Griffin’s heart sank into his feet. “You told me to free my wings, but you always aimed to clip them, didn’t you?”
Drago let out a hearty laugh, throwing his head back, the crown falling to the ground behind him and rolling away.
Neither man made any move to go after it.
“I took on a role I didn’t want, to allow you the freedom to exist.” Drago sobered, turning away and going to the crown. Bending down, he picked it up but didn’t put it back on his head. Instead he twisted, marching forward and setting it on Griffin’s.“After this, I will not return to Grypheem. I will stay in Violencia with Ana and you can remain here.”
Ana.
Griffin reached up, taking the crown from his head and flipping it in his hands. “You told the Priestess that Raven was pregnant.” Griffin’s eyes watched Drago as carefully as he could.
Each twitch of his fingers, his erratic breath, the clenching of his jaw.
His brother waslivid.
“You came up with an insane attempt to skirt the laws. I did what was needed to keep her safe,” Drago explained. “I told her she was pregnant. And you must make it so.”
“And if I can’t?” Griffin offered the crown back to his brother. He had no interest in it.
“It doesn’t have to be you.” Drago bared his teeth. His attention flicked behind Griffin. “Amelia, sweetheart, thank you so much for coming here! Could you take Griffin to the meeting room? We need to all have a thorough discussion on the next steps needed.”
Griffin spun on his heel to find Amelia standing, her back against the door. He hadn’t heard her come in, couldn’t feel her energy. As if her soul had already left her body and all that was left was the suffering she had endured.
Amelia bowed her head.
Griffin wanted to argue, but he recognized in this instance he didn’t have much of a choice.
“The others should be joining us all soon, and I will be there shortly. I have one more meeting to wrap up.” Drago waved his hand, clearly dismissing them. “An hour tops. You all should start working on the plan for when we land in Violencia.”
Griffin’splanwas simple. They wouldn’t all be landing in Violencia. He had already decided what needed to be done. Hewould call Illiyana the day of his wedding. He would ship Raven off there to remain safe as this all passed.
Especially if he had to get her pregnant first, which was seeming more and more as a necessity.
Fuck. Fuck.Fuck!
He heaved a sigh, his eyes flicking one last time to the unwanted crown before following Amelia.
Chapter 24
You Need to Be Impregnated
Raven
Present Day - Grypheem
“Imissed you, Raven.” Matty offered a toothy grin, his hair falling forward as he leaned over and clasped my hands in his, pushing up the sleeve of my fleece-lined sweater, his cool skin shocking against mine.
We had spent most of the day just talking. At one point, Julian had come, but then he had been whisked away. While I had never felt at any point uncomfortable in Matty’s presence, we hadn’t touched on heavier topics.
Sticking to the lightness of a distant past where we all spent our days just existing in the small joys granted to us.
I looked up at him. “I missed you too.”
Releasing his hold, he looked down to my wrists, to where the sleeve had been pushed up. He stiffened.
Matty’s face whitened, his light eyes darkening a nearly imperceptible amount.
“There are scars here,” he whispered. “I though–” He shook his head, his attention flicking up to my face and back to my wrist. To the marks Ivan had left.
