Especially with the older man leading the crowd fast approaching. He had a somber expression on his face, and a neatly trimmed gray beard and hair. My breath caught as I saw his eyes—turquoise eyes, the exact same shade as mine.
Before he could reach me, a young man who looked a lot like Griff stepped into his path and blocked his way. At first, I thought I was seeing double, but the more I looked, there were slight differences. Griff’s hair was sandy blond, while this man’s was more of a light brown, his clean-shaven skin less sun-kissed, as though he spent most of his time indoors. And where Griff’s hazel eyes tended more toward green, his were more brown. More differences became apparent as he continued his approach. They appeared to be the same height, but he lacked the sheer mass of the man standing behind me. Whereas Griff looked like he was carved from stone, this man’s lines were softer, leaner, as though he hadn’t spent his whole life in a training yard.
“I’m Finnegan Narvene. But they call me Finn. You must be Lily.”
I nodded, not sure what to say, especially with the roar of the crowd threatening to overwhelm me, voices battering me in every direction.
“Finally! The lost princess…”
“It’s her, right? It has to be her. Just look at those eyes, so like her father’s…”
“She’s so young—too young…”
“Why is he standing so close to her?”
“She’s the one who’s supposed to save us all?”
But above all the noise, one emotion came through, rising above everything.
Hope.
In me.
“She goes by Lexa,” I heard from the deep rumble of the chest behind me.
That was all we had time for before the older man reached us, looking distinctly put out that Finn had jumped in front of him.
“Out of my way, Lord Narvene. Let me see my granddaughter.”
I had figured we were related, but this was my grandfather? Nana had always said my eyes came from my father’s side, which had to mean that this was Nana’s spouse. Zachariah.
Nana had very rarely said anything about her life before we moved to Fairhaven, but the little she said about her husband had not been complimentary.
He examined me as though he could see through me. “And how do we know this is she?”
Honestly, that was an excellent question. Maybe I wasn’t who they all expected me to be and I could just go home. Except Nana had said it was true.
“It’s her.” Griff’s voice from behind me was unyielding, daring Zachariah to doubt him.
Which was precisely what happened. “And do you have proof, Lord Narvene?” He sneered at Griff, which was a feat given that Griff was so much taller than him.
“Besides the fact that I found her with Rose, look at her eyes. And if you still have doubt, don’t you have access to your soul channel?”
What was a soul channel?
They continued talking, but I couldn’t quite make it out over the ringing in my ears. The crowd was surrounding me. No longer were there individual voices, but everyone was talking all at once, directly into my head. All of it blended together into a cacophony between my ears.
I rubbed a hand over my temple, trying to stop the ache, desperate to block out the noise. Wanting someone, anyone, to make this stop. Underneath the excited chatter, worries, and calculating thoughts, something else came through clearly—a voice so cold and malicious it made my skin crawl.
“So she returns. But not for long. He’ll see to that.”
I swayed on my feet, instinctively taking a step back into Griff, whose hand came to rest on my lower back. Finn had sidled up to my side.
“She isn’t shielded,” I heard from behind me. “This must be deafening.”
The hand on my back shifted, and instantly, everything became muted. I could hear my heartbeat fluttering in my ears, strangely loud as the noise abated.
“Lexa.”
