Eduard closed his eyes and breathed for a long moment. Andvari had taught him well. “Our job is to keep him safe while he does.”
“Yes,” Andvari said. “Not to figure it out for him.”
“Was it a mistake to bring him here, Andvari?”
“I don’t think so. He would have said if it was. He knew immediately that we couldn’t spend the week in New York as we’d planned. I didn’t have to mention security to him. Heknew.”
“This is about trust.”
“I believe so,” Andvari said. “His instincts are strong. We have to get him to believe in himself, and we have to believe in him, too. That is our duty. That is our purpose.”
Eduard opened his eyes and stared into Andvari’s searching for answers, for something to ease the niggle of anxiety he still felt. How could he leave it all to Sawyer who was so new to their world? How could he not fight to make it easier?
“Do you believe in him, Eduard?”
And that one simple question made it easier. “I do.”
Andvari smiled and kissed him gently. “As do I.”
Henry
“This is the life,” Henry sighed. “I’m so glad we’re getting a pool at our house.”
Sawyer laughed and nudged him. Pool water splashed over his face, causing Henry to sputter and lose his grip on the float he was precariously balanced on.
“Not cool!” Henry splashed Sawyer back and they wrestled around the shallow end of the pool for a minute until they were both half-drowned and gasping for breath.
It hadn’t taken long after Cecil’s suggestion of a swim for them to change and dive into the pool behind Eduard’s cottage. Draco, having eaten three burgers and about a pound of potato salad to protest the finger food Bebe had given them for lunch, was passed out on one of the lounge chairs. His snores were truly epic.
Sawyer on the other hand was quiet, too quiet, and it had Henry worried. Ever since Eduard had left, he’d been thinking about something he hadn’t shared. Sawyer normally grinned a lot and Henry had a partner in crime when he wanted to get up to a little mischief.
Henry kicked away from the pool wall and floated over to where Sawyer was laying across a similar float to his. He faced him and snagged the edge of the plastic. “You wanna talk about it?”
Sawyer laid his head on his arms and smiled. “Just feeling a little nervous.”
“About?”
“Meeting the griffins.”
“Yeah, I get that. I’m kinda worried about meeting them, too.”
“Yeah?” Sawyer asked.
“Yep. I mean, the other guys have kind of made a big deal about it. We should have just taken you to meet my pack first.”
Sawyer grinned. “That would’ve been good. But I wouldn’t want to put your family at risk. Eduard said they had security here, you know?”
Henry shrugged. “We could have made it work. Still can. Want to run away? You drive the bus. I’ll be the lookout?”
Sawyer laughed and pulled himself up higher on the float. He reached across and kissed Henry before settling back down. “No way am I driving that monster. But if we need a plan B, I’ll keep it in mind.”
At least he’d managed to get a smile out of him. Henry counted it as a win. “So what’s plan A?”
“Well, I guess I need to win over the griffins. But what I really want is to figure out what I’m supposed to be doing and why someone keeps trying to kill me.”
“Research montage?” Henry quipped, drawing another laugh from Sawyer.
“Exactly how many books did you manage to bring?”
