“Is that alright with you darlin’?” Levi asked, checking in with Raven first.
She gave him a hug, allowing the much larger man to lift her into his arms. “Whatever to keep you safe.”
Griffin contained his growl. “Oleks, infiltrate the guard, same as before. Stay as close to us as you can.”
Oleks didn’t respond, instead slipping off and back below deck towards the guard’s quarters.
“And what about me, Griffin?” Julian taunted him.
Griffin didn’t like this part, but he accepted the necessity. “In our country, the women are kept on the Isles of Sacerdos until after they have birthed their first child, sometimes even longer depending on external factors. While there, the women are oftentimes with more than one man. Each man who fucks her is able to stake their claim. The man with the highest nobility garners their claim, and if they both are equally ranked”—Griffin’s anger sky-rocketed as he spoke—“they must come to an agreement, or she remains on the Isles until that time.” He focused his attention on Raven. “You have birthed your first child, and I have claimed you, thus they cannot take you.”
“So just as I thought, the Cherished don’t have a choice in the matter? What if no one chooses her? What if she doesn’t have a child?” Raven’s face turned red. A mixture of the cold and her rage as she rapid-fired the questions.
“Then she will remain on the Isles of Sacerdos until she dies,” Griffin stated. It wasn’t a well-known fact; it was one he had discovered on his own. The reason he was sent to Violencia in the first place. “Julian, we will present a new option.” Griffin hated this part even more, he had come up with this idea and attempted to find an alternative. But it was the best choice. To keep Raven safe. To keep her men by her side. To weigh down on a scale that was already attempting to topple in the opposite direction.
No matter how much he desperately wanted to kill them all… He couldn’t.
“You will come in on her other side. We will be together. The three of us.” Griffin paused. Raven needed another protector to keep close to her. And he needed a loophole in case anyone else tried to claim her. In case anything happened to him. “Raven will marry us both.”
Game Twelve: The Iron Mother
Chapter 12
This is the Ice
Raven
Present Day – Off the Coast of Grypheem
Raven will marry us both.
Griffin took up my arm on one side and gestured for Julian to follow suit. “The rest of you remain here until we have made it to the carriage. You will draw too much attention if you don’t.”
Raven will marry us both.
Julian didn’t hesitate even though it was clear this plan had been dropped on him too. His mouth was still slightly agape from the news.
Raven will marry us both.
Levi’s familiar hand rested on my back, his fingers fanning the material, rubbing comforting strokes.
Our ship approached the land before us. Even from a distance, I could see it wasn’t anything like Violencia. The snow-tipped mountains in the distance, the abundance of forest, the lack of walls surrounding it.
We drifted towards what appeared to be another source of water feeding into the sea, a long dock jutting out closest to us. There were a few other boats and ships that lined it, but none as big as ours.
“The Styx River,” Griffin murmured. “It separates Luscinia from Grypheem.”
Raven will marry us both.
“Ready yourselves!” Drago called from behind.
And I realized there weren’t brakes on this ship as we drifted the last hundred feet sideways into the dock, landing nearly perfectly against it.
“Let’s go. We need to make it to our carriage as quickly as possible. The Priestess is already here waiting for us.”
Raven will marry us both.
“Wait, why didn’t you tellheryour plan?” I attempted to tug free from him, but he held on tight looking down at me.
