Chapter 88: Heavy is the Crown

(GRIFFIN)

My fists clench helplessly. I feel the pain in her chest like it’s carved into my own.

The gate creaks open behind us, and an older man steps through. “Give her a moment,” he says gently. “She has good days.”

Maya turns. “Jerry?”

I recognize the man. How could I not? About a decade older than me, he was the senior healer when I went missing. His eyes fall on me and widen. The shock in them is unmistakable. “King Griffin?!”

He’s about to rush over, but I shake my head.

Lips trembling, he looks back at Maya. His voice is uneven now. “She’s doing better, Maya. Although she has been a little disoriented today.”

But as soon as the words are out of his mouth, I hear the older woman murmur, “Maya. Sweetheart, why are your clothes so dirty?”

“M–Mom!”

Maya rushes into her mother’s arms, and I move away to give them some privacy.

I hear Jerry tell her, “I told her you were traveling. I’ve looked after your mother for you, Maya.” Her eyes fill with tears as she buries her face in her mother’s neck. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Her sobs are heartbreaking. My throat feels tight. I’m not used to this. All this feeling.

Erik steps beside me. “So,” he says quietly, “want to tell me why you’re acting like a rabid wolf over her?” I stiffen.

He crosses his arms. “You attacked palace guards. You nearly lost control back there. You’re hovering like she’s made of glass. I’ve never seen you like this.”

I say nothing.

His eyes narrow. “Where did you find her?”

I look at Maya, still wrapped in her mother’s arms, shaking with quiet sobs. The answer burns in my chest. “Somewhere I shouldn’t have survived.”

He studies me, frowning. “You’re not answering me.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I say quietly. “What matters is that she’s safe now.”

A long pause. Finally, Erik lets out a breath, the threads connecting now. “Oh,” he mutters. “Oh, hell.” I don’t respond.

“Don’t tell me the two of you are—” he says under his breath. “Oh, fuck.”

I still don’t speak.

Erik scrubs a hand down his face, equally exasperated as he is fascinated. “You know she’s human, right?”

“That little detail did not escape me.”

“The elders are going to have a field day with this.”

“I wouldn’t be standing here if it weren’t for her. She’s the one who facilitated our escape. She’s very intelligent.” “I know,” Erik says dryly. “I hired her because of her brain. Didn’t know she would end up being your fated mate.” He looks to me for confirmation, and I meet his gaze evenly. “She’s mine.”

Erik snorts softly. “So, you’re just going to guard her like a wolf with a bleeding paw and hope she figures it out?” I glare at him. “Better than scaring her off with talk of destiny and bonds when she’s barely back on her feet.”

He nods once. “Fair.”

Then he looks back toward the quiet scene in the doorway, the daughter clutching her mother, the healer watching over them both like a quiet sentinel.

“You’re going to have your hands full, brother.” I exhale. “I have an idea.”

***

I’m reluctant to leave Maya by herself, but she needs time with her mother. Healer Jerry promises to look her over before joining us.

Erik and I have a lot to discuss. We walk in silence up the sleek, stone path that curves toward the palace, which is nothing like the stronghold I once ruled from. It looks the same, but it doesn’t feel the same. I’ve been away for so long that everything feels foreign to me. I pause at the painting of our parents at the top of the stairs.

“I’m home,” I whisper softly, gazing at my mother’s frozen smile.

Erik puts his arm around my shoulders and guides me to the office that was once mine. The members of the palace staff who see me go still, recognizing me. Word will begin to spread, no doubt.

My brother shuts the door behind us and leans back against it, studying me like he’s still trying to convince himself I’m real. “Ten years,” he murmurs. “No, more than that. You look…”

“Like hell?” I offer with a bitter twist of my lips.

He huffs a quiet laugh, though it’s strained. “You look like you’ve walked through the pits of hell and clawed your way out, Griffin.”

“I did.”

His expression cracks then. Just for a second. I see it—the weight of the grief he has carried. The failure he never forgave himself for.

He crosses the room and yanks me into another rough, crushing hug. One hand clasps the back of my neck, and the other curls into the back of my shirt like he’s scared he’ll lose me again. My brother, the one who hated everything aside from fighting, commanded my entire army.

“I thought you were dead,” he chokes out. I grip him just as tightly. “I know.”

“I looked. I swear to the Goddess, Griffin—I looked. I went after you myself.”

“It must have been a lot. I’m sorry for leaving you like that.”

“What happened?” Erik pulls away, glaring at me. “Where have you been? And none of your cryptic answers. I need to know. Who took you? No, wait.” He walks over to the desk and presses a button. “Have lunch prepared for us in the dining room.”

He returns, dragging over one of the armchairs that he used to lounge in while I worked, my carefree brother who loved telling me I got the short end of the stick because I had to rule the kingdom.

We sit, and his face is grim as I speak. “I don’t remember how I was taken or what I was doing when it happened. But I know Quentin betrayed me. I woke up in a cell. They experimented on me. When they first captured me, they injected something into my blood. I shifted into my wolf form immediately, and they needed me to change back. Whatever the drug was, it severed my bond with my wolf. My human side still existed, but I could not connect with it. I became a mindless beast. I remember the torture, being cut open. I wanted it to end, but it never did. They fed me, but only gave me enough to keep me alive. I couldn’t regain my strength without meat. I was on the verge of giving up.”

Erik’s face is pale. He doesn’t interrupt, though.

“And then Maya was brought to my cell. Cassian Vayne, Jerry’s nephew, was there. He was running everything. He told Maya to create a drug to force me to shift back, but keep the disconnect. She—That clever girl, she did what he asked, but she made sure the bond between my wolf and me was repaired. I was so far gone that my wolf didn’t even recognize its fated mate till Quentin attacked her. I was trying to help her, and I licked her blood. The shock of it helped me shift back to my human form. I got us out of there. We hid in a cabin belonging to one of the Lysotte witches till two days ago.”

Erik’s jaw is hard. “Is that everything?”

“In a nutshell, yes.”

“It’s not, though, is it?” my brother asks quietly.

I hesitate and look away from him. “You don’t need to hear every gory detail of what happened to me, Erik. But know this: they can sever our connections with our wolves, and they’re using human chemicals to do it. The human race has advanced enough to create things that can harm our very core, and our own kind is helping them.”

“What do they want with us? Why are they doing this?”

“I don’t have an answer to that.” I shake my head. “But if they were able to restrain me, a royal, that makes them very dangerous.”

Erik sighs before filling me in on what he has learned. “The Silver Ring Organization has been around for far longer than we thought. They were responsible for the murder of the previous king and queen of the North, Locke’s parents, and given that they were both warriors, nobody is safe. The Eastern royal family was in cahoots with the organization, and they’ve been wiped out except for their king, a young child whom Locke and his mate Corrine are raising alongside their own son.”

He leans back, a strained expression on his face. “You don’t remember why you went out that day, the argument we had. So, let me tell you. Quentin came to you with a tip. He said the rebel leaders had begun crossing the Veil. I told you not to go, but you were determined.”

The anguish in his eyes is thick. “When I went to find you, there was blood. The guards I’d sent with you were dead. No sign of you. We searched for months for any trace of you, but there was nothing.”

“You thought I was dead,” I say quietly.

He nods. “There was so much blood, Griffin. And no trail. Quentin must have made sure of it. But I hoped you were alive. The brother I knew wouldn’t have died easily. So, I kept looking. Any word, any tip, and I would chase it down. I—I protected your throne for you, Griffin.”

My hands curl into fists. “Quentin was always ambitious. He was envious, greedy, vying for things he had no business aiming for. Like the throne.” I shake my head. “What about Maya? How was Cassian able to kidnap her? How did you let such a key member of the Silver Ring Organization infiltrate the palace?”

Erik’s jaw twitches. “Cassian went to the Eastern Kingdom to pursue his education, and he insisted on joining the palace when he returned. It’s evident now that he was recruited by the Silver Ring while he was in the East.”

“I am not blaming you, Erik. You trusted Jerry, and you had no reason not to trust his nephew.” I get to my feet and walk over to the window that overlooks the palace gardens. “At this point, either the organization is going to come at us with full force, or they will lie low now that I am back.”

My brother agrees, but he has another question on the tip of his tongue. “Does Maya—Does she know?”

“No.”

The word causes a silence to fall over the room, and for a moment, Erik says nothing. Then, he lets out a slow breath. “You’re going to have to tell her at some point. She doesn’t like being kept in the dark.”

“She doesn’t like you very much, either.” I crack a smile. “But I don’t want to overwhelm her.” “Is that really the reason?” Erik leans forward now, staring at me.

My lips part, and then I turn my attention back to the view. “No,” I admit. “I’m afraid she doesn’t have a very positive opinion of our kind right now. I don’t want her to run away or think I am trapping her.”

My brother sighs. “Well, you’re going to have to get this past the elders first. They will fight you on having a human queen. It’s never been done before.”

“You mean the same elders who pushed you onto the throne?” I look over my shoulder at him. Erik stands and walks toward me. “They may not want you back anymore, but I do.”

“You’ve ruled in my stead.”

“Because I had to.” He looks at me again, gentler now. “I never wanted the crown.”

“You wore it well.”

He chuckles. “I learned quickly. I had to. I couldn’t be the grieving younger brother forever.” “No,” I agree. “You had to become the king.”

“I did.” He goes back over to our chairs, his voice steady. “But now that you’re here, it’s time I stopped pretending.”

“You’re not pretending,” I mutter. “You did well. This place isn’t falling apart. You’ve held it together, and that takes resilience and effort. You would have made Father proud.”

His eyes glisten for a moment. “Maybe, but now that you’re here, I want to step back and focus on the Silver Ring Organization. And you, you take back your crown. It’s too heavy for me.”

I smile at him. I understand how he feels.

A silence stretches between us before Erik opens the door and calls to a messenger in the hall.

When a young wolf steps into the office, Erik gives the order: “Send word to the North. Queen Corrine, tell her Maya has been found. She’ll want to come immediately.”

The messenger bows and vanishes into the corridor, closing the door behind him.

I open my mouth to say something when the door opens again, and someone else appears there. It’s Maya, freshly showered and changed. She walks in.

“My mother is resting. Jerry is with her. I thought this was the best time to come talk to you, Erik. Am I interrupting?”

“You’re not interrupting,” I say immediately, crossing the room toward her.

I can feel my brother roll his eyes. I know he sees it: the tension coiled in my shoulders, the way my hand hovers near her waist like I can’t quite bear the space between us.

She lifts her chin to look at me. “Is everything okay?” I glance at Erik.

“Depends,” he says, smiling faintly. “Did you come to rescue him?”

Maya arches a brow. “He doesn’t need rescuing. But he does need food and a trip to the healer’s.”

I can’t help but notice that she has become strangely possessive since she first saw Erik. I can see it in her eyes. I wonder if she realizes it.

Erik watches us both for a moment, then nods. “Food will be ready soon. We were just talking about old enemies and new threats.”

Maya steps closer to me. Not touching, but close enough that I can feel the pull between us. And I know, even without the bond spoken, that she feels it, too. But her eyes hold a soft confusion, a resistance, and I know she is not ready to know of our bond.

Not yet.

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