House of Vultures, Maggie Claire [fun to read .txt] 📗

him at last. “You were the boy at mywindow?” I reel at the thought, my mind dizzy.

“The kindest hearts canalso be the cruelest if they are spurned,” Cyrus answers, a farawaylook painfully clouding his gaze. “But I have never forgotten you,child of the moon. That’s what I used to call you in my dreams. Ithought of you every day after I was hurt. I imagined all thestories I wanted to share with you, but I never got the chance.When I found you again after everything had fallen apart, when youjoined the House of my father, I desperately wanted to tell you thetruth. But I had my own battles to fight first, and a vicious roleto play in order to survive.”

“And Warbler? You letCreeper—”

“I didn’t. Falcon had beendirecting his moves for months without my knowledge. I think shewas planning to overthrow my leadership. Had I known that Creeperwas such a vile creature, I would have ripped the mask off hismiserable carcass myself. I am truly sorry for what happened toher.”

“You let me kill your ownfather.” The idea is so unbelievable that I can barely form thewords.

“My father loved you, so Ican see your side of the argument. But he hated me, Mynah.” Cyruslifts his shirt to reveal a giant patch of scarred, burned fleshalong his chest over his heart. “My father did this to me in aneffort to ‘kill my kindness’ when I was nine years old. He believedthat it was a weakness, and I would end up dying anyway. When hisministrations did not work, he tricked my brother into hating metoo. Cane believed my father’s lies, and in an effort to findapproval, he put this scar on my face. But his sword was blunt, andthe wounds weren’t deep enough to kill me. Probably the Ddraigblood kept me alive.”

The scars and their stories bring whatlittle food I have left in my stomach to my mouth in a heave. Notfor the deformity of the wounds—they are old and faded from time,and my mind is so desensitized to grotesque sights that I do noteven flinch. But the idea that a father, that my beloved Hawk,would do such a thing to his own son, repulses me.

My head is fractured, disconnectedfrom my heart. My limbs feel remote, their movements jerky as thepanicked sobs build inside me. My breath quickens its pace, ascream pouring from me with every whimpering exhale. I sink to myknees, rocking back and forth as the weight of everything I amholding crashes in on me. In that moment nothing matters but mynext rasping inhale. I am breaking, shattering to the point thatwhatever is left of me will only be a shadowed remnant of my trueself.

***

“Try it then,” the nursewhispers as she pulls me gently off the bed. It’s been almost twoweeks since my return home, and I am itching to test my body’slimits. My nurse is finally too exasperated to stop me. “Just don’tcall me if your stitches pop open.”

Stitches. Skin grafts. Painfulsurgeries and a marred body. No amount of magic has fully healed mybroken body. Still, I am alive. I take it slowly, spinning mywrists with loud, creaking joints. A small breeze ripples aroundme, just enough to lift tiny tufts of my hair. Carefully I spin,barely lifting my feet off the ground. Dancing in twirling arcs, Irevel in the wind whipping around me. In this moment, I am not aprince of the Déchets, nor am I a priest of the Windwalkers. Inthis moment, I am infinite. I am destruction. I am the epitome oflife and death, an omen of chaos and doom. I am going back toCassé. I howl into the tornadic cyclone around me, fueling its furywith my rage. There will be nothing left of the land by the time Iam finished.

Chapter 14

“You’re going to have towork together,” Siri protests as I pace the cavern floor. “Cyrusis—”

“I want nothing to do withhim,” I shoot back, itching to hit something. I’m surrounded by nothing but stone and Siri. The act wouldprobably break my hand, but gods, it would feel good in themoment!

“Iris—”

“No, Siri! Train usseparately. I cannot bear to look at him,” I mumble, the feral,animalistic part of myself threatening to overtake me. I feel thepanic rising from deep inside my chest, my eyes darting around thecavern for someplace safe to hide.

Siri must be able to feel my anxiety.When she answers, her voice is soft, and her words are spokenslowly. “Okay, we will do it your way. But there will have to be afew instances where we train as a group. There are just some thingsthat cannot be learned or taught alone. Like it or not, you willneed him in the end.”

“What is there to learnexactly?” I bark, wrapping my hands around my neck in an effort tokeep from lashing out. “You fly and I ride. What more isthere?”

If you must ask me that,it just proves how little you know. Siri’svoice booms through my mind. Her words clang around in my head asthough my skull is a bell, and her voice is the clapper. I feel myspine twitching as the Ddraig’s words finally fade from myhearing.

“So, you read mythoughts,” I surmise, holding my ears as if that gesture cansomehow keep the Ddraig from speaking again.

Thankfully, her next words are spokenaloud. However, after hearing them, I rather wish that they wereforgotten. “It’s so much more than that, Iris. I feel what youfeel. I know you as though you are a second body for my soul. I caneven take control of your limbs if I choose. I can make you say ordo anything I wish. You have the same hold over me, Cadogan. Whatyou must learn is how to navigate the depths of a Ddraigs mind, tobe able to exert your control over me. A Ddraig’s mind is far morecomplex than your human brain. In addition to that, we mustpractice and hone your Gwen abilities. Then there is the connectionthat I share with Suryc and eventually the one you will have withCyrus. When you and Cyrus bond,” Siri forges ahead before I