“Yes, there is.”
He waits, but I don’t say anything. I’m not going to make this easy on him. His scowl deepens. “And that is?”
“She needs to know.”
“No, she doesn’t,” he argues in return.
“Yes, she does. You can’t just sit up here in your kingdom in ignorant bliss while the other kingdoms—”
“Ignorant bliss,” he cuts in. “Is that what you think this is?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s exactly what it is. Elowen needs to knowwhat’s going on, and so does everybody else here.”
He takes steps towards me, and I have to look up to keep my eyes on his. When he gets close, I get a feel for just how big he is. My head tips back, and I resist the urge to take a step back. “You know why Elowen looked so scared in there?” he nods his chin back towards the kitchen. He doesn’t wait for me to say anything before he continues. “Because she knows the stories. She knows the stories ofbefore.”
“Before what?” I ask in confusion.
“Before they were cursed.” His face hardens. “There’s a reason why they were cursed—why Terron was so hard on them.”
“I know; everybody does. They tried to take over, wanted more power; so the gryphons cursed them.”
“Gryphons. Ever wonder where the rest of them went?”
I shrug. “I knew there used to be more. I figure they died off over time.”
He scoffs. “Sounds like you really know your history.”
I level a look at him. “Is there a point to this conversation?”
“Yes, there is if you’d take a moment to listen.”
I roll my eyes at him. “You’re full of yourself.”
“And you’re difficult to get along with.”
“Could we move along with the history lesson please?” A muscle in his jaw jumps, and I can tell I’ve gotten under his skin.Good. He needs to be brought down a peg...or twenty.
“When you say they tried to take over, it makes it sound clean and neat. They tried, the gryphons stopped them, end of story. That’s so far from the truth.” He turns away and walks over to the head of the table, but he doesn’t sit. He crosses his powerful arms and leansagainst the table.
“I’m assuming you’re going to tell me the truth.” I can’t decide if I appreciate that or not.
His eyes meet mine, and I shudder inwardly at the darkness there. “I am. One of the,” he pauses, “downsides of having our dragons is the craving for power that comes from them.”
“And the desire to hoard,” I add, repeating what I know to be true.
He continues as if I didn’t speak. “A small group of men started stirring up the people in our kingdom. They were greedy for power and control. The group grew and became a real problem. But it wasn’t until the king learned that they were planning on attacking the other kingdoms that he got involved. He stepped in and shut down their plans. He had the backing of our soldiers, and it started to get messy. It turned into a full-blown hostile take-over. They stormed the palace and went after the royal family. The guards held them off at first, but there were too many of them. The king sent messengers to the other kingdoms to request help. None came.” His voice is hard. “The entire royal family was slaughtered, save one young boy. Those men, now in control of the Dragon Kingdom, set their sights on their next conquest. They marched towards the Wolf Kingdom, killing any human communities they found along the way. When they got there, Terron and his gryphon along with the other gryphons were there to stop them. It didn’t go as planned, and too many gryphons and their bonded died from the spirit dragons attacking. Those who remained combined their power to curse the uprisers into guivre form, forever to stay that way. The curse wasso powerful and used so much magic, it claimed the lives of the remaining gryphons. Only Terron and his gryphon stood after that battle, and the guivres were released into our world.”
Chapter 9
My mind is racing, trying to process everything he’s saying with what I know to be true. I ask the first question that comes to mind. “How did Terron survive?”
“They left him for dead.”
“But he wasn’t,” I state the obvious.
“No.”
“I knew the gryphons were dying out, but I hadn’t known Terron and his gryphon were the last of their kind until the guivres started turning back to humans,” I admit.
