Page 15 of Faeling
Oberon dipped his horn in a mocking gesture.You’re so very jealous.
“No. I wassurprised.”
The unicorn had the audacity to throw his head back and whinny a great horsey laugh. Ravenna pouted as he made a fool of himself, prancing around and laughing. The rest of the herd looked on in amusement as they selected tender grass from the tufts bursting out of every rocky crag and crevice.
Over a league out from the city, the rocky hills and windswept plains could be a dangerous place. Snow leopards occasionally came down from the mountains, and wolves were known to prowl the plains, but amongst over a dozen unicorns, Ravenna had nothing to fear. So far, all she’d seen were a few marmots poking their heads from their burrows and an eagle circling above looking for easy prey.
And the big dumb unicorn, of course.
“How father ever rode into battle withyouis beyond me,” she muttered.
Your father knew to respect his elders and listen to good advice.Pawing the rocky ground with a hoof, Oberon told her,You are too stubborn for your own good, Crow. Tell him who you are to him.
“Absolutely not,” she argued. “A man like Vallek will want to have his way. He’ll only get in the way of my plans.”
Someone should,he grumbled.
Ravenna rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to argue about this again.”
I think between a rock and your head, the latter is theharder of the two.Oberon shook out his mane in exasperation.Goddesses deliver me from idiotic foals.
“I’m not an idiot for wanting revenge.”
No, but you are an idiot for throwing your life away on it. You have found yourazai. He’s strong and can protect you. Make a life for yourself with him, put aside your revenge, and live. It’s what your parents would want.
That was all true, of course, but Ravenna wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting it. Sighing, she turned her true face up to the summer sun, relishing the warmth on her skin. She always enjoyed visiting Oberon and the herd, even if it came with a lecture. Getting out from the confines of the city, letting her glamour drop, was an indulgence she never took for granted.
“I may not be able to visit for a while,” she said, ignoring how Oberon’s ears swung backwards at her obvious avoidance. “With the king back in the city, there are more eyes.”
Mostly two, both of which belonged to the lord commander. Ugh. She didn’t know what’d gotten Ulrich’s kilt in a twist about her, but he was determined to root out all her secrets.
How long do you intend to keep up this ruse?Oberon demanded.
“As long as it takes. It’s not so bad.”
The unicorn huffed.And do you—
Leave the foal alone, Obi. Callistix came to stand alongside her, nudging Ravenna’s shoulder with her muzzle.
Someone has to talk sense into her, mother.
Head bobbing, Callistix asked,Who is more senseless—the one who seeks revenge or the one who keeps trying the same argument to no avail?
Ravenna giggled under her hand as Oberon’s tail swished.I’mmerely keeping my promise to her father to keep her alive.
Here she is. Alive.Callistix hooked the shaft of her horn beneath Ravenna’s chin, lifting her head so she could see more of her.Looks to be healthy.
For now,Oberon groused.That’s liable to change the longer she denies herazaiand continues down a path that leads to Amaranthe.
We will sort that out when we near it. There’s no use fussing over it now.
Ravenna patted Callistix’s leg. “Thank you, grandmare,” she said, lifting her woven flower crown to hook over the unicorn’s horn.
Callistix let the flowers fall onto her forelock, and Ravenna swore the mare stood a little taller.
Perhaps it was unorthodox to call a unicorngrandmare—and even more so for the unicorn to allow it—but Callistix was the closest thing to a grandmother Ravenna had ever known. As a halfling, she’d hardly been tolerated in her mother’s human family. It didn’t help that all the human kin Aine had known had already passed long before Ravenna was born; Aine’s great-great-grandnieces and -nephews found her and her halfling child at best an oddity.
It only isolated Aine in that seaside cottage further. Ravenna became Aine’s whole world, her bulwark against the tide of sadness whenever Maxim had to go away.
