Page 4 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

“Are you giving us permission to defy the Imítheos?” Ares verified eagerly.

“I am,” Riordan answered.

“Then no one shall breathe a word against her and not live to regret it,” Ares assured him.

Chapter two

RETURN OF THE GRIFFIN KING

Amira

Ihad learned in the last couple days that there were two types of griffins. Imítheos, like Riordan, could use air magic which evidently made them socially superior to the second type of griffin, called Ktínos, who had no magic. Riordan said that he preferred the company of the lower class of griffins, like Orion and presumably the warriors I’d just met, because he found them much more genuine. While Imítheos were supposedly insufferably arrogant.

I looked up at Riordan and nervously squeezed his arm to garner his attention.

“I don’t want to be any more of a source of contention than I probably already will be.”

“You will not be. Not unless someone else makes you into one. This decision belongs only to me and Amira,” the king added firmly to Ares who dipped his head low. “Andno oneis free to question, undermine, or otherwise interfere with it.”

He was talking about his desire to take me as his mate. That was the issue already causing a fuss since Ornella had goneahead of us to warn the griffins that Riordan was coming home with an intended mate.

Me. A fire witch.

Most magical creatures hated witches since those of my kind who practiced dark magics happily hacked them apart to be used as components in their spells. Most of the griffins would feel no different about me.

“Understood,” Ares reassured his king with complete confidence, clearly not one of those griffins who would be hating me on principle.

“Then we fly to The Mountain City,” Riordan replied.

Ares dipped into another humble bow before he and the others turned to stride further into the clearing to shift their shapes. Riordan was about to follow them, but Orion grabbed his arm and turned us both back to face him.

“Do you think it’s wise to give Ares such a long leash? You know he can be overzealous, and you just gave him permission to terrorize your whole court!” he hissed.

“His zeal is precisely what I expect when it comes to defending Amira during the next few months. We knew my ascension to the throne would never be an easy one,” Riordan reminded hisskiá.

“Then you will not even attempt to be civil.”

“Castor is already grumbling, and I have not even presented myself to them. I do not have time or patience to ease them into this transition by playing the courtier. We both know I am not good at it, and we are at war with the Autumn Court,” Riordan insisted.

“You cannot take control of your court the way you did with the army, Riordan. Not everything can be solved by waving your sword at it,” Orion chided his friend. “And Castor is grumbling because you have proven all of their fears about your impulsivity when you declared your intentions for awitch,” Orion added.

I flinched when his golden eyes shot down at me with pure accusation.

“If I am permitted to be selfish in just one aspect of my life then it will be inthis. The choice of my mate to whom I am given wholly,” Riordan maintained.

“But she is not just your mate. She is also their future Royal Consort,” Orion insisted, jaw clenching in obvious aversion to Riordan’s declaration about me.

Riordan got that stubborn set to his own jaw, so I set my hand on his arm to try and intervene.

“We already talked about this—”

“It does not matter that you have not made an official commitment to him,” Orion cut me off, his voice rising. “The free way you touch one another, Ares being sicced on the court in your defense, it will be enough for them to deem that the king is bonded to you. And then he will no longer be permitted to select another mate.”

“Perhaps you should be thankful,” I snapped at him, losing my temper because I knew his aversion was at least partly personal and not all political. “Would it not be so much worse for you if he were with someone you actually thought was worthy of him?”

Orion was first taken off guard by my retaliation and then confused by my words. I could not help raising my brows at him, giving him a knowing look, and I saw the moment he realized my meaning. The moment he realized that I knew how he felt about Riordan, and the real reason he hated me so much.

His wings had been poised high in confrontation but abruptly drew closer to him, and his lashing tail became very still. His scowl was overcome with shock and then fear as he glanced behind me to see if Riordan understood my insinuation.

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