asked, looking up into his eyes.

A grimace curled his lips. "Corvus brought me a message that the woman I loved had been unfaithful. I was angry and I took it out on my faithful friend, destroying his beauty in the process." He looked away, tears pooling in his eyes. "I killed her. I hadn't meant to. I just wanted to scare her, but I'd been so blind with rage, and she ran at me and it was all a blur. Before I knew it, she was dead and so was her lover."

I pulled myself and brushed his tears from his cheeks. "Apollo, I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago. My point is, I acted alone and look what it got me. Shame, hurt and a boat load of regret. Don't make the same mistakes as I have. Talk to me, Raevyn. Let me help."

"I don't want to lose you too."

His hand cupped my jaw. "I'm not going anywhere."

"You don't know that," I said with a sob, my panic and fear getting the best of me. "You don't know my grandmother."

"Raevyn," he said sternly, "now you listen to me. You did not break me out of that hellhole just to lose me to an old witch. I promise you this, I will not let you face her alone. Now, tell me the truth. What is going on and why did you leave the others behind."

"I have to deliver myself to her by the next full moon, or she will destroy them all."

"Okay, and how is she going to do that? Isn't she just a witch?"

I shook my head. "She's a witch powered by the previous coven leaders. Their magic flows through her."

"But that practice was outlawed centuries ago," Corvus said, hopping down from his perch and joining us on the floor.

"I know," I whispered, "but my grandmother… she… well, she doesn't think the rules apply to her. She believes our ancestors speak through her and as such, want her to be imbued with their power. But I don't think that's true."

"Why?" Apollo asked.

I bit my lip, unsure of how much to divulge. Not that it was really going to make a difference anymore. If I somehow managed to remove my grandmother as the head of the coven, it would pass to me as the next Raathmore in line.

"I overheard her arguing with my mother one evening." A stab of guilt pierced my heart. Perhaps if I'd done something all the way back then, my mother might have still been alive. "My mother had said that what my grandmother was doing was wrong, and I quote, ‘beyond the realms of sanity and morality'. I didn't really understand then, but I do now. I think my mother tried to stop her." And got beaten for her troubles. "But I also think that I overheard someone screaming. It was muffled, but it definitely sounded like someone was against whatever was happening."

"And you think this might have been one of your ancestors?" Apollo sat up, bringing me with him, and his wings snapped shut before disappearing from view.

I nodded. "I don't know how far my grandmother has strayed from what our coven was before her. I used to read the old journals of previous leaders, and I think we used to be healers. We used to save people from death, not worship it." I remembered all the scraps of history I'd found when I was working in the library when my coven sisters were practicing magic. I'd read stories of midwives, and healers, people who helped their community. The books had been buried in an alcove away from where eyes might find them. I'd been instantly drawn to them and read them numerous times. "Our coven had always been linked to the Revenants, but from what I'd read, it seemed we'd asked for a peaceful passage, or for grace when a soul crossed over. I don't really know when things changed."

Apollo cocked his head, thoughtful expression on his face. "How old is your grandmother?"

I want to answer and paused, the question taking me aback a little because I actually didn't know the answer. "I'm not sure. She's just always been as she always was."

"Were there any photos of her as a young woman?" Corvus asked as he hopped onto my thigh.

I stroked the feathers along his back and thought about all the pictures in the house. There weren't any photographs, just old paintings. "No, all the woman who'd had their image captured were from generations ago. Although…" My words trailed off as one portrait sprang to mind. "There was one portrait that had been removed from the gallery. My mother had said she was an ancestor banished for dealing with daimons and dark magic. I never saw the image, but I'd often catch my grandmother looking at the spot and smiling, almost wistfully. I never understood why but maybe she had something to do with the picture."

Apollo looked at Corvus with an almost excited gleam in his eyes. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"A Soul Painting, master."

"Exactly!" Apollo said, springing to his feet and pacing the floor.

"What?" I'd heard of them, but never seen one before. It was where a witch painted a portion of her soul into an image of themselves to be able to come back later. It was like reincarnation but instead of coming back as someone else, you just came back as yourself.

"Look, I think your grandmother isn't really your grandmother. What if she came back and brought the old ways with her? From before ancestral bonds were banished, back when it was less taboo to worship daimons."

"But why?" I asked. "Why go to all that trouble?"

"Power most likely. Or maybe she was hunted and shunned when the laws started to change, who knows."

It made a lot of sense though and she seemed happiest when she was being her most powerful self. "So why does she want my power? Or the Revenants?"

Apollo stopped pacing. "I'm not sure. It does seem excessive."

"Unless..."

"Unless what, Raevyn?"

"The Revenants withdrew their favour. Maybe her power source is tied up with that somehow?"

"I imagine that's it. If she can't channel power from the Revenants anymore, I imagine that's pissed her off. Come on. Let's get some things together and we can head topside."

I took his hand, enjoying the strength that I felt from him. I just hoped that I got to my grandmother before she decided to change her mind.