He thinks he’s won,Noro realized.
“Good work getting him to cooperate, Torin,” Blaze said. “It’s good to know there’sonegryphon I can trust around here.”
Noro resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Refusing to back down, he met Blaze’s hard stare dead on. Whatever the power-hungry man had in store for him now, Noro would take it. He had to.
I’ll take every moment of suffering Blaze gives me if it means it’s a moment he’s not spending with Matheson.
“Tell me everything about the pregnancy,” Blaze demanded.
“What about it?” Noro replied evenly.
Snarling, Blaze slammed his claws on the cell bars. “Don’t fuck with me, Noro, you and I both know what I’m talking about! The omega is huge! He was practically flat the other day and now he’s swollen up like a watermelon!”
“And you think I know anything about this?”
“Yes,” Blaze spat. “The wolf told me he heard you twofuckinglast night.”
Noro didn’t flinch, though he was deeply ashamed the two of them hadn’t kept quiet. He knew it was his own fault. He should have known Neil would try eavesdropping or spying on them.
He kept his voice cool and calm. “And you think… what, exactly? That I imbued him with some kind of magic?”
Blaze lashed his tail, hitting Torin in the side with it. The guard stumbled away with a wince, but Blaze was too angry to notice.
“Did you?” he demanded.
“As far as I’m aware, no,” Noro replied honestly. “My magic is weak. I have no strong abilities.”
“How do I know that’s not a lie?”
Noro paused. “I don’t know how to prove it to you.”
A cruel expression hardened Blaze’s glare. A flicker of fear went through Noro and he took a step back.
“Torin,” Blaze said quietly. “Get out of here.”
“O-okay,” Torin mumbled. He seemed hesitant to leave, shooting Noro an indecisive glance.
“Now!” Blaze roared.
Torin bolted down the hall as Blaze’s voice echoed all around him between the dusty walls.
Noro’s heart raced as Blaze, radiating murderous intent, approached the cell.
* * *
Torin skulked sullenly back uptowards the main hall. After all he’d done for Blaze--abducting Matheson, bringing him all the way back here, and being a loyal guard at every turn--the king still pushed him aside, treating him like some annoying flea.
Why did Blaze treat that stupid wolf Neil better than him?
Something about this whole thing didn’t sit right with him. Noro was loved among the pride. He was smart and cool. He was the magic Keeper. But everyone had turned against him just because of what Neil said, and Neil wasn’t even a gryphon! He was some washed-up wolf who betrayed his own people. Why was everyone listening to him?
He continued up the steps with a scowl until he heard a soft groan coming from a small room at the crest of the stairs. He knew that voice. He leapt up and pushed the door open to reveal a gryphon in human form, with his recognizable blue-black hair and that face that looked so similar to Noro’s.
“Bastian?” he asked
But Bastian could barely lift his head. He was curled up in a ball, panting heavily, his face damp from sweat. “Torin…?”
Torin shifted to his lesser used human form--it took him a moment, he almost forgot how to do it--and ran to Bastian’s side. His skin was burning up.
