Chapter 43
Nelle
Shock took hold. Graysen had left. He’d willingly given himself up to his aunt, all for me.
Sage padded over, bumping my hand with his moist muzzle, while the Birds of Prey streaked in agitated swirls of ghostly gray, and I wrestled with the truth that Graysen had once more placed himself in danger to protect me.
A desperate urge to see him one last time, to share what was in my heart, crashed over me.
I couldn’t let him disappear without hearing it.
Pivoting, I dashed toward the staircase, sprinting up the crumbling steps in dizzying alarm, passing perching rods stretched from wall to wall.
I raced for the very top where large holes punctured the curved stone, old windows, from days of long ago, when ravens flew between estates with messages borne by wings.
Sage stayed at my heels as we hurtled through a sparkling cloud of willwips. At the final steps, I crouched and shoved hard against the heavy hatch. Rusty hinges creaked in protest before it crashed open, sending dust and dead leaves billowing across the rooftop.
Then I was lunging upward, the velvety black night greeting me, the moon shining with enough illumination to keep my fear of the dark at bay. I sucked in a lungful of icy air as a bracing wind nipped my flesh and sent my hair streaming across my eyes.
Rushing to the parapet where a chunk had been knocked free from the defensive wall sometime over the centuries, I stood at the very edge, jittering on the spot, unmindful of the tiny stones breaking free and rattling down the rookery’s tall side.
Sage stood beside me, whining with worry, but I couldn’t spare him a single, swift glance.
My gaze was locked on Graysen.
I strained to keep him in sight, not even daring to blink. My heart twisted mercilessly as I watched him walk toward his aunt. Tears thickened my throat, catching my words—No. Don’t go. Stay!
He was under guard.
He wasn’t fighting this either.
Soldiers surrounded him at a cautious distance, their cursed crossbows aimed at his formidable figure.
Graysen and Valarie faced each other in the middle of the lawn. His back was to me, and though I couldn’t hear what they said, I could read it in the rigid lines of their battle-ready postures, in the way they traded barbs quick and fierce—it wasn’t good.
A large figure stepped out of the shadowed garden, and I watched nervously as Kenton joined his aunt and brother. He eyed the rookery coldly before murmuring something to Valarie.
I wasn’t sure I was breathing as I waited, hoping desperately for Graysen to turn around and glance my way.
But he didn’t.
And then he was pushing into motion, falling into step beside his aunt.
Turn around, turn around, turn around…
Please, please, please…
I watched helplessly as Graysen moved through the gardens, crossed the drawbridge, and headed along the path to the terrace steps leading to an entrance enshrouded with shadows.
Most of the soldiers stayed behind while Graysen trailed behind his aunt up the wide steps.
As he reached the terrace, he finally glanced over his shoulder.
He was so far away I could barely make out his eyes, but I knew with his keen sight he’d see me, that he’d read my lips as I mouthed my message, shouting it silently with all my might.
Graysen read and understood what had fallen from my lips, what was held in my determined heart. I could tell because his footing faltered and he almost stumbled.
And then he was righting himself, turning away, and striding with purpose across the terrace with wild, white roses tangling around its balustrades. I kept my unwavering gaze fixed on his broad back as he entered the Keep, darkness closing in all around him.
And then he was gone.