“No.” His voice was so definitive, I took a step back. It was as though Griff was offended Finn would even suggest it. “She’s the princess and I’m her Champion. That’s all it is. We’re friends.”
“Friends, huh? So she’s unattached?”
It sounded like Griff was grinding his teeth. I waited for him to say something, anything, to tell me that this hope blossoming inside me wasn’t in vain.
“She is.”
Feeling ice run through my veins, I fled to my room.
Chapter
Twenty
Help can come from the unlikeliest of sources, if only you look for it.
—From the journal of Violet Andrever
“Look, I don’t want to rush you, kiddo, but you really have to get a move on it.”
It was the same woman I had seen a few times before—dark, curly hair, Andrever eyes.
“Yes, yes.” She waved a hand. “I’m Violet. Can we move past that? You’ve got things you need to do.” Her head shot up, as if she heard a sound in the distance. Her expression of irritation faded to fear as the scene was swept away, only to be replaced with doom.
I was on a battlefield, the smell of blood and fetid flesh choking me. Screams surrounded me, not just in pain, but the sheer terror of souls being torn apart. Everything was black, the darkness so complete it swallowed any light. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, but I felt it—that presence. That wrongness.
Thundering footsteps approached, hunting me through the darkness. The louder they got, the more I shook. It was coming for me like a heartbeat counting down to destruction.Mydestruction. And there was nothing I could do.
I was frozen, each footstep causing the ground beneath me tocrack and bleed. The earth itself was weeping with what approached.
Piercing through the terror and thunder, I heard someone shout my name.
I woke,bolting upright, my name ringing in my ears.
Someone was shaking me.
Griff.
Again.
His hair was tousled and he still looked half asleep.
“Did I wake you?”
He nodded as he sat on the edge of my bed. “I teleported up here before I was fully conscious. Scoot over.”
I did as he asked and he crawled into the bed. It was much smaller than the one in my room back in Valdris, and we were pressed against each other, my back against his warm bare chest. His arm came over my waist, and he nuzzled sleepily into the back of my neck.
“Sleep, Princess. I’ve got you.”
The next morning,I woke warm and cozy. Griff was still next to me. In the midst of the nightmare, I’d forgotten the words he’d said to Finn, but feeling his strong chest behind me now, they all came tumbling back. I paused before looking over my shoulder at him, wondering what exactly I’d see. Would it be the mask of the Champion staring back at me, prepared to fulfill his duty? Or would it be Griff, who might or might not be just a friend?
It was Griff, smiling that private smile just for me. The one where his eyes crinkled in softness and his mouth barely tilted up. Thewarmth in his expression was so at odds with the words he’d spoken to his brother. Had I imagined it all?
“Good morning,” he said, his voice still rough with sleep.
I tried to say something back but it just came out garbled.
“I’ll meet you downstairs whenever you’re ready,” he said softly, rolling out of bed and padding to the door. He eased through it, closing it softly behind him.
