Griffin rolls me onto my back and kisses me hungrily. He takes me off guard at first, but then I kiss him back with just as much eagerness and lift my knees, curving my legs around his hips. He slides into me with so little effort that it surprises us both. I bite my lip, taming a wicked smile.
Griffin’s expression is all satisfied heat. He flashes me a pirate’s grin before suddenly pumping up on his arms. He dips his head and catches my nipple in his mouth, pulling on it with hot, wet tugs. Closing my eyes, I arch up into him with a moan.
He starts moving inside me, so slowly at first that it’s decadently sensual. His stubble grazes my skin as he scatters scorching kisses across my chest. Midnight hair teases the hollow of my throat, and I curve my hands around his head. Griffin shifts up. His lips capture mine, and he pushes deeper into me, rocking hard. A rope of pure pleasure pulls taut inside me, making my toes curl and my mind go blank.
All I can feel is him, and all I want is more. Wings beat in my chest, unfurling with near-violence. Griffin speeds up, winding me even tighter. Release quivers just out of reach and then hits like a sudden storm.
Griffin stills and then pulses deep within me. His groan is long and low. He leans his forehead against my shoulder, holding himself rigid for a moment before dropping like a stone.
I croak something incoherent, and Griffin rolls off me, landing heavily on his back. He gropes for his pillow with one hand, sliding it under his head. He snakes his other hand underneath me, circling my shoulders and tipping me onto my side. He pulls me tightly against him. I wriggle my head up onto his shoulder and then drape my leg across his thigh, smiling up at him. He smiles back and then closes his eyes.
I blink in surprise. “You can’t go back to sleep.”
“Yes, I can.” To prove it, he settles his body more firmly into the mattress.
“But…there are things to do. Realms to run.” A journey to undertake.
His free arm flops across his eyes, blocking out the light from the east-facing window.
I stare at him in shock, not seeing much more than his slightly parted lips and stubborn jaw. After a while, his breathing slows.
I watch him, not at all sleepy, a niggling sense of unease overtaking pleasure. I’m completely aware of the fact that he just distracted me with amazing sex, and I let him. His focused blast of activity on his sisters’ behalf over the last few days, his ability to find a smile here and there, especially for me, and very intense lovemaking are only masking the truth.
Griffin isn’t getting past what Piers tried to do to us, to me, tohim. If there’s one thing that proves it, it’s that he’s not the one pushing us to get out of bed today—or any day at all.
* * *
I leave Griffin asleep in our room and make my way down to breakfast, only to find that breakfast is over, and there’s no food. In fact, the dining room is completely empty. My stomach rumbling, I poke around the still largely unfamiliar palace, walking the dim, torch-lined corridors down a level toward where the main kitchen should logically be. I quickly get lost in the labyrinthine underbelly of Castle Tarva and have to ask servants for the right way not once, not twice, butthreetimes.
Stupid sense of direction.I wish I had one.
Thinking I finally smell food, orsomething, I find myself foiled again when I pull up short in the doorway of the cavernous kitchen. In the middle of the room, Flynn is leaning toward Jocasta, his massive hands braced on the solid wooden worktable between them. Loose and wild as usual, his auburn hair reflects the light from the fire blazing in the hearth. Across from him, Jocasta is tipped forward as well, her hands wrist-deep in some kind of stewed herbs from the smell of it. They’re glaring at each other.
“You think I can’t handle the responsibility?” She pulls a handful of dark, limp leaves from her bowl and starts vigorously ripping them up.
“I didn’t say that. Don’t put words in my mouth, Jo.”
“Then say what you mean.” Even from the shadows of the hallway, I see her blue eyes flash and her expression tighten with a mixture of annoyance and frustration.
Flynn pushes off from the table with a scowl. “I’m saying you don’t have to do everything alone. Find an advisor you trust.”
“How should I know who to trust?”
“Ask Cat to meet people with you. She’ll know who’s lying, and what their intentions are.”
Jocasta shakes bits of damp herbs from her fingers, flicking them back into the bowl. When most of her concoction is where it should be again, she picks up an already stained cloth from the table and then wipes her hands clean. “Cat’s leaving today.”
“And that terrifies you.”
Jocasta’s head snaps back up, sending a blue-black curl swinging against her jaw. Flynn makes a hesitant, almost imperceptible move toward it, but before his intention can become clear, Jocasta impatiently shoves the loose lock behind her ear. “Why do you say that?”
His hand drops, curling into a slack fist. “Because everyone relies on Cat. When she’s around, we all have this ridiculous sense of security, like no matter what’s happening, or who’s swinging a sword, or throwing fire, or whatever terrifying person or creature is coming at us, she’ll fix it. She always does.”
Oh. My stomach crashes to my feet. For once, I’m pretty sure the queasiness isn’t due to Little Bean.
Is that how everyone sees me? Is that what I am to them? What they expect?
Then it hits me—again. Of course it is. I’m Elpis. Unbreakable. Unshakable. Possibly going to vomit…
