Chapter 39
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Wraith wasn’t there today. He can’t have left me, can he? He has to feel this too, right? This tug? This pull?
— From the journal of Violet Andrever
For once in my life, I slept past the sun.
When I finally woke, he was still there, which would take some getting used to.
Even with how early I typically woke, most days he was gone.
Unsurprisingly, I was using his shoulder as a pillow, my leg thrown over his hips.
I cuddled into that nook between his shoulder and collarbone.
“I could get used to this,” I murmured sleepily.
He kissed the crown of my head. “Get used to it. I’m not going anywhere.”
My arm was resting across his chest and I squeezed his shoulder. “Thank all the gods.” Then I sat bolt upright in bed. He half rose in alarm as I turned to him. “What day is it today?”
“March twenty-fifth,” he said, confusion coloring his voice.
I looked at him in dismay. “I missed your birthday,” I cried.
He laughed, the tension leaving his body as he tugged me back down. “I don’t need to celebrate my birthday.”
“I had plans for it,” I protested.
“Fine.” He rolled over me. “Make it up to me now.”
I surged up to kiss him, and one thing led to another. It was a long time before we managed to get out of bed.
When we finally left our suite, we both maintained a careful distance, fighting that magnetic force that kept pushing us together. We breezed into the kitchen, grabbing breakfast. I sat at my usual stool while Griff got himself a cup of coffee before leaning against the wall at my side.
Granya didn’t say anything, but she gave us a knowing look. Cadhla openly grinned as she handed me a pastry. How could they tell?
I looked over at Griff. Oh. That was how. He was staring directly at me over his coffee, as if he could see through my clothes.
“Stop that,” I threw at him. “They’re all going to know.”
“They all know already, Princess. They’re observant. Staff has to be.”
I glanced around at the staff studiously not looking at us or schooling their expressions into blankness.
He was right. They did all know.
Shit.
When I finally dragged myself to the training yard, I was significantly later than my usual time. I assumed someone had told Kaia what had happened—an assumption I quickly corrected as I heard her sharp voice behind me.
“Look who finally graced us with her presence.” Kaia’s arms were crossed as she leaned against the wall. Yep, she was pissed. Her eyes raked over my face and narrowed slightly. “Too busy with nighttime activities to show up on time? I hope you finally put that boy out of his misery.”
I blinked. How the hell did Kaia know that?
I gingerly walked over to her. “I take it no one informed you of…” I trailed off, not knowing how to finish that sentence. “My adventures?”
She raised her brows at that. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”
I rolled my eyes at her as I looked around. Everyone was busy, but having this conversation out in the open probably wasn’t the best idea. And I was queen of probably-not-the-best-idea these days.
Kaia read all of that in my look and jerked her head toward her office. I quickly followed, and once there, I gave her the quick version of everything that had happened since Blathaine, and for once, she was stunned.
“You went… back? To the battle of Valdris? And survived?” Her mind was clearly whirling, attempting to process everything I was telling her.
“I did. Thanks to my parents, Violet, and…” I trailed off. “You.”
She went completely still. “What do you mean, me?”
“There was a sword coming straight at me. I was too slow, too distracted to stop it.” The words tumbled out. “But you were there. You saved me.”
She stared at me for a long moment, her face cycling through confusion, disbelief, and finally understanding. “I remember,” Kaia breathed. “The girl with Violet. I stopped the sword. Then something distracted me, and when I looked back, she was gone.”
I stood frozen for a few seconds, the silence stretching between us heavy with fifty years of grief and guilt and unanswered questions.
Then I launched myself at Kaia. She caught me, her arms strong and sure around me as I wept.
Everything was still so raw, so unprocessed.
Between my stasis, accepting the bond with Griff, and immediately delving through Violet’s memories, I had locked everything about traveling through time in a box.
With that single hug, that box burst open and all the emotions I’d shoved aside came thundering out.
I clung to her like a lifeline, and she held me like I was all the friends she had lost that day.
I cried for my parents—not just the distant figures from my imagination but for the real, flesh and blood people I had met.
For Violet, whose sacrifice I was only just beginning to understand.
I cried for myself, for all that had been ripped from me and for all that was ahead of me.
And I cried for Kaia, for everything she had lost. For while the pain was fresh for me, she had been living with it since that fateful day fifty years ago.
We broke apart and I wiped my eyes. She turned from me and I thought she was doing the same, but when she faced me again, there was something settled in her expression.
“Seeing you grown…” She paused, searching for words.
“Seeing who you’ve become, it makes every moment of that day worth it. Your parents would be so proud.”
I walked back out to the training field, breathing deeply, the weight that had been resting in my chest ever since my journey through time a bit lighter.
After running through a series of bouts with different soldiers, I moved off the mat and began stretching.
I could see Griff training some new recruits out of the corner of my eye.
I paused, shamelessly watching him. His every movement was fluid, composed.
It was like watching a work of art in fighting form.
I tore my eyes from him to continue my stretching.
“Will you stop that?” Even mentally, his voice was gruff.
I paused in my stretching, confused. “Stop what?”
“Wiggling your ass in the air. It’s distracting me.”
There was a thump, and he swore.
A smile curved my lips as I moved into another position, my hands and feet on the ground with my body in an inverted V-shape. “Griffin Narvene, did you let someone land a hit on you because you were staring at my ass?”
“Absolutely not.” I felt his disquiet through the bond. “He landed the hit because I was thinking about filling my hands with that ass.”
Was he flirting with me? This was an interesting development that I was happy to oblige. I flipped myself upright, turning so that my ass was away from his view. I lifted my arms above my head, arching and stretching my back.
“Princess.” I loved hearing my nickname in that frustrated tone.
“What?” I asked innocently. “My ass is no longer facing your direction.”
“And yet those perfect breasts are on full display.” There was an ache in his words that made warmth rush through me.
“I was about done here and was planning to go back to my chambers and bathe—”
His opponent’s sword went flying. Griff went straight for the throat, demanding for him to yield, which the young recruit did with alacrity.
“What happened to ‘it’s my duty to train the younger generation and prepare them for war’?”
Griff stalked toward me. “Screw them. If I don’t get my hands on you in—”
“Lexie!” And just like that, I was doused in a bucket of ice-cold water. Finn was running toward me, waving a paper in his hands. His eyes were bloodshot.
“Have you been up all night?” I asked him.
He rubbed a hand over his stubbled chin. “What time is it? Don’t answer that, the sun is up. Yes, obviously I must have been up all night. But this is what I found. Come back to the library!” He hurried off the way he came, not even pausing to see if we were following.
Griff, having heard Finn’s last statement, came to my side. “We’re ignoring him, right?”
I looked at him dejectedly. “We’re following him.”
Griff let out a frustrated growl and I smacked him in the chest, although I felt the exact same way. He caught my wrist, encircling it with his large hand, bringing it to his lips for a quick kiss.
As we slowly followed Finn’s retreating figure, Griff’s hand rested possessively on the small of my back before moving lower to briefly caress my ass.
I shot him a look, torn between telling him off and wanting him to continue.
The corner of his mouth tilted up, and he ran a finger under my shirt, stroking my bare skin.
I shuddered, despite myself, and the other corner of his mouth joined the first in a full grin.
When we got to the library, Freya was already waiting for us.
Finn paced excitedly. “I’m not sure where exactly to start.”
Griff settled in his chair, clearly used to this excitement from Finn, and prepared to wait it out. If that was the path to take, I would do the same. Hidden by the table, I rested my hand on Griff’s thigh and felt it tighten.
“You should move your things to my room,” I suggested.
“That’s what you want to talk about right now?”
“It’s not like you’re going to be spending any time in your room anymore. Not that you did before. Besides, my room is bigger, so we certainly aren’t moving into yours.”
“Not what I meant with my question.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to move in with me?”
“Princess.” The frustration was clear in his voice. “Veil. Prophecy. Focus.”
When Finn had gathered his thoughts, he said, “Three is important.”
I blinked. That was the big reveal? The number three was important?
Finn clearly saw it on my face. “Bear with me, Lexie. There’s something about the number three—three bonds. See, here—” He shoved his journal in front of my face, too close for me to read. I took it from him and set it on the table.
Bonds of three shall combine, bring forth what’s destined to be thine.
“Okay…” I said slowly. “But what are the three bonds?”