Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)(90)

Did that mean she could go out in daylight?

And watch a sunrise or a sunset?

Yearning to do that with Storm hit her hard. She clutched her stomach and forced her mind back on track.

With a look up at Boomer, who still sported a rod under those feathers, she warned, “Don’t give me a reason to test my new strength.”

Kizira rounded on Evalle and Boomer. “Listen up, you two. None of the gryphons are to be killed more than one time. Break that rule and you’ll face Flaevynn. Trust me, you don’t want to annoy the queen.”

Boomer spread his wings and made a half bow in reply.

Kizira ordered him, “Go train until I come for you.” She made a sweeping gesture with her hand and Boomer disappeared. Then she told Evalle, “Coach Bernie later. Tristan’s waiting to brief you.”

“On what?” The room around Evalle disappeared and another location took shape. This one had wood paneling, a thick Persian rug and a polished wood desk with a sleek office chair that Tristan sat in.

He stood up. “Looks like you survived the hardest test.”

“I don’t want to go through that again anytime soon.” She hadn’t decided how she felt about being a gryphon, other than enjoying a more attractive beast form than she had as only an Alterant. “Have you died more than once?”

“No. The Medb are adamant about one time per gryphon.”

“Why?”

“They have future plans for us and don’t want to use up our other two get-out-of-death-free cards right now.” He walked around the end of the desk and leaned back against the front.

Evalle took one of the two cushioned chairs facing him. “You’re supposed to be briefing me. What about?”

“Attacking Treoir.”

“I won’t do it.”

“Yes, you will. You haven’t been compelled yet. Once you are, you’ll cut off your own arm if they tell you to.”

Evalle scoffed at him. “You would kill your sister if they told you?”

“I did. That’s how she went through her first power change.”

That shocked Evalle. “Did you know you were fighting Petrina, or did they trick you like they tricked you into believing I’d killed her?”

His eyes hooded with shame. “Yes, I knew I was attacking Petrina. That was the point. To let me know just how much power they have over me.”

Her heart broke for Tristan. He’d gone through battles and horrors to protect Petrina. “I will fight them if they compel me.”

“I know you want to, but fighting isn’t the way around the compulsion.”

Evalle glanced at the walls and ceiling, then back at Tristan. “Aren’t you worried about them hearing you?”

“I figured out the strange ward Kizira placed around this space. The walls actually glow when anyone approaches or if Flaevynn tries to watch us through her scrying wall. Once Kizira bonded me to her, I could see the same changes in the room that she saw when someone wanted to eavesdrop or visit. She allows me to visit with my sister here even though we’re supposed to be kept apart.”

“What a considerate hostess.”

“In spite of all that I’ve been through with Kizira, I’ve come to realize since being here that she’s Flaevynn’s puppet, just like I’m now Kizira’s.”

“There has to be a way to get you out of here.”

“No, I’m screwed. I won’t be allowed to travel with you to Treoir, but I’m trying to convince Kizira to send Petrina with the rest of you. If she does, I’m hoping you pull one of those maniacal stunts out of your ass and save her.”

Not flattering, but a compliment coming from him. Evalle would not attack Treoir or leave Tristan here. “What’s the attack plan?”

“I can’t tell you that.” He opened his hands in apology. “Part of the compulsion spell.”

“Then what are you supposed to be telling me?”

“How the attack is going to function. First, the gryphons will follow the one person who is the strongest.”

Evalle interjected, “Like the alpha in a wolf pack.”

“Right. Kizira is that person as she’s the one who holds power over the bond. Five of you will have specific targets, since you’re more powerful than the other gryphons.”

Reaching up to her head, Evalle stopped before stroking over her hair as if she still had feathers. “The golden heads? I saw four others.” She looked at Tristan, recalling that his wasn’t, which he must have read in her gaze.

“Nope. I’m not one of the”—he lifted his fingers to make air quotes—“chosen five.”

“You can teleport. Why wouldn’t they want a gryphon with that power?”

He shrugged. “Who knows? Anyhow, once you all arrive on Treoir, two will sweep a one-mile-wide perimeter around the castle, torching everything to tighten the fighting zone. Two more will be inside that zone using kinetics and streams of fire to mow down Beladors who won’t be able to link. A gryphon can easily kill one Belador, which would destroy everyone linked.”

“You’re sure?”

“Our kinetic strength alone is far more powerful than a Belador’s.”

Envisioning the potential massacre made her sick. If she couldn’t stop the attack from happening, she had to find a way to warn her tribe. “I know you hate the Beladors, but they don’t deserve this.”