Page 31 of Griffin Undone
“That remains to be seen,” I said. “I’m even more concerned about what plans he has for her, and what we can learn once we find her again.” Her very existence raised questions we’d never considered, and finding the answers would be a lot more difficult without the source.
“Will he harm her?” Demetri asked. The warrior was known for his protective stance toward females, seen first and foremost with his sister.
I considered the possibilities for a moment. “I don’t know. Arik is a question mark we simply can’t answer right now. Before the revelation about Maddox, I’d have said yes, unequivocally, but now… This Arik had been shaped in ways I don’t fully understand. Anything is possible.”
“The female isn’t all we have to worry about,” Thomas said. Tension thrummed through the room at the werewolf’s words.
“We’re in the dark,” I admitted. “Arik eliminated most of the team he encountered—”
“If he actually encountered them,” Cale growled. “How can we even know if what he told you is true?” He shook his head, the stubby ponytail at the base of his neck thumping lightly against his leather vest. “We can’t.”
I ignored the griffin’s distrust for now. “I want additional patrols set up through—”
“No.”
Shit.
The king’s deep tone resonated through my bones, stiffening my spine until it was ramrod hard. I bowed from the waist, the other warriors standing and following suit as they waited for Solomon to make his way across the room. The king proceeded at a measured pace, a strategy I knew my father intended as a reminder to the warriors that they depended on his authority in all matters. I crossed my arms over my chest and waited, refusing to be intimidated.
“Father.”
“My son,” the king said. “Warriors.”
The council sat as one but remained silent.
Solomon leveled brilliant eyes on me. “No additional patrols.”
I searched my father’s closed face, trying to determine where this decree was coming from. As king, Solomon knew better than any of us the threat a rising Anigma force presented—he’d lived it, after all, during the Great War. We couldn’t afford to ignore even the possibility. “We already have regular patrols of the city. It would be simple enough to expand them, keep an eye out for anything irregular. If we—”
“No. We will not waste resources on this.”
Lyris stood. Her formidable prowess and long life—and the take-no-shit attitude hiding behind her gentle facade—gave her the ability to speak where others would not dare. “With all due respect, sir, we must. If there is even the remotest possibility of more females out there, we have no choice but to try to find them. The Anigma may very well be doing the same, as we speak. What if they hold some of our women even now? How can we know if we don’t look for them? Search out the enemy?” She leaned forward, fervor tightening her body, fists pressing hard into the tabletop. “Turning our back on the enemy’s presence is unwise. We must go.”
“And what will you tell our males, Lyris, the ones you are so eager to send on the hunt?” the king asked. “Will you tell them what they are looking for or keep them in the dark? Raise their hopes? Rile them up for war? No.” He rocked back on his heels. “We cannot afford chaos when we have finally achieved peace, stability.”
I cursed silently. Peace at any cost, wasn’t that what Arik had said? I had a feeling the griffin knew his old clan better than we would’ve liked.
“Neither can we afford to ignore the possibilities,” I said vehemently, digging the talons peeking from my fingertips into my biceps to contain my frustration.
“What possibilities?” Solomon crossed his arms, mimicking my posture. “We have a single shifter, a murdering rogue, telling us our enemy has returned. He has no proof. We have no proof he did not indeed do this himself.”
“He did not.” Grim stood from his place at the foot of the table. “I saw into her mind, my king. Arik did not trigger her, nor is she a fake. She is truly an Archai female, of that there is no doubt.” Grim’s position as the Aomai guaranteed the truth of his words, even had he not been my closest friend. Even had I not been privy to his greatest secret. I prayed Solomon would heed the male’s council. We could not stand idle.
And yet Solomon refused to relent. “He could have tricked her just as he tricked the two of you.”
I disregarded the derision coating my father’s words—barely. “And what of Maddox? How is it that he still lives?”
The king’s eyes narrowed. “You are mistaken.”
“No, he isn’t.” Grim was polite but adamant. “I saw him in her memories.”
“Which means Arik isn’t the killer we thought he was.”
“No,” Solomon countered. “It means Maddox wasn’t murdered. Arik managed to stay hidden all these years; perhaps Maddox did the same.”
And given Solomon’s hatred of Arik, he wouldn’t accept any other explanation. He might even be right.
Nor was the king willing to discuss the subject any longer, apparently. “What of her triggering?” Solomon demanded of Grim. “Who was it?”
