But Levi didn’t relax, his entire body rigid as he stared down at Matty. “Did he now?”
Matty offered a lop-sided smile, putting his hands up placatingly. “We were strictly friends, no funny business.”
“Sure,” Levi said.
“I was actually here to see if you wanted to catch up, Raven? It’s been a while. But it can wait too.”
He was a lifeline to my past. And while I needed my time with Levi, I also craved a reminder of happier days.
I stepped around Levi, but paused, my mind flashing to Quinn’s face. The friend I had back from my Facility days that had nearly killed me in the Masquerade. “Sure, want to go up to Griffin’s quarters? No one should be there right now, but Julian will be back soon.”
Levi grabbed my shoulders, tugging me back against his chest, squeezing me to him. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head before releasing me. “I’ll let them know where you are.” There was an edge to his voice. A clear warning.
One that I accepted, my own suspicions were fluttering just below my skin. But a deep part of me genuinely needed a friend. And who was better than one from my childhood?
Matty offered a hand for me to take. I looked down at the long sleeves he wore halfway down his palms and placed my hand over top of it.
Levi watched the entire time as Matty headed out of the dining room with me in tow.
Once we were outside, he released me, his head on a swivel as we walked through a narrow hallway towards a hidden set of stairs in the center of the castle. The same ones that took me directly here from Griffin’s quarters.
“You need to be careful, Raven. If you are seen in any compromising positions it’s very well they could kill the man or he could even stake his claim.” Matty’s hair swayed behind him as he marched us up the stairs, his long pants dragging a bit on the steps.
This part of the castle was dingier than the rest. The walls were stained, the stairs didn’t have a banister, even the smell was mustier. Clearly a place that most didn’t come through, but I didn’t argue.
He froze in front of me at the top of the steps and I managed to trip, my hand reaching out and touching the wall on the stairs to catch my balance.
It surprised me when it wasn’t solid. My eyes focused on the spot, the previous discoloration forming a pattern the longer I looked.
He caught my expression, following it to where my hand still touched. “Just like the Facility, false walls. It makes sense, the people of Violencia used to be a part of these countries until they were shuttled away.”
A noise on the other side of my hand caused me to lean towards it, but before I could place my ear to it, Matty was opening the door at the top of the steps and gesturing for me to follow.
“Now, while the coast is clear.”
Jerking away, I took the last steps up, but at the very top, I turned around.
I may have been imagining it, but I could almost swear I saw the wall move before the door shut.
Game Thirteen: King’s Gambit
Chapter 23
The Beginning of the End
Griffin
Over Five Years Ago – Violencia
“Are you sure we can trust her?” Oleks spoke from behind Griffin.
They stood in the woods on the edge of a Facility. The Facility Anadil, Harold, and Sharon all resided. Anadil had reached out to Griffin earlier. Told him it was time, that she needed his help.
He hadn’t wanted to come here, but he was curious, he knew she had something planned.
Somethingbig.
“No,” Griffin admitted. “But this feels important. The other men are posted up around too.”
