I wondered if Castor hadn’t called Riordan away from the other commanders, but rather, the king had tried to intercept the councillor on his way to me. I watched him approaching with his head held high enough so he did not have to look any of the Ktínos in the eyes.
“My lady,” said Castor when he reached me, his eyes flicking dismissively to Orion and Sofia, neither of whom so much as flinched. “Aprivatemoment of your time?”
“They are in my confidence,” I answered, and he gave me a sigh of disappointment before shaking his head.
“Then you have not heeded my advice that you should nottrust anyone,” he remarked.
I might have retaliated by telling him what I knew of his intentions to manipulate me, but I decided to hold my tongue. The least I could do was let him try in the hopes that I might glean something of use for Riordan.
Turning to Sofia, I noted the mild distaste in the set of her mouth as she stared up at Castor. We had encountered other griffins she did not like, but her distaste for them had never caused her to visibly react like this.
“Do you know what to do in the Rookery or should we go over it once more?” I asked her, drawing her gaze.
“I know what to do,” she assured me, her expression a little brittle as if her emotions were jumbled. I thought at first it was still Castor upsetting her, but then she reached for my arm and gave it a squeeze. “Be careful.”
I smiled and squeezed her hand in return before she stepped away. With a final dark glance at the councillor, she leapt into the sky with a mighty flap of her wings.
I looked at Orion next who looked like he’d rather stab himself in the eye than leave me alone with Castor, but he nodded grudgingly. He began shouting instructions to the warriors for their flight formations. It was no small feat to organize so many griffins in the air at once.
Alone with Castor, I turned back to find him eying me with intrigue.
“You command a great deal of loyalty and esteem.”
“What is it you need, Castor? We are getting ready to fly into a battle,” I reminded the councillor, and he gave a nod as if he were confirming something to himself.
“You told Riordan all that I relayed concerning Erétria. That is why he and hisskiáare even more wary of me.”
“Is that what you came here to say?” I demanded.
“No,” he said sternly. “I came here to warn you to be careful on that battlefield today.”
“I did not need you to tell me that,” I assured him even as mymind began to whirl in confusion at what his game was with me.
“What I mean to say is… I believe this battle could have an ulterior motive. Someone is drawing you out.”
Chapter seven
LAVENDER AND RAIN
Rian
Ileaned against a tree, tipping my head back so the oak’s bark caught tendrils of my hair and tugged on it. My eyes closed on the canopy of vibrant autumn leaves overhead as I basked in the familiar song of hollowed wood chimes and the babbling of a stream. I breathed in the comforting aroma of lavender from the garden and a distinctive scent from the coming rain. Allowed it to soothe me.
Home. One that did not exist, and yet it felt soreal.
I opened my eyes again, my heart aching with longing as my head turned toward the wall of the log cabin and a background of colourful mountains behind it. The kitchen window was open at the front, and I heard the woman inside singing with a hauntingly beautiful voice that was at once comforting and unnerving. The delicious aromas of the fresh bread and butternut squash soup that she was preparing for dinner wafted out to me.
Something tugged at my mind from the waking world and buzzed through my veins with an urgency. A terrible knowing that lurked at the edges of my consciousness like the inevitable shadow of approaching night.
But then the giggle of children reclaimed my attention, and I could not help but smile as I ducked around the oak treebehind which I’d been hiding. The sun warmed my face as it gleamed brilliantly through the haze of autumn foliage while I crept toward rows of corn in the garden. There I could clearly see the dirty hems of lavender skirts and the bare feet of two little girls attempting to play a game of hide and seek.
Peals of their laughter rang out when they realized they had been discovered, and I could hear their bare feet pattering across the earth as they ran toward the cabin. The sound of them filled my heart with such joy I could have stayed in that imaginary place forever.
But that was when reality struck me like a venomous snake aiming straight for my heart.
Sage…
The illusion of the cabin was ripped away from me so suddenly that it left me breathless as anguish replaced my tranquility. Merciless wrath swept through my veins like a volcanic eruption, unyielding and unforgiving.
