Free Raven by Shelly Pratt Page A

for a second that you had the ability to alter their current state then they would come for you and wouldn’t let you go until they had killed you. Don’t you see? The ones of us who are good are willing to do whatever it takes to make this world go back to the way it used to be,” he said as he released her chin from his grasp.
     
    “I think it’s a little late for that,” she said with uncertainty.
     
    He gripped her shoulders again, as though to emphasise his point.
     
    “It’s not too late Aiyana. We can stop them, you can stop them! All you have to do is break the curse – however it must be done, whatever must be done – only you can do it,” he said as he released her.
     
    “I can’t do what has been asked of me,” she said, tears starting to prick her eyes. How could she tell him what really needed to be done?
     
    “At least think about it, I’ll do whatever you ask of me, just promise me you’ll think about it,” he said.
     
    “I promise,” she said, not really believing she would truly consider it. A snippet of conversation she’d had with her sister intruded on her thoughts now and she suddenly was eager to ask Eilam a question.
     
    “Why would my sister tell me to stay away from you?” she asked.
     
    He looked like he had been slapped in the face and turned away from her hurriedly, eager to conceal his expression.
     
    “I have no idea why,” he said flatly.
     
    “Eilam, please look at me,” she begged. He turned slowly, apparently recovered from the surprise he had suffered at her question. “Why would my sister tell me to stay away from you?”
     
    He was thoughtful for a moment before replying. “I had heard through some of the older ravens that a woman named Harmony – a friend of your grandmothers would know of a young woman who would possess the ability to break the curse. A daughter descended from the same blood line as she. This person was you. I’ve been trying to track you down for a number of years now. In my search for you, I first crossed paths with Cybele. It appeared to me that your sister wanted nothing to do with our race at all and she refused to help,” he said.
     
    She sensed he was holding something back, but she let it be for the moment. She had too much going on in her brain right now and she was starting to get a headache. She needed to take some paracetamol before it developed into a full blown migraine and decided to make a pot of tea to wash it down with.
     
    “Do you drink tea?” she asked as she moved over to the kitchenette to fill the kettle with water.
     
    “Yes, only herbal though,” he laughed – again the tinkling cackle of the ravens voice reached her ears.
     
    “Right,” she said smiling to herself as she set about searching the cupboards for some chamomile that she knew she had stashed in there somewhere.
     
    “You can sit down on the couch there if you like,” she offered as she gestured towards it. He did so, but sat perched on the arm of the settee, seemingly unsure of how one would go about sitting on such a thing. She almost laughed out loud, but thought it would be very poor manners and didn’t want to appear as though she were making fun of him.
     
    Once the kettle had boiled she carried the pot and two mugs on a tray over to where he sat. She rested the tray on the floor and then patted the seat next to herself, indicating that he should join her on the cushion. He watched her intently, curious about each and every movement she made.
     
    She was nervous – for the first time in her life she actually cared about what someone thought of her. Gone were the tough exterior and the walls she had built up around herself. One kiss was all it had taken for him to capture her eye. One moment to set her heart on a course, that even she didn’t know where it would end up. She sipped her tea, too hot to just gulp down. He copied her.
     
    She wondered if ravens displayed mimicking behaviours. Not that she would dream of