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“I cannot leave Ashtine alone right now,” Talwyn replied.

“If you wish to be of continued use in this war, you will go see your griffin. I can stay with the princess until you return,” Hazel retorted. “Or perhaps a better idea would be to convince her to go with you. The winds would do her some good. I will return shortly.”

The High Witch turned on her heel, striding from the room with Jetta behind her. Talwyn sighed. Asking Ashtine to be strong yet again hurt. She shouldn’t have to be strong. Not right now. Her only worry should be those babes. Briar should be doing this, and even though she was here now, caring for her friend until he could, it did not ease her guilt.

“Ashtine,” she said softly, squeezing her shoulder. “You need to take this for the babes. Then perhaps we can go for a walk outside.”

“Has Briar arrived?”

Talwyn froze. They were the first words she had said since leaving Siofra, and the pieces of her heart that may have been mashed back together by Azrael fractured a bit more.

“Soon, Ashtine,” she said, stroking her hair once more. “But maybe the winds know something.”

“The winds know everything and nothing.”

She had never been so happy to hear Ashtine’s nonsensical jargon.

“Can you take this, Ashtine? Please?” she asked, holding up the vial.

Ashtine pushed herself up to a sitting position, taking the tonic and tipping it into her mouth. Then Talwyn was scrambling up when the princess moved from the bed faster than expected. Nasima swooped to Ashtine’s shoulder a moment later. She reached up, dragging her fingers along her feathers, and the bird nuzzled into her hand.

“I have missed you, my friend,” Ashtine whispered.

“Do you want to eat something while we walk?” Talwyn asked, pulling open the door and grabbing a cloak for Ashtine from a hook nearby.

“No.”

“All right.”

Later. She would work on that later. Ashtine was up and speaking. This was progress.

Hazel was rounding a corner when they came to the end of a corridor, approval flashing in her eyes when she spotted them.

“It is good you are up, your Highness,” she said, looking the princess over keenly.

“Thank you for the tonic,” Ashtine replied.

“Are you going to the pens? If so, I will accompany you.”

The High Witch did not wait for an answer. She just turned and led the way. Talwyn stuck close to Ashtine’s side as they made their way across the castle grounds. She seemed steady on her feet, but Talwyn wasn’t taking any chances.

Nearing one of the pens, there were several surrounding enclosures. Aeries was more like it. Nearly all the enclosures were covered, providing shelter from the elements, but they rose into towers where the griffins could come and go from the air, apparently trusted to return on their own.

“I will get Thorne,” Hazel said over her shoulder before striding away and into an aery.

“We should probably stay back,” Talwyn said when Ashtine began moving towards one of the tethered griffins.

The princess continued as though she hadn’t heard her, Nasima clicking her beak at her shoulder. The dark grey griffin she was approaching cocked its head, eyeing the hawk. Talwyn tensed when Ashtine reached up and rested her hand on the creature’s beak. Its wings rustled, but other than that, it stood perfectly still.

Talwyn stood back, giving the princess room. She didn’t need to be hovered over. Not with Nasima back at her side and winds whispering in her ear.

“You did well.”

Talwyn turned at the sound of Hazel’s voice to find her leading Thorne over. The griffin clicked his beak in agitation, raking his talons along the ground.

“I did nothing,” Talwyn said curtly.

“You have not left her side, and you convinced her to get up. That is something.”