Chapter 1
Chapter one
NOT A LESSER CREATURE
Amira
Present
Adrop of moisture fell onto the letter I held in trembling hands and soaked into the parchment, blotching Ornella’s heartfelt words. I read them over and over until my vision had gone blurry and unfocused from unshed tears.
I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick.
“You do not know it was written by—” Helena tried once more to console me, but I shook my head.
“She wrote it. That was clear from her reaction when he was taken by the Sylvan.”
“You mean when she used Light magic to kill a dozen griffins and an unknown number of fey?” verified Ares. His corded arms crossed over his golden breastplate as he frowned at the letter in my hands.
“Her mate was being dragged away from her! I think we can agree that she… Can any of you honestly say you would not have reacted the same?” I demanded.
I glanced at Riordan for support, but my king was still standing at the window with his back to the room.
We had not had a chance to speak in depth about what had happened.
He had been forced to spend the last two days meticulously mending the damage Rian had caused in our realm while fighting the Sylvan.
I had been dealing with the King’s Council as best as I could in his absence.
Orion had been capturing all the traitorous fey that Rian left behind after portalling them into the Vale to escape the collapse of the Spring Court.
The same stress and exhaustion I had been combatting during the last couple of days was visible on every face in the room.
Every day was a series of meetings and every night I fell into our bed, alone and asleep almost as soon as my head hit the silk pillow.
Aside from the kisses on my forehead, which woke me briefly when the king finally came to bed, I wouldn’t have even known Riordan was sleeping in our room. He was gone before I awoke.
But I did know we were not on the same page in terms of how we viewed what happened with Ornella.
“She lost control,” Helena said, although I was unsure whether she was reassuring me or condemning Ornella.
She was at ease with her hip propped against an accent table and her thick, waist-length braid of dark hair tossed back over her shoulder.
But even in repose, Helena was fiercely intimidating, taller and broader than most human men with her sword strapped across her back.
Tattoos and scars covered her muscular, olive-brown arms that were exposed by the standard gold cuirass that was worn by all Kórinthian soldiers.
The formfitting armour looked like it was painted on her breasts and rippling abdominals.
The leather pleats of her kilt were longer in the back but fell to mid-thigh in the front, which revealed her powerful legs above golden greaves.
“She claims Rian is an ally, but I saw the way he was looking at you, Amira,” Orion insisted firmly.
He was the only griffin in the room who did not wear gold armour.
As usual, he opted instead for a leather cuirass and guards that more fully covered the vile slave brands I knew he had on his forearms. Along with the skin around them that was scarred from his attempts to remove the marks.
Riordan didn’t know about it, and Orion wished to keep it that way. “He wanted to kill you,” Orion pressed.
I shivered as I recalled those emerald-and-gold eyes shifting to me with cold fury. I could still see the moment Rian had realized I was the key to inflicting maximum pain on Riordan in retaliation for threatening his riders.
My mate tensed at the window, his wings ruffling at his back, so I knew he remembered that look too.
“His riders are his family. How would you respond if someone had lured everyone in this room somewhere to be killed by—” I began.
“He would have killed you, Amira,” Riordan cut me off without turning.
It was the first time he had spoken since Orion brought Helena and Ares into our Ergastiri apartment to inform us of the official envoy from Rian.
One who had carried a letter that Ornella clearly wrote to me before the Spring Court had collapsed.
“While I can understand his reasons, it does not mean I trust or forgive his actions,” Riordan added a little more levelly.
“But he never actually hurt me—”
“Even if I were still prepared to consider an alliance, that will no longer be an option for them,” he interrupted again. His right wing shifted out of the way as he finally glanced back at me with stern golden eyes.
“But you don’t know that,” I insisted softly.
“I do. You saw him, Amira. He would have sooner torn this world apart than let them take the Light Wraith. Alliances may have been on Rian’s mind before, but if he survived what the Sylvan did to him, then he will want for naught but vengeance now.
And based on that letter, it is reasonable to suspect Ornella will feel the same about her mate being taken. ”
“She would never hurt me,” I asserted, insulted that he would even suggest something like that.
“I am not convinced of that! And even if you are safe from her wrath, what about my people? Can you be so sure that her grief will spare them?” Riordan asked.
I could not make him that promise. Ornella could be so vicious and vindictive at times.
She had always insisted dryads did not feel empathy, but I had always suspected it was more complicated.
After reading her heartfelt words about her mate, I knew it was.
Centuries of fending for herself had hardened her heart and sharpened her edges.
And if she had finally found someone with whom she could feel safe, only to have him ripped away, then there was no telling what she might do.
And that was an uncomfortable thought.
“We need to know that for sure before we make any more moves,” I insisted. “I should go to Autumn Court. Ornella would agree to meet with—”
“Absolutely not!” Riordan hissed, turning to face me incredulously with his immense wings flaring behind him. “Rian knows that you are my heart, Amira. I do not want to consider what he might do to you to get back at me!”
“Ornella would never allow anyone to—”
“I said no,” he stated, startling me with his sharp tone and the anger in his expression. I’d never been subjected to that authoritative resonance before, but I had heard it levelled at others often enough to know that this decision was final. Unquestionable.
“You won’t even talk about the possible—”
“You are not going to Ahnnaòin. You are not putting yourself in danger. There is nothing more to discuss.”
“Riordan—” Helena attempted to cut in.
“No! I will not be asked to entertain the thought of my mate going into enemy territory! Especially not when our enemy is Rian DorTìodhlac!” he declared, his chest rising and falling rapidly with his emotion.
“Or am I the only one who saw him fend off Sylvan Elves and then nearly rip this entire realm apart?”
“I was not suggesting she should go either, merely that you may wish to gentle your tone,” Helena insisted.
“And I was not asking for your permission.”
I had not meant to speak those words aloud, but they slipped out as my own emotions got the better of me.
I knew, of course, that Riordan was King of the Vale, and I needed his permission to formally act as a political envoy to the fey.
But he was also my mate who had only ever treated me with the utmost respect and gentleness in spite of his position as my king.
His dismissive behaviour was shocking and hurtful, and a sudden surge of defiance had me reacting before I could stop myself.
I watched his shock and confusion as it devolved into anger again. His tail whipped and his wings drew closer to him as his power began to seep into the air around us, causing wind to rip at the curtains. The very earth seemed to hold its breath as he stepped toward me slowly.
“Riordan,” Helena hissed at him, but I was not sure he heard her when he was so wholly focused on me.
“Amira,” he began in a dangerous tone, “I forbid it.”
“What he means to say—”
“I forbid it!” he shouted over Helena, voice rumbling like thunder through the air and in my bones before he turned to Ares.
“Do you understand? She is not to go anywhere near a portal. In fact, they will all be closed. Helena, you will see to it that no one gets in or out of the Vale until I am sure that an attack is not imminent.”
Ares winced when he met my glare, but he bowed his dark blond head to his king.
“I understand,” he agreed reluctantly.
“You cannot be serious,” I snarled at both of them. “You cannot trap an entire realm—”
“I would rather confine my entire kingdom than allow you anywhere near Rian again,” Riordan reassured me. “And should you give me any reason to suspect that you will disregard my orders, then I will have you confined to this bedchamber,” he added.
My jaw dropped, wholly shocked by such a promise, before the indignation and fury made my scalp prickle. The air around me grew hot enough to make Helena shift away as my own power began to rise as well.
Do it. I dare you, I seethed at him down our bond, allowing him to know just how unforgivable I would find such actions. He may think he was protecting me, but this was a kind of protection I did not need or want from him.
He hesitated with a flicker of genuine concern at my challenge before the muscles tensed in his jaw, and then he turned to depart without another word. His mental shields were slammed up between us before I could direct any more of my ire at him through our bond.
I was aghast. This was not the sweet and gentle man to whom I had agreed to be bonded! I had seen glimpses of his temper, of course, and perhaps I should have known better than to think I was immune. But I never expected to be subjected to his imperiousness in this way.