The group on the island drew closer together. Tyr lookedaround, expecting a human fishing boat. Instead, he saw another pair of griffins winging for the island.
More spectators from Griffin Island? No .... from the angle, they were coming from the mainland. Tyr’s heart felt as if it had been caught in a vice. Even from here, he recognized the gleam of that silver-and-black feline body and falcon’s wings in the sun. His griffin yearned toward her.
Cela!
CELA
Cela watchedthe rocky towers approach. She had been to Challenge Rock a few times, as it was a ceremonial site for certain rituals for the island clans. But she had always found it forbidding and frightening, and nothing about the current situation seemed likely to change her point of view.
She could now see tiny figures on top of the sea stacks, a cluster on the largest rock that served as a challenge arena, and a few scattered observers on the others. Cela felt Peyton’s arms tighten around her neck, and began to regret bringing her human friend here.
She was close enough by now to recognize Tyr—and Kav, who had brought his entourage of bodyguards with him because of course he had. That was just the kind of jerk he was. Tyr had a few guards as well, who Cela recognized as low-ranking members of her clan.
She and Lirin swooped in for a landing on the rocky tower adjacent to the arena rock. Cela wanted desperately to leap across the space between them, run to Tyr and fling her arms around him, but she had plenty of practice at resistingthat urge. Anyway, there was no sense in getting the three of them taken prisoner as well.
Peyton climbed off, a bit shakily, and Cela shifted back to her human form, stretching her shoulders. The ache of her tired wings receded to a strange sore sensation around her shoulder blades. She knew she’d be feeling it when she turned into a griffin again.
Right now, though, she approached the edge as close as she could. Tyr had also come to the edge of his sea stack, and they gazed at each other eagerly across the several foot gap separating them, with a steep plunge to rocky waters below. In a way it was a metaphor for their whole relationship, Cela supposed, but right now she was just infinitely glad to see him again. He looked tired and shaken, but not hurt. He was also very pleasingly shirtless.
“Are you all right?” they both demanded at the same time. Then Cela gave a little laugh, and Tyr said, “How are you? How are the kids?Whereare the kids?”
“They’re fine. They’re with our friends back home.” She didn’t want to give any clues to the twins’ whereabouts in Kav’s hearing; she wouldn’t put it past Kav to decide that he wanted the kids back and send someone to get them.
She was pleased to find that she had no lingering feelings for Kav whatsoever, beyond a vague disgust and anger when she looked at him. She had been very flattered, once upon a time, that the clanlord had taken an interest in her. She had thought he was handsome. And she supposed he was, in the manner of a stone statue. She vastly preferred Tyr’s more ordinary good looks, coupled with his gentle hands and his protectiveness and his sometimes clumsy attempts at building a greenhouse and just his—everything.
She hadn’t fully realized how much she had missed him until seeing him here, the breeze off the ocean tousling hisdark red hair. He was looking at her with a kind of desperate hunger, as if he hadn’t eaten in days and was now confronted with a buffet of all his favorite things. She knew exactly how he felt.
“It’s good to see you, brother,” Lirin said, smiling.
This finally got Tyr’s attention off Cela; it was clear he’d only had eyes for her. But his face softened at the sight of his sister. “Hey, Lees. I heard you helped Cela find me, and I can see you’re helping her now. Thank you.”
Kav, meanwhile, was looking very strangely at Peyton. “Whoisthat?” he demanded, sounding slightly strangled.
Cela stepped in front of her human friend. “Stay away from her. She’s human; she’s no part of what’s going on here.”
Peyton peered around Cela. “Are all griffin men shaped like—that?” she whispered, leaning closer to Cela’s ear.
“Yes, and their hearing is very sharp. Shhh.”
Tyr, meanwhile, had turned to plant himself in front of Kav, blocking the larger man from the newcomers. “Our business isn’t finished. We have a challenge to complete.”
“What—no!” Cela cried.
She became aware that they were starting to develop a crowd around them. More griffins had been winging in, and now dozens of them were perched atop the neighboring rocky pillars. The elders of all six coverts were present, identified by loops of beads, necklaces and other ornaments even in their shift forms.
None of them moved to interfere. They simply observed.
“This is ridiculous,” Cela snapped. “I’m not a prize to be fought over. And more to the point, I don’t want to watch you two fight each other!”
“Maybe we do, though,” Peyton murmured, eyeing the muscular griffin men. Cela kicked her friend’s ankle.
“Stay out of this,” Kav told Cela.
“How dare you tell me to do anything!”
Tyr shifted into his griffin form, and Cela was struck all over again by his power and beauty. His striped fur gleamed in the sun, ruffled by the wind. He snapped his beak and spread his wings in a challenge display.
Kav shifted as well. Cela caught her breath at the size difference between them. Kav was one of the biggest griffins in the covert, significantly larger than Tyr.
