Victor moved away, gliding across the room to join another small group of griffins. Sawyer glanced back at the portrait again, the story suddenly coming together for him in a different way. Augustus was sitting in a high back chair in front of the fire, very much alone in a room filled with family. As Sawyer watched, he glanced up at the portrait of his wife, and the grief appeared and vanished again in the blink of an eye.
Sawyer moved quickly and sat in the empty chair beside Augustus. “I hope I’m not speaking out of turn when I say that your wife was incredibly beautiful.”
Augustus glanced over at him, startled for a moment. “She was.”
“Eduard has her hair. And her eyes, I think. He has your nose, though.”
Augustus chuckled. “Yes, he does.”
“Can I ask you something weird?”
Augustus looked wary, but nodded.
“Could you like… tell what she was thinking just by looking into her eyes? I can always tell what Eduard is really feeling when I look into his eyes. He hides what he’s feeling sometimes. But his eyes don’t lie, not to me anyway.”
Augustus stared at him for a long moment before nodding. “I’ve written sonnets about Francesca’s eyes.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer said quietly. He glanced back up at the painting. “I’m really lucky your son loves me.”
“Yes,” Augustus murmured, “you are. He is a lot like his mother.”
They sat quietly for a moment, each staring up at the portrait of the matriarch of the family in her prime. Sawyer wished he could have met her.
“He’s a lot like you, too,” Sawyer said after a moment. “I’d really like to get to know you better. I know you’re not exactly thrilled about all this, but I hope that you’ll at least give me a chance. For Eduard’s sake.”
Augustus glanced up at the portrait again then closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “Come to my office at ten tomorrow. We have much to discuss.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And since this evening has been an abysmal failure on my part, tomorrow I will host a clambake on the beach to celebrate my son and his mates. Francesca would be disappointed in my behavior. I’m tired of these stuffy dinners anyway, and Eduard has always had a fondness for our beach celebrations.”
Sawyer tried not to blush at the memories of their last celebration on the beach. “Eduard will love that.”
Augustus reached out and patted Sawyer’s hand. “I’m in need of a drink. Would you care to join me?”
“I’d love to.”
Henry
Henry skipped ahead of his mates as they made their way to the beach and his promised clambake. Eduard was less than thrilled that Sawyer was alone with his father and had been for the past several hours. Henry had a really good feeling, though, and the wind whipping around him at the beach didn’t have any warning messages to pass along. He’d been listening a lot more lately, practicing picking up the subtle messages his magic shared with him with a simple brush of air across his cheek.
He’d learned a lot from being around Draco, Eduard, and Andvari. Draco and Eduard’s magic came from the fire element. It interacted with his air magic in a very distinctive way. During his studies, he’d seen an analogy that he’d fallen in love with. It described his relationship with Draco and Eduard perfectly. When fire and air were in sync, they worked like a hot air balloon, each helping the other rise to levels they never could on their own. Draco and Eduard did that for him, had helped him understand the heights he could achieve with his magic.
Andvari, on the other hand, got his magic from the earth element. He’d learned how to stay grounded with Andvari, to not let his magic go so far that he couldn’t bring it back. Andvari tethered him in a way that wasn’t actually binding in anyway, but kept him safe and secure while he explored his limits. He needed Andvari’s quiet strength more than he’d imagined, especially as his entire shifter family had earth magic as well. He was the most comfortable around Andvari’s magic. It felt like home to him.
The wind whispered and danced around him as he finally reached the sand and the amazing set up Augustus’s staff had arranged. There were tables covered in checkered cloths, a white tent off to the side— Henry blushed and wondered if it was the same one from the other night— and a couple fires surrounded by rocks. Augustus and Sawyer were already on the beach and Henry couldn’t believe that Augustus was actually wearing shorts.
He fought back a snicker, even as Eduard stopped beside him and wrapped an arm over his shoulder. “What has you laughing?”
“Your dad is wearing shorts. And you guys had me all convinced that griffins were some sort of fashion icons who would never be caught dead in such plebeian attire!”
Eduard huffed out a laugh and guided him forward. He was wearing flowing white linen pants with a matching shirt open over a gray tank top. Henry had opted to throw on a pair of swim shorts and one of the soft T-shirts Bebe had picked out. He had to admit that they all looked good. As much as he’d like their suits from the night before, seeing Eduard looking so relaxed and casual and not buttoned up— “You know,” Henry complained, “I never paid attention to clothes before I met you. What’s that about?”
“Finally educating you on the importance of appearance?”
Henry pinched Eduard’s ass instead of dignifying his comment with a response. They made their way over to Augustus and Sawyer, and Henry was really happy to see that Sawyer looked more relaxed than he’d been since they arrived. Augustus had one hand on Sawyer’s shoulder, gesturing with the beer bottle in his hand.Beer, Henry thought.Who knew?
Sawyer also had a beer in his hand and was listening raptly to Augustus’s story about a shipwreck on the island that had turned into a raucous party. Henry was bummed that he missed the first part of the story because the punch line made Sawyer laugh so hard he snorted. Sawyer turned to them and his smile brightened even more. He stepped between Henry and Eduard, wrapping arms around each of them.
