Page 77 of Reaper’s Curse

“Oh.” Aoes’s gaze dropped to the collection of drawings held in the unafflicted twin’s hands. “Whatcha got there?”

She spread the pictures out on the table. Each one was of a raven-haired woman wearing something different. “We’re helping Mom design dresses for Raven so that she can look pretty at the birthday ball.”

“That’s great,” Aoes said with a grin. “Tell your mom I need her to make me look just as splendid for the event.”

The girl brightened and wiggled, then she jolted across the pub, tugging her afflicted twin behind her, and hollering, “Mom, mom!”

“Birthday ball?” I asked, a new desire blooming to see Raven dressed to kill on a completely different level.

“The prince’s birthday.” Aoes folded his arms across the table. “Older prince, that is. Even though he’s missing, the Crown throws him a massive birthday ball every year. Everyone inside the citadel walls is invited. And everyone is dressed to impress. Masks are expected but not required. So…easier to hide your identity, if you know what I mean.”

He jabbed my bicep with his fist, then he pulled back and shook his hand, pretending to be hurt by the light punch. I eyed the location where he’d touched me and frowned.

“Anyway, like I was saying,” he continued. “The palace is decorated to the nines. Everyone is dressed their best. The food and drink are overflowing. The entertainment is top notch. There will be ladies, liquor, and dancing. More if you know where to look.” He waggled his eyebrows. “And…everyone is invited.”

“And it’s in the palace?” I clarified.

An open-invitation, masked event at the royal residence sounded too good to be true. If I were to use the event as cover to get inside the otherwise secure walls, there were several things I needed to consider.

One, the Killian supposedly couldn’t enter the palace. That was a plus. Two, I was far from welcome at the palace no matter what the birthday ball invitation read. An obstacle, albeit slight. Three, Raven and Winter were in the palace…but especially Raven, and I… I wanted to see her again, and soon.

But four was the most pressing. The palace was the most likely location of my siblings, and I needed to find them. A draw I couldn’t ignore.

“Where do I procure proper attire for such an event?” I allowed what I hoped was a comfortable smile to grace my mouth.

“I have just the thing. Hold on.” Aoes jumped to his feet and spun toward the meager crowd in the pub. “Camilla!”

21

Day three without a word from Chace, and day four without a prince sighting. Not that I was counting or anything.

With a yawn and a lazy roll to the side, I curled my arm under my pillow, gazed out the double glass doors to the terrace, and smiled. The light of day was still young, but a murder of crows and one unusually large raven already awaited me, covering all the open spaces. They perched along the railing and on the patio bistro set. They even hopped around on the stone-covered floor.

Since they continued to hang around, messages or not, I had taken to feeding them scraps each morning. I had done so the past two days, not caring what any of the palace personnel thought on the matter. Feeding my feathery friends brought me bliss.

An idea had hit me late in the night when I had been unable to quiet my mind, and this morning, I decided to poke at that idea, to find out if it would work.

Bolting to my knees and twisting toward the headboard, I reached behind it and grabbed the hidden letters from Chace. Three in total. I then snatched the bread stashed on the nightstand from the previous day’s dinner, dashed to the terrace doors, and threw them open.

“Good morning,” I sang to a flurry of feathered beasts readjusting their location.

I tore the bread and tossed crumbs high and wide. A chorus of caws and a deep croak or gonk were my rewards.

I dropped to the floor and sat with my legs crisscrossed and my back pressed against the doorframe. “Thank you for your morning visit, my friends. I love waking to your feathery, beaked faces.”

I chuckled and tossed the last of the breadcrumbs, then I scratched a hand at my chest, as if I could reach inside and squeeze my heart. I tried my best not to worry and stress about things I had no control over. And at present, the uncontrollable things were many.

The large raven hopped up next to my legs and croaked.

With a gentle hand, I ran a finger over the bird’s feathered head. “If you are going to continue to hang around, I should probably give you a name. What do you think?”

“Gonk.”

My responding smile was immediate. “All right, then. I’ll think on what name best suits you. In the meantime…” I bent low as if to whisper a conspirators’ activity, which I was. “Can you take these and keep them safe for me until I ask for them back?” I held Chace’s three letters, pressed together and low to the ground. “Hide them somewhere safe.”

The raven’s head swung between me and the letters only once. With a decided croak and a hop, the messages were in his clutch, and he took to the sky. I raised a hand to my face, blocking the morning sun, and watched the bird fly from sight.

In the distance, the raven passed a crow sweeping in toward the palace’s inner court, where my room happened to be situated. I dared not hope, and yet I did, if only a smidgen. The bird veered toward my location, a flash of white against the block of black.