Bad News Pigeon
1205 Words
Princess Moon
Ashen looked away first.
“I have never been a mate before,” he said, rougher now. “And this is hard for me. It feels like it should be easy because the bond is there. Because you are there. Because part of me…” He stopped.
My heart beat once, hard.
“Part of you?” I whispered.
He glanced back at me.
His eyes moved over my face, then away again, like looking too long was dangerous.
“Part of me wants to do exactly what you said. Stay close. Touch you when you are upset. Let you calm me down. Let myself calm you down.” His jaw flexed. “But another part of me keeps waiting for the punishment.”
The words broke something in my chest.
I did step closer then.
Slowly.
Giving him time to stop me.
He did not.
I lifted my hand, pausing inches from his sleeve.
“May I?”
His eyes dropped to my hand.
Then he nodded.
I touched his chest.
Lightly.
The bond sparked.
Not a burst this time. Not moonlight breaking open. Just warmth. Simple and quiet.
Ashen’s shoulders lowered a fraction.
So did mine.
For the first time since our kiss, the thread between us did not feel like a question.
It felt like a breath.
“I can give you time,” I said. “But please do not leave me guessing what I did wrong.”
His gaze snapped to mine.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“Then help me believe that.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then, slowly, he turned his wrist beneath my fingers until his hand touched mine.
Not holding.
Not fully.
But there.
“I can try,” he said.
It was not a grand vow.
It was not the effortless fated-mate devotion I had been promised by bedtime stories and moonlit ceremonies.
But from Ashen, it felt like more.
It felt like the first brick removed from a wall.
A sharp tapping struck the window.
Once.
Twice.
Then a third time, rude enough to be personal.
Veyra’s voice floated from the kitchen. “If that is who I think it is, I am resigning from destiny.”
The tapping came again, frantic.
Ashen and I returned to the kitchen together.
Not hand in hand.
But closer than before.
A fat silver-gray pigeon stood outside the frosted window, feathers puffed against the cold, chest thrust out with offended importance. A tiny brass tube was strapped to one leg, and one black eye glared at us as if we had caused it great inconvenience by owning walls.
Veyra went pale.
Nara sat up straighter. “Is that a pigeon?”
“That,” Veyra said, “is Lord Pebblewick.”
Solan blinked. “Lord?”
The pigeon pecked the glass.
Hard.
Veyra pointed at him. “Do not encourage him. His ego is already larger than several kingdoms.”
Ashen moved toward the window.
Veyra caught his sleeve. “Careful. Pebblewick bites people he considers slow.”
The pigeon pecked again.
Solan stared. “That bird outranks me?”
“Socially?” Veyra said. “Possibly.”
Nara almost smiled.
Then Veyra opened the window.
Lord Pebblewick waddled inside with the dramatic exhaustion of a soldier returning from war. He shook snow from his feathers all over the floor, hopped onto the table, and extended one leg.
Veyra did not laugh this time.
That frightened me.
She removed the brass tube, broke the tiny green wax seal, and unrolled the slip of paper inside.
Her eyes moved once across the message.
Then again.
Her face emptied of all humor.
“What?” I asked.
She did not answer.
Ashen noticed first.
“What does it say?”
Veyra looked at Solan.
Then at me.
Then, finally, at Ashen.
“I am sorry,” she said.
Ashen’s body went still.
The warmth he had allowed between us vanished so quickly I felt the loss like cold water.
Veyra handed me the message.
My fingers tightened around the paper before I even read the first line.
By emergency authority of the Royal Council of LunariaNova, under the protection of the crown and in defense of the royal bloodline:
Princess Moona PentNova is to be recovered alive and unharmed.
Ashen Drakewood is accused of abduction of the crown princess, conspiracy with rogue wolves, unlawful claim upon the royal bloodline, treason against the throne, and attempted forceful seizure of future crown authority.
Ashen Drakewood is to be killed on sight should he resist capture.
Any person found aiding, sheltering, traveling with, or defending Ashen Drakewood shall be declared an enemy of the crown.
My vision blurred at the edges.
No.
No, no, no.
“This is not my father,” I said.
But my voice did not sound certain.
Solan took the paper from my hand, reading quickly. His mouth tightened with every line.
“It bears council seal,” he said. “Not full royal seal.”
“What does that mean?” Nara asked.
“It means the council pushed it through under emergency authority,” Solan said. “The king may not have signed the exact wording.”
“May not?” I snapped.
Solan looked at me.
His expression softened, but I did not want softness.
Not now.
“Moon.”
“No.” My hands curled. “That is my name on that paper. My bloodline. My crown. They are using me to hunt him.”
Ashen said nothing.
That was worse.
I turned to him.
He was looking at the decree in Solan’s hand with a strange calmness on his face.
Too calm.
His expression did not collapse.
He did not rage.
He simply became quiet in a way that made my stomach twist.
“Ashen,” I said.
He looked up.
For one moment, through the bond, I felt something cold and hollow brush my chest.
Then it disappeared.
He had closed the door again.
This time, I saw it happen.
Nara stood. “They cannot do this.”
“They can,” Solan said grimly. “That is the problem.”
Veyra rolled the empty message tube between her fingers. “This is not a search anymore. This is permission.”
Ashen’s eyes shifted to her.
“For what?”
“For anyone who wants coin, favor, revenge, or an excuse,” she said. “Bounty wolves. Rogues trying to trade your head for pardon. Noble sons wanting glory. Hunters who hear the word traitor and stop asking questions.”
Nara’s hands shook with anger. “Let them come.”
Ashen turned to her immediately. “No.”
“I am not hiding forever.”
“I did not ask you to hide forever.”
“You always ask me to hide.”
His face tightened.
He loosened up a little.
Okay.
Maybe it needed to.
Nara stepped closer, chin lifting. “I am not the little girl behind you anymore.”
“NO One is saying that, but I made a promise.”
"And promises are made to be broken for good reason," she shot back sharply.
to be continued in the next chapter...
- Writer
