“I don’t know why he treats you like this,” he said quietly. “I would have thought that after Violet, he would have learned.” He paused. “He’s not the man I fell in love with, all those years ago. Losing Violet, losing your parents, changed him. And I had so many hopes that having you back would cause him to return to the man he was. He was devastated when Rose took you. We both were. With no word if either of you still lived.”
I didn’t voice what I truly thought—that he simply didn’t want to give up his power, especially to an outsider. He didn’t understand that Ireallydidn’t want this power.
“He wasn’t always power-hungry,” Andrei was saying. I wondered, not for the first time, if Andrei didn’t have a bit of his mind channel.
“What do I do?” Maybe it was the fact that I was exhausted, hurting, and had no idea where to go from here, but I just wantedAndrei to tell me what my next step was. How to handle my grandfather.
He moved his hand from where it laid on my chest to my arm, running it down from my shoulder to wrist, the cooling healing sensation following in its wake. “I wish I could tell you.” He repeated the treatment on my other arm, the aches easing.
“Andrei…” I lapsed into silence, feeling embarrassed that the one thing I truly cared about at this moment was where my Champion was and why he wasn’t with me. He had stood on that cliff next to me the whole time, supporting me. I knew he’d been here too, but why wasn’t he here when I awoke?
“What is it?”
“Where’s Griff?” I asked in a small voice.
“He’s resting,” Andrei said.
Something about how Andrei said it, how he hesitated over the word, sent alarm bells ringing through me. I lunged forward, my body on fire, only to fall back again. “Is he—” I was terrified that he’d been injured again, or that I hadn’t healed him like I thought I did.
“He’s fine,” Andrei assured me, shoving pillows behind my back. “Just exhausted and completely drained. He’ll be his normal self once he sleeps for a bit. And trust me, he wasn’t pleased with me. Didn’t want to leave your side.”
A warm glow that had nothing to do with Andrei’s healing settled inside me.
Andrei finished curing the worst of my burns and with a gentle pat on my shoulder, he left me alone.
The room was empty. I sank deeper into the bed, unwanted thoughts rising to the forefront of my mind. How spectacularly I’d failed in front of everyone. How Zachariah would use this for his own gain. I flung an arm over my eyes, the bandage tickling the skin on my face. The list of things I didn’t want to think about was getting longer by the day.
And it was getting harder and harder to keep those thoughts at bay.
The shaking started then. Whether it was a delayed reaction to the energy outlay and adrenaline, or a response to the fear that I was suppressing, I didn’t know. Tears streamed down my face. I rolled over, burying my face in the pillow, lest anyone hear me.
Between the shaking and exhaustion, I had nothing left. I closed my eyes and let sleep pull me under.
The next morning,I hurt. And not just regular hurt. I was sore in places I didn’t know I had. Every muscle screamed in protest when I tried to shift positions. I’d pushed my body to the limits a time or two in the past, but nothing like this.
I tentatively flexed my fingers and immediately regretted it. Even that small movement sent lightning bolts of pain shooting up my arms. My channels were raw, aching and throbbing like open wounds.
Griff was asleep in a chair beside me. Ever the protector, he wouldn’t even leave me alone in the healing wing, even when he had been ordered away to his own rest. A warmth flooded through me, knowing that he must have snuck in here as soon as he had a few hours of sleep and had stayed the rest of the night.
I must have made some noise because his eyes popped open. “Good morning,” he said, his deep voice still gravelly with sleep. His sandy waves were tousled in the most adorable manner.
“Hi.” My voice came out as a squeak, which made his eyes crinkle.
“How are you feeling?”
I attempted to stretch and stopped as every wound burned and pulled. “Not great,” I admitted.
His eyes narrowed in concern as I attempted to push myself into a sitting position. “I’m not sure if I should tell you this but Andrei said as soon as you can stand, you’re allowed to leave.”
I immediately tried it and would have fallen on my face if hehadn’t caught me. Lightning streaked up my legs, the pins and needles overwhelming as I clung to Griff.
“I knew I shouldn’t have told you,” he muttered.
And that’s how Andrei found us—me clinging to Griff like a barnacle while he held me steady.
He gave me a look as Griff helped me sit. “Ah, Griffin, you beat me here,” Andrei said mildly, as if he didn’t know Griff had spent the night. “How is our patient this morning?”
“Tired and sore,” I admitted.
