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I could feel his breath on my skin. We froze, our lips close, our eyes boring into each other’s, my heart thumping.

“We need to find Meera,” I said. “And get back.”

“I know,” he said. “But soon—can we talk? Please?”

“We’ll talk.”

He exhaled, his shoulders relaxing as he rose to his feet, a hand extended to help me up.

“She went that way.” I pointed. In the distance was the Guardian of Bamaria. It was why the place had been named Gryphon Island. The structure seemed to predate even Ka Batavia—there were no records of who’d built the statue or when; I knew because I’d checked the Great Library.

We started walking, the uneven piles of sand causing me to wobble and slide as I walked.

Without a word, Rhyan took my hand in his, his grip firm and stabilizing as we continued on.

His eyes, dark green in the night, flicked to me and then straight ahead again.

Warmth bloomed inside my chest as my world came down to my hand in his, the calluses on his fingers, the stroke of his thumb against my knuckle. I felt completely safe with him—safer than I’d ever felt before.

“Did you know we have a seraphim statue at home on Gryphon’s Mount? She’s made of pure moonstone.”

My eyes widened. “No!”

“She’s less famous than your Guardian. Smaller, and most of the time buried under snow. I think she tends to be forgotten for that reason. But her origin and purpose are equally unknown.”

“Did you research her origins in the library?” I asked.

“Probably as much as you’ve researched the origins of the Guardian.”

“I love that—” I started, then cut myself off, feeling self-conscious. But I loved how interested he was in history, how he got lost in research like I did.

“Me, too,” he said.

We approached the statue constructed of three stories’ worth of black onyx. The gryphon’s head was lifted high, its eagle-eyes staring into the ocean. Its front haunches stretched before him, vanishing into the golden sand.

“Reminds me of home. Our sigil is everywhere. And every place it’s not, there’s a live gryphon. We even had a life-sized stone gryphon watching over the toilets in our Katurium. One of the mages thought it would honor Ka Hart to infuse it with life, so it always shifted slightly, its wings and eyes moving, watching. Took me years to manage pissing without jumping every time I saw it staring down at me.”

“Seriously?” I laughed.

“As if I’d lie about an embarrassing story.” He squeezed my hand. “But one time,” he said slyly, “my friend Dario and I moved the beast, just after a morning run. This poor novice came in, didn’t realize what we’d done until it was too late. Completely pissed himself.”

I burst out laughing.

“Needed a brand-new cloak and everything.” His right eyebrow lifted. “Pissed that one a week later when we returned the statue.” He joined in my laughter.

“Is Dario the one you used to dress in the morning?” I asked. He’d mentioned him once before.

Rhyan smiled fondly, then seemed to catch himself. “Maybe we should call out to Meera?”

I bit my lip. “We’ve lingered too long. Are you going to be in trouble?”

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“What about us?”

“I’ve got you and Meera covered.”

We started to pass the Guardian’s massive body, yelling out for Meera.