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I watched as Jaakobah made his way to the central arch. He made a grand show of bowing to Keir’s father. Jaakobah even leaned in, laying his forehead to Hunapo’s. I could see Jaakobah’s lips moving but had no idea what he said. The somewhat blank expression on Hunapo’s face never wavered.

Finished speaking with Hunapo, Jaakobah closed the distance to Falon. Clasping his hands to his chest, Jaakobah gave another bow. Falon returned the gesture with a wide smile.

Stepping to the side, Jaakobah rested his clasped hands on his lower back. Broad shoulders at ease, Jaakobah radiated contented satisfaction. Confident in his win. I wanted to leap from my seat and spear him with my claws if only to wipe that arrogant look from his face.

“Patience,” Lady Usha whispered. Only I wasn’t certain my patience would hold out. I hadn’t laid eyes on Keir since he’d been escorted away hours ago. My scaled skin itched. I couldn’t remember a time where we’d been parted for this long.

Unable to watch Jaakobah a moment longer, my gaze went back to tracking the field and sky. Lulabelle stood off to the side. Xavier crowded next to her, along with the two other gryphons I didn’t know but understood were trustworthy. Valiantly ignoring whatever Xavier whispered in her ear, Lulabelle remained concentrated on the gryphons scattered closest to Jaakobah, waiting and watching for a sign.

My eyes traveled skyward again. The icy blue remained, not a speck of darkness on the horizon. If Verona and Axios were out there, perhaps they were in their humanoid forms. As the only non-gryphon in attendance, I knew the pair weren’t hiding in the crowd. Where are you? Uncertainty ate away at my dwindling calm.

“Thank you for coming all this way,” Falon said, arms raised in greeting and a large smile pulling his lips and scrunching his eyes. “This is a joyous day indeed. Bonding days are always a time to celebrate but this bonding day is especially so as we welcome one of our own back into our fold.”

Satisfaction eased through me. Unaware, Falon had just paved the way for Keir’s challenge.

Falon continued. “Jaakobah has more than earned the right to claim a Montenegro as his bonded.” I cringed. A Montenegro. Not Keir individually, only his family birthright. Intentional or not, the words were as insulting as they were telling.

Falon’s next words made me want to deafen myself. “Jaakobah has been a steady presence, an individual Hunapo has been able to lean on in these challenging times and questionable actions by Hunapo’s own child, Eldon.” Falon lowered his head, shaking it back and forth in pity as a frown erased his eager smile. “Dark times indeed,” Falon lamented before brightening again. “But dark no longer as Keir has seen the light and come home, where he belongs and by the side of the one who has worked so hard to keep the Montenegro flight intact.”

Bile crept up my throat as I watched Jaakobah silently preen at the flattering words. Hunapo remained as he was, gaze distant and eyes devoid of nearly any emotion.

“And so, today we…uh, we…” Falon’s words faltered as fast as his expression. “Um…” His words once more trailed off, confusion filling his eyes as Falon’s gaze snapped from Jaakobah to a spot across the open field.

Hushed gasps caught my attention, snapping my head to the right. Beside me, Lady Usha sucked in a harsh breath before releasing a breathy chuckle. “Remarkable.” Pride sang through that word. “My grandson is perfection.”

My own breath caught as Keir walked onto the field, naked as the day he was born. No, not completely naked. My gifted, crimson scale laid at the hollow of Keir’s throat, a simple length of leather keeping it in place.

Perfection indeed.

Twenty-Five

Keir

I blankly stared at the suit laid out for me to wear. Father’s feathers were beside it, connected on a leather string meant to be worn as a crown. While the cloth was simply unwelcome, the feathers were abhorrent. When I was younger, I dreamed of one day being crowned with Father’s feathers. But those days were long gone, as was the naïve boy who’d fantasized such things.

Standing there, stark naked in front of the mirror, I slid Lazarus’s scale between my thumb and fingers, relishing its smooth, hard texture and familiar scent. That small piece of the wyvern I loved was the only thing in this room that felt true. It was the only object I wanted to feel against my skin.

Fingers closing around the scale, my resolve hardened. This was not my bonding day. The clothing provided was meant for an occasion that would not occur and the accompanying feathers were from a father who no longer deserved that title, nor the title of leader of his flight. Both were meaningless.

Squaring my shoulders, I pulled myself up to my true height and considered my reflection. My flesh wasn’t without scars, although they were nothing like the marks on Lazarus’s body. By gryphon standards, I was in my prime, and my body reflected that fact.

I wasn’t a vain individual. Even at my most arrogant, I hadn’t suffered from that affliction. Neither was I ashamed of my body. To my mind, it was simply a required tool, necessary to perform the tasks needed. I’d always been more interested in cultivating the mind than the muscle. Perhaps if I hadn’t been gifted in the latter, I would have been more obsessed with the former.

As it was, genetics was on my side. It was neither something to take pride in nor an issue to lament. It simply was. And now I was about to take the genetics the Goddess had gifted me and walk them across a field of curious spectators. Not that I’d be in my humanoid form long. Once my challenge was issued, I’d transform into my gryphon. Those of us that shifted rarely took issue with our native forms.

A horn sounded, signaling the beginning of the end. I, for one, was ready. My continued sanity required a resolution. Grasping the leather-bound feathers, I stripped the feathers away and fed the end of the leather through the small hole Lazarus had pierced into the scale before it hardened. Securing the leather around my neck, Lazarus’s scale settled in the hollow of my throat. My reflection looked right. More than that, that singular piece of ornamentation felt right where everything else had felt so very wrong.

My bare feet softly slapped against the ancient stone flooring. I’d been left alone in my room, but there were guards outside the door. Pulling my confidence, determination, and rage around me like a cloak, I threw the door open and walked out, ignoring the gasps and hurried footsteps that followed.

“Where do you think you’re going?” a voice called from behind.

I ignored it. As long as the guards let me be, they’d survive this day. If they tried to stop me, they may not be so fortunate.

A hand landed on my shoulder, fingers squeezing. The time for thinking was over. Instinct was all I knew when I turned, talons erupting from my fingers, wrapping around the closest neck I could find. Squeezing, I pushed the unnamed guard against the wall, his feet dangling as I eliminated his air.

A second guard came at me, and I threw the first bodyguard into her. They both went down in a tangle of limbs. Standing over them, I coldly stated, “Stay down. If you get up, your life is forfeit.”

The one on top scrambled off the female they’d fallen on. “You think you’re scarier than Jaakobah?” Now that I looked better, I could tell this individual was young. Young, scared, and foolish. Jutting his chin defiantly into the air, his quivering lip belied his false bravado.