Night had truly set when Finn looked at me, sympathetic. “We’re going to need to get you back. Do you think you’re up for it?”
Panic started to rise once more. The thought of returning to those thoughts and feelings running rampant over me caused my heart to race. While these woods looked completely different than the woods at home, there was a peace here. And my insight, as they’d called it, was speaking loudly to me, telling me I was safe and could trust these two. It didn’t like thinking about what was awaiting me back at the castle.
“Lexa?” Finn asked, his voice concerned. “Are you alright?”
I wrapped my arms around my waist. “I really don’t like crowds.”
I caught the look that the twins shared out of the corner of my eye. It felt like I was missing something.
Griff stood with a muttered, “I’ll be right back.” Grabbing his swords and pinning them to his back again, he strode to where I knew the wards ended, and disappeared. I started.
“Easy there,” Finn cautioned. “He’ll be back. He’s going to tell theone person who can calm everything down over there that we’re coming back.”
I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them. “You must think I’m silly, not liking crowds.”
Finn sat next to me, one knee up, his arm loosely wrapped around it, looking just as comfortable here on the ground in the woods as I imagined he did at the castle. “I really don’t. I think part of it may be that you don’t know how to shield. Your mind channel is wide open, and if you don’t shield, everyone’s thoughts can come through.”
“Is that why it was so loud? I had experienced that back home, but when I got here…”
“It was deafening?”
I nodded.
“None of us really know how our powers work beyond the Veil. It seems like they may be dampened. So it follows that when you showed up here, everything was heightened. It’s amazing that none of your other channels acted out. Especially during excitement, like today, when everyone else forgets to shield. Although I don’t blame them. It’s an exciting day when the lost princess returns. People had started to lose hope.”
“What do you mean?”
“Griff has been looking for you for years, but you were well hidden.”
“Years?” I echoed. “Didn’t he have anything better to do with his time?”
Finn chuckled as he turned to face me. “I should have thought about this before. I can teach you how to shield. We’ll go over the basics right now, and you can keep practicing until you get it down.” He reached out to touch my head again, pausing right before he made contact. “May I?”
I nodded, and he closed his eyes as his fingertips touched my temples. My eyes drifted shut. Just like with the warding, he had me pull up the purple channel and cast a shield over just me this time.Since it was just us here and I assumed he was shielding himself, I didn’t sense much difference. But I guessed I’d find out when we returned.
Light shimmered from beyond my wards, and Griff strolled through.
“Success?” Finn asked.
“I told him to do his damn job and control Zachariah. He said he’d try.” Griff looked over at me. “Ready to go back, Princess?”
I ignored the nickname. This time.
“No.” But I got to my feet and I took his outstretched hand anyway, ignoring the fizzle of power when we touched.
Finn showed me how to unravel the wards, informing me that otherwise, they would stay in place until I died. As before, Griff wrapped his arms around me and Finn held on to his shoulder. Turning slightly, Griff spun us through the ether again and we landed in front of the castle gates for round two.
Chapter
Five
Sometimes I don’t mind too much being destined to save it.
—From the journal of Violet Andrever
This time, it was just two men in the clearing—the angry older man, Zachariah, my grandfather, and a kindly faced man, slightly younger than Zachariah, clean shaven, his brown hair speckled with gray. He moved past Zachariah, who grumbled, an exasperated expression on his face, as the man briefly rested his hand on my grandfather’s arm, before coming to greet me first.
His green robes swirled around him as he approached. Taking my hand, he bowed over it and kissed my fingers. “My princess, I am Andrei Guihard. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I understand you go by Lexa?”
