Page 131 of Faeling
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Ravenna slept better than she had in a fortnight. Although she and Vallek were both early risers normally, they stayed abed long into the morning. It was Brynhíl bustling in with their breakfast who finally roused them out of bed, tutting as she stoked the fireplaces.
“The king and queen lazing about after the ninth bell—whoever heard of such a thing.”
“We are known to throw precedence to the wind,” Ravenna quipped as she spread butter across a roll of warm bread.
Bryn chuckled before bidding them farewell.
When they were alone again, Ravenna chewed on her question alongside her roll. It was a long few moments before she managed to ask him what had been on her mind since waking.
“Are you sure?”
Vallek’s eyes flicked up to meet hers. Without hesitation, he nodded. “Yes. It will benefit the kingdom, and if it makes yousafer and happier, then it is well worth it.”
Ravenna tried to smile, tried to be relieved, but she’d spent too long in the shadow of Amaranthe to let a few promises vanquish all her fears. Even promises from herazai.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you. You’re far more important than me.”
Vallek’s brows crashed down his face in a forbidding frown. “You will never say that again, sprite.”
“But it’s true. You mean far more to many more people. Me included.”
He huffed as he split and cored a pear. Handing her a piece, he said, “Nothing will happen to me.”
“You can’t promise that. My vision…” Although she’d managed to go a day without seeing it, the images were still seared into her mind.
“Have you seen me dead?”
“No.” Thank fates. She’d have fled far and fast from him if so, to ensure the vision never came true. “I haven’t seen anything after her fall.”
“Have you seen everything that has ever happened to you?”
Ravenna frowned. “Well, no…”
That cocksure grin she loved and loathed twitched on either side of his tusks. Leaning forward in his seat, he caught her lips in a pear-flavored kiss. “Did you see that in a vision?”
“No,” she grumbled.
He leaned forward and kissed her again, this time his free hand cupping her breast over her nightgown.
“Or this?”
“No, but I could’ve predicted it.”
“Not the same,” he said with a wink. “If you haven’t seen it, then there is every chance we succeed. We just have to be clever about it.”
Leaning back in his seat, he looked far too sure of himself. Between that and the easy, confident way he peeled and cut up an apple, his big hands moving dexterously with the small paring knife, she couldn’t decide if she wanted to tear her hair out, cover him in kisses, or wallow in relief.
Shewantedit to be that simple. If there was anyone who could deliver her the opportunity for revenge, it was Vallek. She’d known that for years already. But to have him onside—knowingly—had something very, very dangerous blooming inside her.
Hope.
The first test of that hope came not long after, when Asta, Eydis, and Hilde arrived.
“You wanted to speak with us?” said Eydis, taking her usual seat in the den.
With all of them gathered round, and her hand held firmly in Vallek’s, Ravenna admitted much of what she’d told him the previous night. The orcesses listened without interruption—knowing the three of them as she did, Ravenna wasn’t sure whether this was heartening. Eydis even leaned forward in her seat.
