Chapter 22
I’ve Never Killed Anyone
Raven
Present Day - Grypheem
“Levi, you have to set me down at some point,” I gasped as he snuggled further into my neck.
We were back in the dining hall, one of the few places I had explored. A few days had passed since the party. The one where I had been drugged by a prince. Where I had been locked in Oleks’s embrace. Where I barely remembered Enzo carrying me back to Griffin’s quarters.
The dining hall was more like a dingy closet.
The space was small. It was clear we weren’t in a main portion of the castle but, more than likely, the area the workers used.
However, right now it was just us in here.
The walls were lined all the way up with shelves that were filled with pots and pans, hanging precariously off, waiting for one accidental brush to all come tumbling down.
A few tables packed into the rest of the space with barstools.
Levi was balanced on one with me firmly placed in his lap.
“I don’t have to let you down at all. Every time I do, something bad happens to you,” Levi growled, his nose burrowing into my neck.
“I know.” I paused. Even through the fleece long-sleeve I wore I felt the heat of Levi’s skin.
Coupled with the comfort and familiarity of being in his arms, a dash of happiness skirted deep in my belly.
“I miss the games,” I whispered the confession to him.
Knowing that he might be the only one to understand.
“The safety in our borrowed space. The time with you and Jayce. With—”
“With everyone.” Levi squeezed me tighter, humming, the vibrations spreading warmth across me. “I do too. But change is coming.”
“Doesn’t that scare you? I just…” Wrapping myself tighter to Levi, forcing our skin to touch as much as physically possible, I used it to expel my fears.
“I want Jayce and Sparrow here. Then it wouldn’t feel so painful.
Right now I am a puppet. I will do whatever is needed to reunite with them.
And Drago, Griffin, everyone knows that.
And you can’t even stay with me; I have to find you like this for a few stolen hours.
But I just want you with me, Levi. I need—”
“Hush.” He patted my hair, combing it down with his palm soothingly. “I’m here, I haven’t been far, you know that. It’s just safer to keep my distance, at least while we’re here. But—”
“But once I’m married, this will all change. And we can leave?” I expelled.
Levi readjusted us, leaning me back against the table, his hands securing me in place.
Wrapping my legs around him, I crossed my ankles, buckling us together.
His amber eyes found mine. They were hypnotic, the pain and love and respect and everything in between speckling through as he examined me.
“Marriage is a piece of paper. I understand it doesn’t feel or sound good.
But it seems clear it will do its job in keeping you safe.
Married to a prince is a better place to be than with their Priestess.
” He snarked the word, his distaste clear.
“We made it through everything and we came out stronger. We can make it through whatever is to come.”
“How can you be so calm?” I asked.
Levi’s lips lifted in a gentle smile. “I have told you before, and I will continue to inform you, you are my salve. You are our salvation. You have brought hope into my heart that there will be change. And as long as we are together, I am here to support you.”
“And if we are forced apart? If this marriage is just the beginning?” My anxieties bubbled up.
Levi’s eyes darkened, shadows falling over his face as his face flicked through an array of pain.
“I trust that you will survive it. I have faith in your abilities. Your strength. You are a formidable opponent. Intelligent in a way that exceeds the norms. You have the skillset needed for this, you just have to remember.”
“I’ve never killed anyone.” The confession was bitter.
For all of the games and every mission I had ever gone on, I had never killed anyone myself. I had been responsible for countless deaths and the blood had been figuratively on my hands but never literally.
Levi chuckled softly. “That’s good. Once you do, it changes you.”
“I would kill for you. All of you. For Sparrow, for Jayce.”
“But not for yourself?” he whispered, leaning forward until our lips grazed each others’.
Levi’s thumbs stroked up my arms, the thick wool of the sweater I wore separating us. I desperately craved him, my belly fluttering at the thought. To be filled and stretched past the point of comfort. To be used and thrown and tossed around.
Leaning forward, I pushed my lips to his, enjoying the instant connection, but then there was a sound behind us, and I jumped back.
Levi helped me down, placing me behind him as he faced our intruder.
“You should be careful doing that in public,” Matty’s voice cut through.
Peeking around Levi’s body, I offered him an embarrassed wave. “It’s okay, Levi, he grew up in my Facility. Drago recruited him over here.”
But Levi didn’t relax, his entire body rigid as he stared down at Matty. “Did he now?”
Matty offered a lop-sided smile, putting his hands up placatingly. “We were strictly friends, no funny business.”
“Sure,” Levi said.
“I was actually here to see if you wanted to catch up, Raven? It’s been a while. But it can wait too.”
He was a lifeline to my past. And while I needed my time with Levi, I also craved a reminder of happier days.
I stepped around Levi, but paused, my mind flashing to Quinn’s face. The friend I had back from my Facility days that had nearly killed me in the Masquerade. “Sure, want to go up to Griffin’s quarters? No one should be there right now, but Julian will be back soon.”
Levi grabbed my shoulders, tugging me back against his chest, squeezing me to him. He placed a gentle kiss on the top of my head before releasing me. “I’ll let them know where you are.” There was an edge to his voice. A clear warning.
One that I accepted, my own suspicions were fluttering just below my skin. But a deep part of me genuinely needed a friend. And who was better than one from my childhood?
Matty offered a hand for me to take. I looked down at the long sleeves he wore halfway down his palms and placed my hand over top of it.
Levi watched the entire time as Matty headed out of the dining room with me in tow.
Once we were outside, he released me, his head on a swivel as we walked through a narrow hallway towards a hidden set of stairs in the center of the castle. The same ones that took me directly here from Griffin’s quarters.
“You need to be careful, Raven. If you are seen in any compromising positions it’s very well they could kill the man or he could even stake his claim.” Matty’s hair swayed behind him as he marched us up the stairs, his long pants dragging a bit on the steps.
This part of the castle was dingier than the rest. The walls were stained, the stairs didn’t have a banister, even the smell was mustier. Clearly a place that most didn’t come through, but I didn’t argue.
He froze in front of me at the top of the steps and I managed to trip, my hand reaching out and touching the wall on the stairs to catch my balance.
It surprised me when it wasn’t solid. My eyes focused on the spot, the previous discoloration forming a pattern the longer I looked.
He caught my expression, following it to where my hand still touched. “Just like the Facility, false walls. It makes sense, the people of Violencia used to be a part of these countries until they were shuttled away.”
A noise on the other side of my hand caused me to lean towards it, but before I could place my ear to it, Matty was opening the door at the top of the steps and gesturing for me to follow.
“Now, while the coast is clear.”
Jerking away, I took the last steps up, but at the very top, I turned around.
I may have been imagining it, but I could almost swear I saw the wall move before the door shut.