I lean closer to the griffin’s back, clutching her feathers and keeping my head down against the frigid altitude. I’m forced to close my eyes to shield them from the wind’s whipping. Wren’s shoulder blades roll and I readjust, my thighs and knees digging into her sides. The ride is jerky and takes longer than necessary due to the weakening Callings. Fear grips me. If she loses her ability midair, we’ll both be dead in the water.
She soars lower and my thoughts venture to another chilly evening winter last. One El and I spent together before normal was no longer a word in our vocabulary.
“Are you sure this isn’t too expensive?” She kept her face shadowed behind a curtain of dark hair. I never understood her reasoning. Why would someone so lovely want to hide?
We passed beneath the red awning at Sardi’s. I opened the glass door and we approached the restaurant podium. The gaunt hostess raised a brow, as if expecting we’d be ill prepared. But I knew better. “Reservation for two under David, please.”
The woman considered us over her pointed, and most certainly false, nose. I stared her down, unblinking, and stood an inch taller. El and I may not have been her typical guests, but I’d been planning the dinner for weeks. I knew a winter formal wasn’t El’s scene, especially considering she hated high school to begin with. When Elizabeth requested I escort her, I’d agreed, but I never carried any intention of actually attending the stuffy event.
El and I had been friends for over two years. Though I felt more for her than she realized, I couldn’t tell her. But that didn’t mean I wouldn’t treat her like the princess she was. She deserved everything and more, and I wanted to give that to her, even if she and I could never be what I desired. She’d been talking about eating at Sardi’s since I could remember. I was sure she’d enjoy this much more than a dance.
“Ah yes,” the hostess said. “Here you are.” She invited us onward with a pointy, traffic-cone orange fingernail.
I offered my arm to El and she hesitated only a moment before linking hers lightly through mine. My pulse raced from her nearness. It took all the willpower I had spent years perfecting not to hold her and kiss her the way I ached to.
We were seated at a table for two in the center of the room. I withdrew her chair and she sat awkwardly, tucking her hair behind one ear and then, as if realizing she didn’t intend to emerge from her shell, letting it fall back in her face.
The hostess set menus before us and took her leave.
I rested my elbows on the table, interlinking my fingers and watching El, waiting for the change to occur. It generally took a moment but always transpired, like a butterfly breaking from a chrysalis. I didn’t want to miss this. The day was drawing near when nothing would remain the same. She’d be eighteen by year’s end. I intended to relish every last ordinary moment we had together.
When she peeked beneath her lashes, I smirked and leaned forward. Her head lifted as if in slow motion, followed by a widening of her eyes. She took in the room corner by corner and wall by wall. Portraits of Third Reflection celebrities hung everywhere, and the light on El’s face let on she spotted a star or two sitting at nearby tables.
I smiled and shook my head. She was the sweetest thing I had ever laid eyes on. Even without our soul bond I would have found her attractive. How could I not? That face. Those eyes. Her voice. She was unlike any girl I’d met. Soft and fragile, feisty but insecure. So different from me, mysterious in ways others were not—
I bite back the notion, blinking and bracing as Wren evades Pireem Mountain. What I did prior to leaving for the Third those years ago was heartless, almost cruel. But it had to be done. I couldn’t have any romantic attachments, with Wren or El or otherwise. I was raised to be king, the vessel of the Verity. And with that came loneliness. The Void would enter the one I cared for most. By default, it was El, but if I truly allowed myself to love her, watching her take on such darkness would break my heart. And heartbreak would destroy me.
Of course now I have learned otherwise. According to Nathaniel the Void enters the one who cares most for the Verity’s vessel, not the other way around. Would that still have been El? Since Kyaphus entered the picture, things have grown complicated.
I gaze down at Wren, imagining her hard human face and even harder heart. She admitted she loved me before I left, but I had become well versed in the art of pretending not to care.
“I know you feel the same, David.” Wren is not a crier. The fuming expression in her blazing eyes more than made up for it though. “Tell me you don’t.”
My jaw tensed and I swallowed. I hated to hurt her. I cared. But my heart belonged to another, even if I hadn’t met her yet. “I don’t.”
It wasn’t like when I told El I didn’t love her. That was one of the most difficult lies I’ve ever been required to utter. With Wren it was painful, but not an untruth. She was beautiful, smart, and strong, but the emotion was not mutual.
When at last we land at the base of the castle hill, I turn my back as Wren transforms and redresses. I wait longer than is necessary, and when I pivot to offer my gratitude, she’s standing there, arms crossed, waiting.
“The dungeons?” she asks. The smirk stretching her lips stings.
“That will be all, Guardian Song.” I scratch the back of my head. “Thank you for your services.” I cross my heart with a fisted hand and add the Guardian mantra, “To the crown until death.”
Her head cocks and her lips part. It must be a half minute before she responds in turn. “To the crown until death.” Then she spins on her heel and marches away.
The trek up the hill toward the castle provides me much time to think. My Void arm throbs and I massage it up and down, rolling my shoulder and neck. What I’m about to do is necessary. There is no other way.
Yes, no other way.
I whip my head around. “Hello? Wren?” I didn’t realize I spoke aloud.
When no one replies and the eerie quiet is too much for my numbed ears, I finish my journey and head inside. The voice must have been my imagination, my own exhaustion playing tricks. Whatever it was, it was an illusion. Everything will be made right once I alter things.
Everything will be fine when El’s bond with my brother is severed for good.