“He said his father was gone. I assumed dead.” There was an important distinction there. One my mate had failed to clarify.
She shook her head. “I don’t really know what happened and the twins have always refused to talk about it. I get the sense that theyall prefer to assume he’s dead. All I know is that he told them he had to take a trip, but the day or so before he was going to leave, he disappeared. For a little while, they thought maybe he had gotten the days wrong and left early. But that wasn’t like him, and it certainly wasn’t like him to not say goodbye. He lived for his family. But before all that happened, maybe Garrett had some sort of foresight or something because he charged Griff with protecting the princess, should she come back during his lifetime.”
There was a sting in my chest. Griff had been charged by his father to protect me? Doubt crept in even as the golden warmth flared, as if Griff somehow knew, even across the distance, that I needed his reassurance right now.
Freya’s words from what felt like days earlier came back to me. She was right—Griff hadn’t told me he loved me. But to be fair, I hadn’t said it either.
Everything between us was so new. Had it truly just been a week ago that I had stood in a beautiful ball gown and Griff had finally admitted there was something between us? What we felt went deeper than a mating bond and a promise to a father, didn’t it?
One thing was for certain—my mate needed to get his ass back here. And soon. Before these questions ate me alive.
Chapter
Forty
When all seems lost, come back to the beginning. That’s what Wraith told me. I wish I knew what it meant.
—From the journal of Violet Andrever
In my dream, I was on a balcony, looking toward the mountains in the distance, the path to the ocean barely visible with the dim light.
“Hey, kiddo.”
I turned around. Violet sat behind me, her feet propped up on the balcony’s railing. She put down the dagger she had been fiddling with, and ran a hand through her thick, dark curls, dragging them away from her forehead.
“We have to talk.”
I sat down in the chair next to her.
“Time’s running out,” she said.
“You think I don’t realize that?” I knew it was wrong to take it out on Violet but I couldn’t stop myself. “I still have no idea what I have to do. It’s not like you left me clear instructions or anything.”
“You have all the puzzle pieces. You just have to put them together.”
“You really can’t give me more than that?”
“I told you to remember, didn’t I?” Violet’s eyes flashed in the dim light. “Memories are a powerful magic. Use them.”
I woke slowly for once,instead of bolting upright after my dream. Her words rolled around in my mind. Did I truly have all the puzzle pieces? My mind tumbled to the biggest puzzle piece of all—Starfire, whatever that was.
Could that be the key to all of it? What the faction wanted? How to fix the Veil? The secret of the prophecy?
And maybe, the first step to figuring out how to reclaim my homeland from the forces that threatened it.
I rubbed my temples. Violet was insistent it was somewhere in the memories, so that’s where I’d go. Griff was going to be pissed that I was doing this without him here to anchor me, but I had to try and he wasn’t here to stop me.
“Show me everything about Starfire.”I closed my eyes and opened the door to the storm that was Violet’s memories.
The familiar whirling white mist swirled through my mind before slowly solidifying into two figures.
Zachariah was immediately recognizable, and the other was a young Violet, maybe eight years old. She was bouncing around, chattering as they walked down a path in the garden. He had an indulgent smile on his face, the kindest expression I had ever seen on him.
“And where are we going today, Da?” She started skipping down the path, weaving in and out of trees.
“It’s time for you to start your training.”
She peered at him from behind a wide trunk. “I’ve already started my training.”
