The Raven Flame [The Crown Saga III] (First Draft)

Pavo's Secret

I didn't understand.

This woman before us looked nothing like the lost queen I'd learned to recognize from the photos and paintings honoring her memory.

The long, distinctive platinum hair that seemed to gleam like frosted ice sheltering a peering rainbow didn't cascade down this woman's slender shoulders. The queen's delicate skin—like the soft glow of the midnight moon—was hardly comparable to the rough, ashen surface hidden beneath the many scars.

If not for Art's strong suspicion that the queen might share my condition and the golden tint of the woman's scars, I might have assumed Caiden's head injury had compromised his lucidity.

The woman took another step closer to Caiden's frozen body, raising her arm to reach for him. "Atlas, my son, I—"

She winched and pulled back toward the row of dragons when approaching footsteps echoed between the cave walls.

"Caiden! Willow!"

Another light advanced from behind me, showering my back with golden light.

"There she is!"

Art. Piper.

A wave of pure relief washed through my body at the sound of their voices. They had survived. The number of feet racing across the ground suggested Eos and Alia were there, too.

I desperately wanted to turn and witness their faces emerge from between the shadows, but I couldn't move. The slightest strain on my muscles left agonizing torment scraping across my bones and joints. The trickle of something warm and thick sliding down my neck and shoulder didn't bode well either.

"Cursed blood, Will." Piper's voice sounded breathless but without warning of any injury. I winced when she placed her icy hands on my body, the touch like fire against my bruises. "You look even worse than before."

Two other shadows raced past us, one grabbing the bright sphere that seemed to follow them from the air and molded it into a whip that bred sparks against the stone below.

Art and Eos stopped beside Caiden, raising their weapons to prepare for a fight against... against dragons. Spirits, I still couldn't wrap my mind around the grand creatures standing before us.

"What is with you, Caiden?" Art hissed, noting the golden hilt beside Caiden's feet. "Did they bind your hands already?"

"Caiden?" the woman said, brushing her fingertips gently against her lips as if trying to catch the word. "Is that the name you chose?"

Eos stepped in front of Caiden, her limbs trembling terribly at the sight of the monsters peering down on her. "Stay back, lady," she said, her voice about as confident in her decision to act as a shield in case the enemy should attack as her legs.

A low growl made the loose stone rattle against the cave ground as one of the larger dragons stepped forth. The woman raised her hand, and the dragon stopped in its tracks.

"What is your name, Light Manipulator?" the woman asked, squinting her eyes inquisitively.

Eos hesitated, lightly adjusting her weight without taking her eyes off the woman. "That's none of your—"

"Eos," Caiden whispered, grabbing her wrist before she could pull back to attack. "Don't."

The woman gasped again. "Eos."

Eos arched her brow at the woman's strange reaction to her name, but before she could utter another spiteful warning, the woman launched forward and wrapped her arms around Eos, scarcely evading the gleaming whip.

The golden whip vanished, leaving us shrouded by the dim, fiery light from the dragons' scaled chests.

"What are you doing, lady?" Eos squealed, clawing at the woman's body as if the blunt contact was burning her. The woman didn't budge, hanging on to Eos for dear life while tears streamed down her grinning face.