He didn’t expect to see two people already in his hiding space in the maze of hedges, and he froze in horror.
He didn’t want his meltdown to be witnessed.
Oleks was the first to reach him, to wrap him in a light hug, to rub methodical circles on his back. “Breathe.” The word was a hypnosis, a forceful proclamation that his body responded to.
Griffin allowed the man to comfort him. Just as they had each other for years. “I thought you despised me.”
Oleks froze for a single instance before starting the circles up again. “It took a single day of being here to understand you are nothing like them. I forgave you years ago for your deception. For not informing me that you were exactly who we fought against.”
“Griffin?” Raven’s voice was a soft lilt that infiltrated Griffin’s anxiety.
Her hands found him next, wrapping him in a half hug.
His breathing calmed and he heard the crunch of boots in the snow as Julian caught up to him.
“What’s going on?” Raven asked. He noted she and Oleks were both wearing masks, and he was grateful at Oleks’s forethought.
“A man showed us his griffin tattoo and then Griffin was dragging me out here,” Julain explained.
“Julian and I were imprisoned for a short while together, and after that, I returned here. Determined to never have any part of the Griffin gang again. But then rumors of what I had been doing spread. The wooden carved griffins started showing up in my room. I thought it was a threat. And then I caught sight of what I thought might be a griffin tattoo…but I don’t want to do this again. I don’t want to lead men to their doom. I don’t want to…” Griffin didn’t want to be King, he had never wanted that kind of power. He had wanted to make a difference but on hisownterms. And if there were men pledging their allegiance to him, getting that tattoo…
He had imagined Raven as his queen, but not in the literal sense.
“We are going to war. It is inevitable,” Oleks advised under his breath, staring up at Griffin. “Their capturing of Levi has solidified that.”
Raven released him next, flicking her attention between the three men. “We need to rescue Levi. When are we doing that?”
“After the wedding,” Griffin replied easily. He would rescue Levi for her. As everything he did was forher. He wasn’t sure when his heart had changed, when she had filled it, but now he was singular-minded in keeping her safe. Bending down, he plucked a wilted hibiscus from the ground, rolling it in his fingers, focusing on it. Allowing the distraction to calm him. These flowers were the only ones that survived the weather here.
“Will that be before or after your brother leads us to war with Violencia?” Raven’s voice was harsher than Griffin expected, and he whipped his eyes up to her. “Did you know he came for my blood today?”
Griffin frowned. “Why would—” He shook his head, the reason compressing him into the ground, the flower falling from his fingers onto the snow. “To check. It’s only been a few days, the Priestess must be applying pressure. That isn’t good.”
“When will the pre-marital ceremony be? And what exactly is it?” Raven’s questions this time were harder than the last.
Griffin choked on his own tongue.
“You need to tell her. She needs to be prepared for it,” Julian moved around him, walking to Raven and wrapping his arms around her from behind.
She leaned back against him, but her attention didn’t leave Griffin. Her chin jutted up in defiance. “Tell me.”
Griffin opened his mouth, shutting it and repeating the motion a few times before the words finally came out. And then he was explaining exactly what was expected of her.
Exactly what he and Julian would need to do.
The sky opened up above them as he explained. White flakes began to fall slowly down on them, but even still, they remained frozen out there.
Raven’s face turned a deeper pink as Griffin told herexactlywhat they would have to do.
Chapter 34
The Letter L
Raven
Present Day – Grypheem
“Aspecial bird, how resilient of you.” The creature above me wore goggles and they reflected my own image back at me. A metallic glint caught in the bright light above.
