The smaller gryphon nodded. “Oh! Sure.”
Noro put his arm around Bastian’s shoulders, confusing me even more. “Matheson and I know each other,” Noro told him quietly. “But you can’t tell anyone.”
“No, I won’t. But why?”
“It could get me in a lot of trouble.”
Bastian frowned. “Did you do something wrong?”
Noro grimaced. “No. But Blaze might think I did. There are a lot of… complications involved.”
“Okay,” Bastian said, not fully understanding but willing to agree. “Sure, Noro. I won’t say anything.”
Noro smiled. “I knew I could count on my little brother.”
I choked. “Wait, wait. You guys are brothers?”
“Of course.” Noro bumped their heads closer together. “Can’t you see the resemblance?”
At first glimpse, I didn’t see it. Noro’s hair and eyes were golden like the sun, while Bastian had blue-black hair and brown eyes. But I looked closer at their facial features. They had the same hawkish nose and kind expression. The same smile.
“Wow,” I said. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that. Noro, I didn’t know you had a younger brother.”
“You never asked,” he said with a coy grin.
“Fair enough.”
He hugged me again and this time I felt free to rest my face in his chest, to indulge in my feelings. I hadn’t realized how badly I missed him until he was right in front of me.
“We need to talk,” I said.
“Agreed,” Noro said. “Shall we go somewhere more private?”
For some reason my heart flipped when he said those words. “Yes. Let’s go. There’s a lot to catch up on.”
Chapter 8
Bastian was excused.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like Noro’s brother. I did, very much. He was probably the only one here, besides Noro, that I actually considered a friend. But this was a conversation Noro and I needed to have away from prying eyes and ears. Even if Bastian said he wouldn’t spill Noro’s secret, it would be a lot easier to keep it the less he knew.
We stood in the grand room, both in human form. Wordlessly we hugged again and I didn’t draw away until the moment had more than passed. I found myself touch-starved and desperate for the affection of anyone I knew from my life outside the keep’s walls.
“How have you been, Matheson?” Noro asked, his brow furrowed in concern.
“Honestly?” I said. “Not too bad. No one’s hurt me, and Blaze took the news of my pregnancy surprisingly well.”
Noro sighed in relief. “I’m glad to hear that. It was one of my concerns as well.” He frowned. “But he told me his plans for the baby.”
Fear struck me.
“Don’t worry,” Noro murmured. “I won’t let it happen. I doubt you’ll be here long enough to bear the child anyway.”
“So I’m guessing that means you have some kind of plan for my escape?”
“Yes. We have roughly three days before your mates show up.”
My heart clenched. “They’re coming?”
