Page 210 of The Protective Gryphen

Oh, he had some ideas.

“What do you think, my Lord?” he asked, enjoying the way the man looked in the moonlight.

He was dashing, rakish, and so handsome.

“Well, then, we can go back to bed…”

He stopped him.

“I can’t. She led me here. There’s something she wants me to find. There are all these paintings in here. There’s only one with people. The rest are all nature scenes, so I think it’s this one.”

Well, then, it looked like they were going to be finding it, because wickedly hot sex-slave Ian was now investigator Ian.

“Do you need my help?” he asked. “Show me the painting.”

Pulling out his phone, he turned on the flashlight, and Ian moved the large painting. It had a very old frame, and looked valuable.

He let the light hit it.

“It’s a dude and a kid. Do you think maybe that’s Duncan and his son?”

There was more sounds of crying in the room, and it got even colder.

“Well, that answered the question,” he said, turning it around. “The paper is torn, and I felt like there’s something in here. I felt it with my fingers, but I didn’t think to bring a light.”

Gryphen shook his head.

“Nancy Drew, you came ghost chasing in a haunted castle without a light? Are you loco?”

He found him amusing because he was right.

“Probably. Let’s see if we can…”

He didn’t get to say anything else. Gryphen pulled a knife out of his pocket, flipped it open, and then cut down the side of the paper, making the opening bigger.

“There you go.”

“Bess, you’re handy,” he joked.

Gryphen pointed.

“Let’s get whatever it is, and get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.”

Oddly, he wasn’t afraid. He felt a connection to Ceit, and he didn’t understand it.

He was invested in this for some reason.

“She’s pretty,” Ian said. “I saw her, and she’s got pale blue eyes and all this dark hair. She looked sad. Maybe someone killed her.”

There was more crying.

Gryphen looked around.

“Oh, Jesus.”

“Ceit, were you killed?” Ian asked, trying to communicate with her.

At first, there was nothing, but then, out of the blue, a painting fell over not far away.

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