Jealousy?
He packed the case away and helped me pull my sleeve back down, his fingers lingering on wrist, on the scars there. He offered one last indecipherable look before getting to his feet. “I’ll be back tomorrow, but it would be nice to spend time again outside of this. I missed you Raven, and it’s nice having a piece of home again.”
The words landed exactly as I believed he wanted them to, a knife in the gut that twisted over and over.
When they were gone, I panted a few times choking on the last bits of oxygen I had held within my lungs for too long.
“I think you need a break from this room,” Oleks murmured, walking around the couch and helping me to my feet.
“Why did he take my blood?” I managed to choke out.
Oleks didn’t answer me right away, instead finding a large cloak to wrap me in. “Let’s go outside, you need fresh air.” He pulled another mask from the hoard he apparently had of them. This one he placed over my face.
“Oleks, why did he take my blood?” I dug my heels into the ground as he attempted to tug me towards the door.
“I imagine with theirobsessionwith fertility, they have the means to check if a woman is pregnant very quickly.” Olekshummed. “Drago wants to find out if his scheming worked. If you are in fact pregnant.”
My mouth opened in shock, and I no longer fought him as he led us outside.
He was right, I did need fresh air.
Chapter 33
Tattoos
Griffin
Just Over Two Years Ago - Grypheem
He had been back in this castle for two years and he had already gone half-insane. He was stuck on the grounds, forced to exist. Nothing more and nothing less. Drago had strategically removed any of the communication devices he could use to contact the outside world.
All that had kept Griffin sane were the monthly envelopes delivered to his quarters like clock-work.
The ones from Anadil. Except she never wrote anything to him, she simply sent him pictures of Raven. Of Julian. Of Oleks.
Tormenting him, forcing him to learn the cruelties they all faced, the evil they all endured. His heart was breaking for a woman he had chosen to despise over and over again.
Both keeping him sane and leading him closer to the edge of insanity.
He was back to his quarters now, a picture of Raven tucked in his breast pocket. Of her in another disguise, a single word beneath it.
Shadow.
His brother had mentioned the name on more than one occasion, but it was clear he had no idea who the Shadow was. Just that she was causing issues for him with his endeavors back in Violencia. The ones Griffin was kept locked out of.
Opening his door, he froze.
Every piece of surface was covered in wooden griffins. Carved figurines strewn across the ground, his bed, the couch.
Is this a threat? Or…
He had made a lot of enemies in his time in Violencia, but so far it had been quiet. Were they just biding their time?
He ran into the room, turning to shut the doors but paused at the sight of one his brother’s advisors, Charles, on the other side.
The advisor raised a finger to their lips, their sleeve falling just a bit.
Griffin slammed them the rest of the way, but he swore as he did, he made out a familiar tattoo.
