Griffin didn’t look up. Didn’t attempt to confirm what he knew. He understood why he needed to remain still.
Is this how that woman felt when Anadil stabbed her? When her own sister betrayed her? Are we two kindred souls, our strings being plucked and pulled by other forces?
“Drago! I told you, I had it handled. The Creators were inside, they are dead now. Harold and Sharon will take their place as you requested. This will work better, I promise.” Anadil moved away, her feet crunching on the ground as she did so. “My sister is still alive, just as we discussed.”
Griffin focused on the sound, on her voice. The screams faded into the background, the sobbing, the crying.
“And Griffin?”
“Your brother will rescue Raven, she will come into the game when the time is right and there will be no link to tie you to it.” Anadil’s voice pitched. “We need to leave soon, we cannot be found here. I imagine there are still survivors.”
Raven.
The name circulated.
Her sister’s name is Raven.
A chord struck deep within his heart, ringing with the name. Each note swelling louder, cascading like a symphony he couldn’t escape.
“Sweetheart, you will make the perfect queen, but for now, you must remain with Harold and Sharon. Keep an eye on them. There’s much more to come if we have any hope of rescuing Violencia. I will return when I can.” There was the unmistakable smack of lips before Griffin heard his brother’s heavier steps retreat further and further away.
And then the door was being lifted off of him again, a red-faced Anadil staring down at him. “Griffin, you aren’t done yet. Whatever you do, do not trust your brother. No matter the lies he tells you. He has told me unspeakable truths. He has no interest in remaining in Grypheem. He will do anything to force the crown onto you. Your men will find you here, I will see to it. Be safe, and I will retrieve you soon.” And then she was gone.
Griffin laid in agony for hours before Felix found him, only to share the news Raven hadn’t escaped. That Oleks had been captured.
It was the beginning of the end.
Present Day – Violencia
“Brother?” Griffin asked, attempting to force the memories out as he stepped into the throne room, his head on a pivot. The last time he had been in there was when he left for Violencia just a few months ago to find Jayce.
The space was just as cold and grandiose as he remembered.
There was not currently an audience, just him and his brother.
Except in this instant he knew this was the King he would be speaking to.
Drago stood from the throne, his crown wobbling as he did so. As if it didn’t fit quite right. As if it weren’t made for him.
“The High Priestess has insisted on the pre-matrimony ceremony. It will be the three of you. It will be viewed by witnesses as is the law.”
Griffin opened his mouth. He wanted to scream in his brother’s face, to argue that the law was disgusting. That forcing Raven to fuck him and Julian together while a crowd watched on the eve of their wedding was asinine. But he had long since learned when to hold his tongue in this room, and it wasn’t as ifhis brother had any control over the matter. It would be a waste of his energy.
“I understand,” he expelled instead. “And after the wedding?”
Drago marched down from the thrown, staring down at his brother. “Then we will invade Violencia. We will assist Anadil in her feats and Raven will be reunited with her child.”
For a single instant, there was a flash of a familiar emotion. One that he shouldn’t associate with his brother.
Distrust.
He didn’t trust Drago. He hadn’t since he officially met Nightingale, and he knew that was by design. But his brother hadabandonedhim for years. His brother had his own plans all along, and he had never deemed to share them with Griffin.
And then, when he had returned home, it had been cold and unwelcoming. And less than four years later he was being propelled back to Violencia again in search of Jayce with no explanation as to why.
“I found Jayce, and it was only after that I was taken. As if I was bait to be used and swallowed.” Griffin was testing the waters.
Drago’s lips tightened before he forced a smile. “Brother.” He walked to Griffin, a hand coming up and resting on his shoulder. “Surely you remember what happened last time you asked too many questions in this room.”
