Julian didn’t speak, his face turning ashen as he stared at Raven fast asleep. “What the fuck is wrong with this place?”
Griffin screwed his eyes shut, burying the memories of his youth, the anger, the lack of women. The disgusting secrets hidden.
Eventually, he settled on a single word.“Everything.”
Chapter 32
Why Did He Take My Blood?
Raven
Present Day - Grypheem
Oleks laid in my lap as I lackadaisically ran my fingers through his hair. He hummed his gratitude, his hand reaching up to cup my face. The fire burned brightly across from us, but it was the heat of his fingers that filled me with the most warmth.
“It isn’t your fault.” His voice was soft, hushed.
Two days had passed since Levi was taken, stolen away by the High Priestess, and I hadn’t been able to doanythingabout it. My body was still recovering from theadventureit had gone on with all of the men and it was clear I was nothing more than a trinket to be kept.
“It was my fault.”
Oleks’s warm eyes churned in emotion. “I watched it play out. It was pre-determined he would be taken. There was nothing you could do.”
It was clear there was more to it than Oleks was saying, but I didn’t press him. The enigmatic man had a way of skirting around the truths with pretty words. A thought struck, “You didn’t…when we were drugged, you didn’t…”
“I didn’t fuck you?” Oleks asked, his lips flattening into a line.
I paused my movements in his hair. “Didn’t you say there would be lasting consequences if you didn’t?”
Oleks flicked his attention away and I could tell in this instance I was too close to a painful memory, that it was taking everything in him not to jump and run and disappear.
Another thought pierced through, and I didn’t wait for his answer before asking, “Has there been any sighting of Ivan? What if he goes after Levi? What if he—”
Oleks’s fingers painted long and hot deep strokes up and down my jaw. “I have sensed him. But I have not found him.”
Fear. It was pure and thick. Between everything that had happened here, my brain hadn’t slowed down enough to remember that Ivan was still very much out there.
That it was clear he was here with a purpose.
“In the castle?” My memory somersaulted back to the wall in the stairs. “Have you—” I bent down, suddenly terrified we were being watched.
The room, which moments ago had felt so cozy, now seemed to blink thousands of eyeballs at us.
“In the walls. There are hidden passageways. Maybe that’s—”
A knock on the door had me freezing mid-sentence. Julian and Griffin shouldn’t be back yet, they were sent to work on readying the castle for the wedding. They needed to remain a cohesive front. But women here were not to be seen…
Oleks untangled himself from me, leaping nimbly to his feet. He reached into his pants pocket tugging out a folded familiar griffin mask and putting it on before marching towards the door.
“Hey Raven!” Matty’s voice was cheerful on the other side, but he wasn’t alone. Amelia stood beside him, her hands clasped behind her back as she bounced on her heels.
Oleks flicked his attention to me, it was clear he didn’t want either of them to enter, but I was curious what brought them here…together.
“Come in.” I didn’t bother getting up.
Matty offered a toothy grin, moving into the room until he sat on the chair, but Amelia chose to remain standing, taking up space behind him.
“Amelia?” I asked her.
