Page 45 of Realm of Thieves

I met with Ellestra Doon, the bird says, her formidable beak staying partially open, though Moon’s voice appears inside my head as it always does.I gave her the message. She tried to beat me with a broom first. Eventually I got her to listen. She says she’ll be expecting you in a few weeks.

“Thank you,” I tell the raven.

She makes a rolling sound with her tongue, then hops up onto Steiner’s shoulder and flies out the door, Brynla ducking her head just in time as she soars into the night to roost.

“I told you Moon would come back,” Steiner says to her with a satisfied raise of his brow.

Still, Brynla doesn’t look too convinced.

“So how does Moon talk like that?” she asks as Steiner shuts the door.

“Ravens are highly intelligent,” he says. “More than you’d think.”

“Yes, but the whole speaking inside your brain part.” She pauses. “You gave the bird suen.”

He shakes his head. “I haven’t, though I suspect she might havehad some before I found her. She had fallen from a nest, not old enough to be a fledgling. It’s possible her parents brought some to the nest somehow. But other than Lemi, I’ve never seen cases of suen working in animals, so it’s possible that the bird is just…magic. Somehow.”

“So you didn’t teach her,” she says, adjusting the neckline of her dress, her breasts jostling on display. I try not to stare.

Steiner laughs, oblivious to her cleavage. “Oh, I’ve taught Moon everything I know. She absorbs knowledge like a sponge. But I’m a scientist. I’m not a sorcerer.”

“I don’t know,” I tell him. “Sometimes they seem like one and the same.”

He shrugs and heads over to his desk.

“By the way, Father is asking for you both to join the rest of us in the great chamber,” I tell them.

Both Steiner and Brynla let out a tired sigh in unison.

“Hey, I don’t want to be there either,” I tell them. “But you know how he gets after a day of hunting. Wants to drink and make sure we all know to worship at his feet.”

“I made it through a dinner filled with barbs from your father, your uncle, and occasionally Vidar,” Brynla says. “I’d rather not be subjected to more if I can help it.”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I tell her. “One drink and then I’ll sneak you out at the first opportunity.”

“What about me?” Steiner asks.

“You’re on your own, brother,” I tell him. Then I reach out and press my fingertips at the back of Brynla’s yellow dress. This is one that our seamstress had custom made for her, along with her armor and other things. The neckline at the back and the front are low and the material is thin and delicate, enough that I can feel the heat of her body through the fabric.

It would be so easy to rip this dress right off her, I think.

Then I’m hit with a pang of want, so sharp and violent that I feel my fingernails dig slightly into her, enough that she tries to step out of the way.

I swallow audibly and press my hand there again. “Come on,” I say to her, heat flaring inside my cock, getting absolutely turned on for no good reason. She glances at me over her shoulder with a bewildered expression, as if sensing the change.

She lets me guide her out into the hall before I finally let my hand fall, my heart going fast against my ribs.

“Oh, by the way,” I whisper as we walk past the kitchen. This is where Lemi pokes his head out. He’s taken to spending a lot of time with the cook before and after dinner, and he stays put, having no interest in joining us. “If my father brings up the plans for the next raid, don’t mention your aunt.”

She looks back at me in surprise. “Why not?”

“He doesn’t know.”

Chapter 14

Brynla

I stare at Andor aswe walk toward the great chamber. Though his fingers are no longer pressed against the small of my back, I can still feel them there, like a ghost.

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