“He’s still alive, Danica. He just has to last until midnight tomorrow.”
“I know. I just don’t see how the counter spell can possibly fix that much damage.”
“It will. Taraghlan wouldn’t guard it that fiercely if it didn’t work.”
I let out a shuddering breath. “Okay.”
Kyla wandered into the living room, giving me a moment with Samael. All of his limbs were gone, as were his ears and nose. No wonder he wasn’t able to communicate with me.
I tamped down the urge to sit next to his bed. That wasn’t exactly going to be the best for my mental health. Instead, I stepped into the living room. Vas was murmuring to Kyla, and he glanced at me when I walked in, his eyes dark with grief. He opened his arms and I walked into them.
The hug steadied me. I wasn’t alone. I stepped back, and we were all silent as I moved outside into the cool air. It was close to 2am, and most of the demons had cleared out when I’d arrived. I was pretty sure they’d be circling overhead, but for now, my attention was on the griffin who was curled up on the porch.
I sat down next to him. “Are you sure you want to hang out here?” I asked him. “If you want to find your… pack, I can help you, just as soon as Samael’s no longer on death’s door.”
The griffin leaned his face closer to me. My heartrate sped up. I didn’t think he would hurt me—he’d had plenty of opportunities for that. But his teeth were very long, and they looked very sharp.
He stared into my eyes. It wasn’t like when I’d spoken to Nuri, and she’d sent images into my mind. No, communicating with the griffin was different. The knowledge he wanted to share simply appeared in my mind, as if it had always been there.
It wasn’t a violation. He was gentle, but it still weirded me out.
The griffin had been wounded while fighting vicious unseelie creatures who were lethal, both in the air and on the ground. He had no name for them, but they seemed similar to harpies, only deadlier, if that were possible.
The griffin had leapt in front of his pack’s leader, taking the brunt of one of the creature’s attacks. He’d been so consumed with protecting the other griffin, he’d been off balance, and the creature had ripped at his wing, almost tearing it from his body.
The pain had been unspeakable.
I took a shaky breath as the griffin nuzzled my shoulder. His pack had killed the remaining creatures, and he’d been left wounded on the ground while his pack moved to a safer location. For days, he’d lain there, slowly dying of thirst, until the rain had saved his life.
When he was strong enough to stagger to his feet, he’d known he would never fly again.
My throat tightened at the desolation that had swept through him at that realization.
He’d tracked his pack, following them by instinct, and they’d ignored him when he finally arrived, half-starved and wounded.
Rage swept through me.
“They treated you like an outcast. Why?”
His eyes glittered. Was that amusement? It hit me then.
“You were seen as a weakness. Like the runt of the litter.”
And so, he’d followed his family, loyal as ever, but ignored. He was the last to eat, and the pack made no allowances for the fact that he had to travel by land to meet them. Sometimes, he would arrive, exhausted, in pain, and half-starved, and the pack would already be preparing to leave.
“They threw you away,” I ground out. “You saved their leader, and they treated you like trash.”
And then I’d arrived with the order to kill him. The griffin had watched me, coolly interested, almost accepting.
“I’m sorry. They didn’t deserve you. I’ll talk to Nathaniel. Maybe he’ll let you stay here. Otherwise, you can come with me. We’ll figure something out.”
He butted me with his head, in the exact same way Lia did. I laughed and ran my hand over his soft fur, marveling at his wings. They were even silkier than Samael’s.
I stroked his twisted wing. “If you want, I can have a healer look at this.”
He gazed at me steadily, giving no indication of a preference either way. I shrugged.
A low voice sounded behind me. “I’ve told him he can stay.”
