Page 13

I inhaled, holding that breath before releasing it. “You are a Montenegro.”

Keir’s head dropped in a reluctant nod. “My father is Hunapo Montenegro. My mother, Lavinia, was a De Merode.”

My breath caught. The gryphon sitting within a quaint kitchen deep underground was nothing short of nobility. I started to pull my hands away, but Keir gripped them, a desperate “don’t—don’t pull away” slipped through his lips.

I stilled before going to my knees, closing the distance between us. Before I could speak, Keir said, “I’m still the same as before. Nothing has changed. I am not my last name. I…I left that life. I turned my back on my inheritance.” Keir shook his head, his demeanor changing once more. Lips pulled back, Keir’s teeth were on full display. “The cost was too high.”

I hated to hear what that cost had been. Still, I had to ask. “And what would that be?”

A low, rumbled growl crept up through Keir’s chest, spilling into the room just as the tea pot whistled. “Bonding with Jaakobah.”

My own growl joined Keir’s, our combined anger creating an intriguing harmony while the teapot continued its cry.

Standing, Keir released my hands, leaving me kneeling on the ground as he closed the distance to the stove. Turning off the gas flame, Keir removed the teapot from the heat and began preparing his signature brew. I stayed where I was, attempting to calm my fury. The very thought of Keir bonding with another was… It was beyond comprehension. It was a thought I couldn’t allow into my mind lest it drive me to insanity.

I couldn’t say the exact moment when I knew Keir was mine, only that I’d known for some time. Had Vidia’s offspring wished to return to Europe, I would have followed but would have left a piece of my heart and soul behind in Minnesota. I would have tried to convince Keir to come with me, but this was his home, his family. Separating him from the others would have been cruel.

Thankfully, my sister’s offspring were very intuitive and had offered the perfect solution. I would forever be in their debt.

“Tea?” Keir asked while holding a cup over my shoulder.

“Thank you,” I answered. As always, Keir’s tea was impeccably delicious. I heard Keir’s shuffling beside and slightly behind me. When I looked over my shoulder, Keir had joined me on the floor, his back to the cabinets and his cup of tea cradled between his hands. Scooting back, I readily joined him. Our shoulders barely touched as we silently sipped our tea.

Seconds slipped into minutes before Keir let loose a weighty sigh. “I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bond with Jaakobah. I won’t claim I was wise enough to completely see through him, but I knew enough. I knew it was a mistake. Worse than a mistake. I tried to tell my father that. I tried so damn hard to reason with him, to get him to see what I saw, what concerned me. But Father wouldn’t hear it. Father saw what he wanted to see, what he believed our flight needed to keep us safe. He saw power and strength. What he couldn’t seem to see was the mind behind it. Jaakobah didn’t have the flight’s best interest at heart. All Jaakobah ever cared about was himself and what the flight could do for him, not what he could do for the flight. That’s not a leader; it’s a parasite.”

I reached over, taking Keir’s hand in mine and squeezing tight. “You could not simply refuse? You had to leave?” To my knowledge, gryphons didn’t demand unwanted bonding’s. Given the royal hierarchy, I suspected there were a number of arranged bonding’s, but I couldn’t imagine any gryphon truly forcing such a pairing on their offspring.

“My refusal was not taken well.” Keir grimaced. “It wasn’t just my father pushing the bonding, but the entire flight. I have no idea how Jaakobah managed to con them. All I know is that there was no reasoning with them. The animosity grew to the point where it became toxic. By the time I left, there was open hostility.”

Heat filled my chest, rising through my throat. I had to force my fire down. Smoke drifted out of my nostrils when I exhaled. “I am sorry you had to go through that. It sounds like you made the right decision though.”

“Did I?” Keir’s head tilted to the side as he stared up at me. Uncertainty laced his voice and dimmed his eyes.

“You doubt it?”

Keir’s gaze traveled past me and toward the entryway to the living room where his brother Eldon lay unconscious. “You’ve seen my brother. He was conscious for a few seconds and exhausted himself to say a single word—a single name. Jaakobah. I may not know how he’s responsible for Eldon’s condition, but that doesn’t negate the fact that he is.” Keir hung his head, his multihued hair shifting with him. “Leaving wasn’t an easy decision. It should have been. Every day was such a battle, but still…they were my flight and I knew they were making a terrible decision, that they were placing their faith and safety in the wrong gryphon. I wanted to stay and fight for my flight, but…no one would listen. And I couldn’t… I just couldn’t do it anymore. I abandoned them.”

I huffed out a larger puff of smoke. “One might say they abandoned you.”

Keir shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know. All I know is that I promised myself then and there that I’d never abandon my family again.”

The pieces of Keir’s puzzle slotted into place. The way he took care of those left within the Magical Usage Council. The way he cared for Vidia’s eggs. The way he cared for me. Keir had left his nobility behind, but it had followed him across the Atlantic Ocean and settled within the chilly state of Minnesota.

Head leaning back, Keir stared up at the ceiling. “I hid myself away. I fled one maniacal narcissist and pledged my loyalty to another.” Keir scoffed. “How could I see through Jaakobah’s bullshit and not Huxley’s?”

I had no answers. “I can only say that Tenzen Huxley must have been an expert at his craft to have deceived you.”

“Did he though? Or did I allow myself to be deceived. I was so desperate for a home, for someone I could believe in after…I trusted too easily. I wanted to trust. I needed to make a difference, to feel like my life still had meaning and that leaving my flight wasn’t simply a selfish act, but beneficial to others. It sounds so simplistically naïve now, but I thought I could make a difference. I thought doing so might give me some type of absolution. Instead…” Keir let loose another weighty sigh. “Let’s just say absolution isn’t what I got.”

I thought of Vidia’s eggs. “I believe my sister’s offspring would beg to differ.”

Keir rolled his eyes. “I didn’t even know they were here. If it weren’t for Grayson, then⁠—”

“And who brought Grayson Delarue into the fold? Who thought to ask a will-o’-the-wisp to find what Huxley left behind?”

Keir’s cheeks pinked. “It was an act of desperation.”

“It was an act of responsibility. You could have stuck your head in the proverbial sand and ignored the situation. Had you done so, without the warmth of Alethia’s hearth, the eggs would have eventually perished. Your actions saved my nieces or nephews and there is nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.” I allowed my unwavering conviction to sing through my words.