“But you are,” Griffin said evenly from behind me. I hadn’t realized he had come so close.
I thought of myself as a fairly even-tempered person, fairly grounded, but there was only so much I could take. I whirled back to him, and my arm kept going. I punched him with all my might.
It was like hitting a brick wall. Godsdamn, that hurt! And to add insult to injury, he didn’t so much as blink.
“Ow,” he said dryly.
Fuck. Him.
I tried to surreptitiously massage my hand as I slouched over to my chair, where Nana sat waiting for my outburst to be over.
Did he have abs of steel or something?
“As I was saying,” Nana continued as though there had been no interruption, “your parents’ reign began shortly before you were born. After so long, the crown had chosen another. And it couldn’t have chosen better. Thom and Mira had all the makings of exceptional rulers. Before they tragically died, saving all of us, they asked me to keep you safe. To get you away from there and protect you. And so I did.”
I rested my head in my hands as I tried to block out her words, but they seeped through.
“But what Lord Narvene is saying is correct.”
Of course he was alord. More bloody royalty. Or nobility. Or whatever the hell he was.
She continued, “You are needed there, little one. People are dying. And it has been foretold that you are the one to save them. And as much as I’ve fought it these past twenty-odd years, destiny has a way of catching up with you. As it did with your parents. As it will with me.”
So many years I’d begged her for stories of my parents. And she’d told me of them. How my mother, Mireya, nicknamed Mira, had stick-straight hair like mine, but as fair as mine was dark. She was a healer, one of the best in her trade. How my father, Thomrin, calledThom, had my eyes—the Andrever eyes. How much he had loved both of us, his skill as a warrior, inspiring me to be like him. But never once had she even remotely let on they were royalty. And she’d never even hinted they had been killed facing some ancient foe.
Someaccidentthat was.
Nana knew I needed a moment and had begun asking her own questions of myChampion. “How long has it been?”
“Fifty years.”
Fifty years?But Nana had taken me away as a baby—during a battle, apparently—and I had turned twenty-two in the spring. I might not have known a lot of things about my life, apparently, but I think I would know if I was in my fifties instead of my twenties.
“Garrett had theorized that time moved differently beyond the Veil,” Nana mused.
“He knew?” Griff said sharply.
“Your father was the one who suggested it,” was her simple reply.
“And what exactly is the Veil?” I asked.
They ignored me.
“Zachariah said—” Griff started.
Nana scoffed. “My mate always did like posturing.” It wasn’t the first time I’d heard Nana say something derisive about her husband, but it was the first time I’d heard her call him hermate,whatever that meant. And if the Veil was supposed to protect us from this evil set on destroying us, why did Nana take me beyond it? The questions were stacking up.
A voice said my name from somewhere behind me.
“Lexa?” The voice was insistent.
I closed my eyes in resignation; just what I needed. Tanner.
I looked over at Nana, mute plea in my eyes, but she shook her head. “That’s your problem to solve.”
I sighed. She wasn’t wrong. But why had he pickednowof all times to show up?
I pushed off the table to stand, catching a glimpse of Griffin’s face. There was something dangerous lurking in his eyes. I faced Tanner in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
