Page 31

I say nothing.

His eyes narrow. “Where did you find her?”

I look at Maya, still wrapped in her mother’s arms, shaking with quiet sobs. The answer burns in my chest. “Somewhere I shouldn’t have survived.”

He studies me, frowning. “You’re not answering me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say quietly. “What matters is that she’s safe now.”

A long pause. Finally, Erik lets out a breath, the threads connecting now. “Oh,” he mutters. “Oh, hell.”

I don’t respond.

“Don’t tell me the two of you are—” he says under his breath. “Oh, fuck.”

I still don’t speak.

Erik scrubs a hand down his face, equally exasperated as he is fascinated. “You know she’s human right?”

“That little detail did not escape me.”

“The elders are going to have a field day with this.”

“I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for her. She’s the one who facilitated our escape. She’s very intelligent.”

“I know,” Erik says dryly. “I hired her because of her brain. Didn’t know she would end up being your fated mate.”

He looks to me for confirmation, and I meet his gaze evenly. “She’s mine.”

Erik snorts softly. “So, you’re just going to guard her like a wolf with a bleeding paw and hope she figures it out?”

I glare at him. “Better than scaring her off with talk of destiny and bonds when she’s barely back on her feet.”

He nods once. “Fair.”

Then he looks back toward the quiet scene in the doorway—the daughter clutching her mother, the healer watching over them both like a quiet sentinel.

“You’re going to have your hands full, brother.”

I exhale. “I have an idea.”

I’mreluctant to leave Maya by herself, but she needs time with her mother. Healer Jerry promises to look her over before joining us.

Erik and I have a lot to discuss. We walk in silence up the sleek, stone path that curves toward the palace, which is nothing like the stronghold I once ruled from. It looks the same, but it doesn’t feel the same. I’ve been away for so long that everything feels foreign to me. I pause at the painting of our parents at the top of the stairs.

“I’m home,” I whisper softly, gazing at my mother’s frozen smile.

Erik puts his arm around my shoulders and guides me to the office that was once mine. The members of the palace staff who see me go still, recognizing me. Word will begin to spread, no doubt.

My brother shuts the door behind us and leans back against it, studying me like he’s still trying to convince himself I’m real.

“Ten years,” he murmurs. “No, more than that. You look—”

“Like hell?” I offer with a bitter twist of my lips.

He huffs a quiet laugh, though it’s strained. “You look like you’ve walked through the pits of hell and clawed your way out, Griffin.”

“I did.”