This room was small, but larger than hers. Griffin had attempted to put her in it, but Drago vetoed his efforts. She was Cherished, and therefore, she must be kept away from the crew, out of sight, hidden below deck, or so Drago had declared, much to Griffin’s chagrin.
The bed was in the center of his space. To the right, a desk built into the ship, and on the other wall a door led to a private bathroom.
He had half a mind to throw her over his shoulder and dump her into the shower, turning the cold water on to pull something from her.
“What do you want from me?” Raven angled her head up, meeting his gaze.
But her eyes were listless, her energy lacking any power. She reminded him of countless victims he had met in Violencia. The ones who had lost all hope.
“What happened to you? Shouldn’t you be angry?”
Raven expelled the air from her lungs, her breath intermingling with his. “I’m tired, Griffin.”
His name on her lips was a comet landing between them. Destroying any semblance of cohesivity. He ducked his head further, his lips pressing to hers. She was soft, pliable,sweet.
A dessert that he wanted to gorge on.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, his hand fanning her back, as he brought her closer to him. As he felt every curve of her body against his.
She wasn’t fighting him.
She wasn’t kissing him back.
He released her. “What is wrong with you? What has happened?”
The glassiness in her depths stole his breath, but he tempered himself. She opened her mouth but closed it again. Indecision marring her face.
He reached up, squeezing her chin, demanding her to stay in this moment with him.
“You will not survive like this. You went through those games with the intent to win. Well, think of it like that. You’re still in the games, Raven. You still need to win. You need to have that driving force. Otherwise you will die. Otherwise we willalldie. What about Sparrow? Don’t you want to return to her?” He knew he had gone too far, but it had the designed reaction.
Her slap was sharp against his face, an additional sting overlaid onto the already forming bruises there.
“There's a quiet beat that comes in the absence of pain. When you aren't feeling what you should be.” Raven panted, ripping her chin free from his grip and physically pushing him back. Caught off guard, Griffin stumbled until the backs of his legs hit the bed.
But it had worked. There was anger in Raven’s voice.Distress.
“When your grief and sorrow leave your body, and instead of that deep abyss, you are left in a puddle. It is manageable, you can stomp and splash in it. But then there's the guilt. Why is this pond so shallow? Why aren't your emotions trudging you downwards further, filling up the space around you? Why are you okay when you shouldn't be?”
Griffin opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it again.
“I am numb, Griffin. Numb to what has happened. To what is happening. It has been too much. I have to keep myself in this state, between good and bad. Pain and pleasure. It is how I will survive.”
“The shadow.” Griffin realized what had changed. This wasn’t Raven before him. This was her persona. The one he had learned about. A person who changed faces and emotions as required to survive. “You need more than that.”
Raven turned her head, refusing to look at him. “I have nothing else to offer. We aren’t going to marry. I will play along with this pretend weddinggame,but once I am able to, I’m heading back to Violencia.”
Griffin bent forward, reaching for her wrist, grateful when she didn’t fight back. He dropped to the bed, tugging her gently with him. She landed next to him bowing her head, her hair falling forward. A curtain separating them.
He didn’t like that.
He tucked it carefully behind each ear, his fingers lingering longer than needed. “Raven, the Cherished in my country, sacred or otherwise, are labeled as protected, but they are not. It is the most dangerous title you can have. But being a princess will keep you safe.” He chose not to explain further. To not elaborate. How could he tell her having another to protect her was part of his plan? That he had no intention to allow her to travel back to Violencia? That there was a completely different country he wanted to tuck her away on until the world sorted itself out?
She was silent for several minutes before heaving a sigh. “I will play the part,” Raven obliged, her head lifting, allowing Griffin to see the anguish that danced across her face. “But it will be a part. Another persona. And I will only do so if you promise me that it will lead us to Violencia.”
Griffin held his tongue. There was a lot she needed to know, even more she would hate, but she could find out later.
That would befutureGriffin’s problems.
