Chapter 3
Hope Is a Fleeting Feeling
Griffin
Present Day – Catastro Sea
Griffin hardened his shoulders as the rain pelted him from above. He stared off the boat to the east, but he couldn’t see more than a hundred feet through the storm.
His fingers gripped the banister tightly as the entire ship rolled over a particularly large wave.
His stomach flipped with it. Around him, the crew worked meticulously, but he paid them no mind.
An extra loud crash drew his attention to an empty section of the ship.
A moment of panic as he feared the worst. That someone had fallen overboard.
But he quickly shut it down, Raven was safe below.
“Brother.” The word distracted him from the noise and drew his attention. Drago’s approach had been masked by the loud crashing of waves and thunder roaring above.
I need to be careful. Ivan might be here. Somewhere. Even if all our attempts to find him have ended in failure.
Griffin hummed his welcome, his attention returning to the west, waiting. An instant later, lightning lit up the sky.
Confirming what he had sensed—another ship was out there.
His heart beat rapidly. He had more than his fair share of encounters with ships on his voyages to and from Violencia.
Drago followed his gaze. “I have an agreement with the people of Vanravara in place now. They should allow us safe passage. Their newest leader has a relationship with Anadil.”
Griffin pushed off from the banister, he wobbled but then his brother’s sturdy hand grabbed his shoulder, stationing him in place. “You made a deal with the pirates?” The question was hypocritical, but he didn’t care. “With Anadil?”
Drago used his free hand to wipe Griffin’s wet hair back. “You look exactly like our father with that expression on your face. He wore distrust as a mask for his own anxieties. Fear not, your sweet Raven will be safe through our voyage.”
Griffin knew his brother well enough to read between the lines. “But not after.”
Drago tugged Griffin to him in the replica of a hug, except it wasn’t that. “No one who is considered cherished is safe. You know that better than anyone.” The words were swept away with the wind.
Griffin inclined his head. He understood exactly the dangers Raven would be in once they arrived. But he had a plan in mind, with or without her agreement.
I need to keep her safe.
“Where is Anadil taking Jayce? Taking Sparrow?” Griffin whispered back.
But just as before, Drago wouldn’t answer these questions. “In due time.” Drago stepped away, releasing Griffin.
His lips quirked as Griffin stumbled with a large wave. He reached out his hand again to steady him in place.
“You never did acquire sea legs. Best to go back to your cabin until this storm passes. We will be arriving in Grypheem tomorrow evening.” Drago’s eyes darkened. “Unless…”
“Unless they stop us.” Griffin didn’t allow himself to focus too deeply on the implications. “Which they will. So it will be the morning after that.”
“The rumors have spread. They are aware that the games have been disrupted. The sponsors are rioting about their money lost, but even more than that, there is a demand for punishment that a Sacred Cherished was sent there in the first place. That she is on this ship. They are searching for her Sponsor, and the Creators are being held, awaiting trial. Yet no one has even mentioned the Host.”
The Creators… Harold and Sharon Roger. The evil couple he had more run-ins with than he cared to over the years when he lived in Violencia.
“Lucky Julian.” Griffin laughed. “And nothing will change. The games will continue on. All of that for what?”
The rain strengthened, beating down on both of the brothers, but neither moved nor reacted. Frozen in place.
“I’m sorry,” Drago eventually said, bowing his head. “I didn’t have a way to rescue you this time. Anadil wouldn’t help me as she did before.”
Griffin cast his attention to where he knew Raven to be, before flicking back to Drago.
“You didn’t have a choice. I was the idiot who was captured immediately upon my return.” Griffin scrutinized his brother.
There was guilt that danced in Drago’s eyes, but Griffin didn’t question him on it. They had both gone off script.
Drago had fallen for evil incarnate.
Griffin had become transfixed on the one woman who could destroy everything.
Oleks coming out onto the deck drew Griffin’s attention. He watched the man move along the ship as if he were dancing. The waves not affecting him in the slightest.
Drago turned his head. “Do you trust them all? Oleks? Enzo? Maverick? Levi?”
Griffin cut his gaze to his brother. “As much as I trust you.”
Effectively ending the conversation, Griffin used the last of his energy to duck under his brother’s arm and make his way across the deck. Each step he took brought him closer to Raven but also nearer to a memory from a distant past.
Each rock of the ship, each stumble.
The dull ghost throbbing on his neck.
His hand came up on its own to the scar left there from his first encounter with the pirates of Vanravara.
Fifteen Years Ago – Catastro Sea
“Brother! Get up! Hurry!”
Griffin startled awake, hitting his head on the wood just above his makeshift bed.
He let out a pained groan before Drago’s voice cut through again.
“Viktor, get him! We must make haste.”
Griffin finally got into gear, sliding out from the alcove his bed was stuffed in and making his way to the steps. Viktor peered down at him; his dark eyes nearly voids in the dim light of the cabin.
“Vanravara is aware of our presence. They are making contact. You need to come up here, now. They will assume you are a stowaway if not.”
The words lit a fire under Griffin, scorching him. He knew of the people of Vanravara. Of the many men who had lost their lives to them.
But besides that, he didn’t know why or how. Were they angry men who had been cast aside? Were they a country built on rage and suspicion?
Inside Grypheem, they were only taught to trust the people within the Sacred Trinity; those who resided in Grypheem, Luscinia, or the Isles of Sacerdos. He was raised to distrust and fear outsiders, that they were simply after their precious, sacred cherished women.
His heart pattered loud and fast in his chest as he made his way up the steps, and the sight before him caused it to stop altogether. He blinked his eyes rapidly, adjusting to the rising sun.
Three large wooden ships were approaching them, billowy sails painted black and tinged in red. A pitcher plant sewn in the middle.
A reflection of their carnivorous ways.
“Do not speak, do you understand me?” Drago tugged Griffin until he was hidden behind him.
Griffin didn’t have a chance to respond before two of the advancing ships flanked them. Their size difference nearly comical as long shadows were cast down on them from the much higher vessels.
Drago tightened his shoulders. “If this turns south, jump overboard. It will be better to float at sea than to be taken into their captivity. They are Rakshasa. Pirates.”
Ropes fell from the ships on both sides followed by a blizzard of movement as their boat dipped further into the water from the added weight of the intruders.
Each dressed in full crimson from head to toe. Deep and dark. Billowy robes that whipped above them as they landed, showing off billowy red trousers and bare calloused feet.
Only five were able to land on the boat, the rest hanging precariously above, waiting, biding their time.
Masks adorned their faces offering brutal replications of what Griffin imagined demons to be.
Whites and reds intertwining in the mockery of blood and bone.
Oversized teeth, exaggerated features, long protruding horns.
Griffin’s chest heaved in and out. This was the closest he had ever come to danger. To terror. To pure unfiltered fear. Even when his father sent him away, he had never felt this…strongly.
There was one who stood out, their mask larger than the rest. The teeth elongated, sharper.
“We are simply making passage,” Drago stated. “We are not—”
“Hush.” The hiss came from the mask, a slippery noise that caused a chill to carry down Griffin’s spine.
The apparent leader stepped directly up to Drago. And even though they were noticeably shorter, the manner in which they held themselves was a semblance of undeniable power.
They pushed Drago down onto the ground, using a flip of their leg, and a whoosh of their arm.
The move startled Griffin, drawing his attention, only to find the leader was already scrutinizing him.
“Two princes. One boat. Change is in the air.” A sharp thin blade whipped to Griffin’s neck. “Good or bad? Right or wrong?” The voice was an enigma, sharp, and gruff. Smooth and thick. “State your purpose.”
Drago attempted to speak from the ground, but another of the pirates covered his mouth.
“I want to rescue my mom.” Griffin wasn’t sure why that was what he thought to speak, but it was all that would escape him. He clamped his jaw down as soon as the words were out, expecting the worst.
Before the leader could react, a wave caught their small boat and even with the ships on each side it was not enough to dispel the movement. Griffin stumbled forward, the blade digging further, drawing blood. The pirate’s leader was forced to catch him or take the brunt of his weight.
Griffin’s body pressed fully into theirs and confusion sparked in him as he came to a startling realization.
“A man in search of answers, a prince not succumbing to lies”—danced in his ear—“I will allow you this favor, but one day I will come to collect what is owed.”
Griffin took in the other pirates over their leader’s shoulder, examined them to the best of his ability. Their statures, their frames, their gait. Now that he saw it, it could not be unseen.
Every single one of them.
“You may pass. Just this once.”
A rough unexpected shove sent Griffin back into Viktor and Niko’s forms.
The leader pivoted without pause, addressing their crew. “There is nothing for us here. We have work to do.”
Griffin’s mouth opened, but then in a frenzy of movement they were departing their boat, slipping up onto their ships, and separating off into the sea.
“Fucking pirates. Smallest men I have ever met, and yet they are the biggest assholes.” Drago dusted himself off, getting to his feet.
He doesn’t know.
Griffin pulled himself together, turning to Niko and Viktor who were wide-eyed with their shock.
They don’t either.
“What the fuck happened?” Viktor sounded shocked.
“You’re lucky, brother, most men are killed the second they touch one. And all you have is a little cut.” Drago dug into his pocket, tugging out a cloth and pressing it to his neck.
Griffin watched as the ships departed, his mind racing. He couldn’t figure out why, but he knew needed to keep this secret…at least for now.
The Rakshasa, the pirates?
They may have attempted to mask their voices. To appear taller. But once he felt the leader’s chest against his, he was able to discern with certainty…
They were all women.