Chapter 29 #2
I made my way back to my rooms to find Griff sitting on my couch, bare feet propped up on the coffee table. Good. I wouldn’t have to track him down. He looked up from his book and gave me a smile. Clearly, he had no idea of the reckoning that was coming.
“Hey, Princess.”
“Hey, Champion.” I flung my coat down on the back of the couch, perhaps harder than necessary, before fixing him with a glare, crossing my arms over my body. That smile faded as he saw my position. “Let’s talk about how you set four guards on me.”
He stared back at me, unmoving. “I couldn’t accompany you. I told you I’d do what I had to, to keep you safe.”
“So it takes four guards to replace you?”
“Five. Finn was there.” He looked back down at his book, turning the page.
“And this is what I can expect? Every time I leave the castle?” I asked sharply.
“Yes.”
“What if I say no?” I uncrossed my arms, my hands on my hips, and lifted my chin defiantly.
“I don’t care.” He didn’t even look up at me, just continued reading his book. I would have believed his statement except for the rigid line of his shoulders. He wasn’t nearly as nonchalant as he presented himself to be.
“And if I try to lose them?”
He snapped his book shut and moved to his feet in a fluid motion, every muscle coiled, like he was preparing for a battle.
“I would expect nothing less from you. But it won’t change my actions.
And I think they might be harder for you to lose than you anticipate.
” He moved closer to me, eyes darkening.
I had to tilt my head up to maintain eye contact, but I refused to budge.
“You will have guards every time you leave here without me. And if you try to sneak out without them, you will have guards on you at all times. I cannot keep you locked up in here, but I also will not take any chances with your safety.”
While I silently fumed, he raised an eyebrow. “Anything else?” he asked, his voice deepening, almost in a challenge, knowing he’d won this round.
On to round two.
“Oh, we’re not done. We’re not nearly done,” I spat at him. “I met with the soul priestess at Saicharan today, and she helped me understand that channel more fully.”
“Oh?” His voice now became hesitant. Clearly, he had read into something in my tone.
“She mentioned something interesting. About dreams.”
His entire body stilled, as though he was sensing the danger. Panic rippled across his face. I was getting better at reading him. He definitely knew something he hadn’t told me.
“Care to fill me in?” I asked him. “You told me once you’d never lie to me.”
“And I haven’t.”
I let out a sigh. “No, you’ve just been sleeping next to me for close to three months to protect me from, what? Monsters under my bed? What are you so scared of, Griff?”
I could see his thoughts churning, trying to figure out what to tell me, without lying to me and without sharing whatever he was trying to keep hidden.
Stepping forward and invading his space this time, I lost it. “Stop being evasive and tell me what you know, dammit!”
The dam broke.
“I don’t know what the dreams are!” he shouted back.
“I don’t know if they’re prophetic dreams from your soul channel or windows that the darkness is exploiting to reach you.
But the thing that scares me the most is the idea of him taking you!
” His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides as he paused, breathing heavily.
When he continued, it was almost in his normal voice, but I could hear the emotion behind it.
“He has a way of reaching through dreams. You heard Fiadh. He came to her in dreams, turned her.” His voice broke.
“My father had prophetic dreams. I’m not losing anyone else I—” he paused, almost imperceptibly, “care about to whatever is happening in those dreams.” He stepped so close to me we were almost nose to nose. “I refuse to lose you to them.”
So that’s what this was about. It all came back to his father and his sense of duty. I lifted a hand and stroked it through his hair, marveling at the silkiness of it. His eyes drifted closed as he leaned into my touch. “What happened to him?” I asked, risking him shutting me out once again.
His eyes popped open. “No one knows.” He said it so flatly I didn’t ask any more.
He physically stepped back, the walls between us invisibly rebuilt.
But his hands trembled slightly as he crossed his arms. “So yes, I’m scared.
And that is why I’m not leaving you alone with your dreams.” He met my eyes.
“I will not apologize for keeping you safe. Whether it’s staying by your side at night or assigning a guard detail to follow you.
I swore a vow to keep you safe, and I will do so. ”
“You believe there’s an actual creature out there? One of darkness, causing all of this?”
“I do. My father taught both Finn and me the folklore. It had to come from somewhere. And too many of the hufen, the sentient ones, recently have referred to a ‘he.’ There’s something out there, rallying this darkness. Ask Finn about it if you don’t believe me.”
“I do believe you.” I sank heavily onto the couch, and he sat beside me, carefully leaving space between us.
“I never thanked you,” he said abruptly.
I looked over at him to find him leaning over, elbows on his knees, staring a hole into the floor.
“For saving that boy. Because those are the ones that weigh on my soul—the newly turned. Stopping them before they become a danger. But they’re still them.
Still people. And all they did wrong was be touched by the darkness.
Those are the ones I’ll never get over.”
I closed the distance between us and hugged him sideways. He returned it, squeezing me tightly in appreciation.