Fearless (Nameless #3)(32)
Gryphon played with the ends of Zo’s hair as he spoke. “They’re both determined to make my life difficult.”
Zo couldn’t help but think of the previous night and the fire. She frowned. “I think you do that just fine on your own.”
“Sani tells me the black tears are a way of showing sadness when the Raven send warriors off. Instead of showing their weakness by crying real tears, they paint them on their faces.” Gryphon snorted. “Sani probably thought he was doing me a favor, but I’m sure Joshua just wanted to play a prank while I slept. I don’t think I like Sani and Joshua spending time together. They bring out the worst in each other.”
Zo imagined the two boys who were raised to hate one another, tiptoeing into Gryphon’s tent with a pot of paint.
Zo looked around. “Where is your new guard?”
Gryphon offered a lazy shrug. “They’ll find me eventually.”
“And have they found the missing guards from last night?”
Gryphon shrugged. “They probably deserted to avoid punishment for leaving their post.”
For someone who had just faced the possibility of losing a hand, Gryphon didn’t seem at all repentant. Didn’t he want this to work out? Couldn’t he even try to build trust with Laden and her people? Zo took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”
“I’m sorry I lied last night,” he blurted. “I didn’t want Laden to catch you in your lie about leaving me at my tent. And I knew that if I told him I was out walking the camp on my own before the fire, he wouldn’t have believed me.”
She’d assumed as much, and she didn’t want to hurt him by coming right out and accusing him of anything, but the coincidence of those men and the fire was too great to ignore.
“I didn’t start it, Zo, if that’s what you’re wondering.” His voice took on a harder edge. “As much as I can’t stand being surrounded by Wolves every moment of every day, I would never compromise your and Joshua’s situation.”
He cupped her face. The intensity of his clear brown eyes seeped into her. “Trust me.” A pause, and a softer, “Please.”
Zo flinched as his fingers brushed the irritated skin that ran in a line from temple to jaw. Until then, she’d been able to hide the burn with her unbound hair.
Gryphon gently tucked her hair behind her ear and sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re hurt. Who did this?” And then the lion was back, the gentleness of before replaced by the sleeping beast within.
“No one. I’m not really sure how it happened.” Zo didn’t understand Millie’s explanation earlier, and she wasn’t prepared to accept that she was broken as a healer.
“I believed you the first time, but this?” He turned away and began pacing. “Someone is trying to punish me. Your bruises. The fire last night. Now this burn … ” He stopped pacing, and the hurt that filled his expression—sadness and frustration magnified by the stained black tears painted on his face—was too much.
“You’re protecting one of these animals,” he snarled.
“These animals are my people, Gryphon, and you know me better than to believe that I would ever let someone hurt me and stay quiet.”
They stared at each other, both seething, for several long moments before Raca found them. She wore buckskin pants, a vest, and a braided leather cord around her forehead. A lone black feather tied at the side of the cord was lost in the backdrop of her dark hair. “The company has gathered. Everyone’s waiting on you.” She looked between them and frowned. “Is everything all right?”
“Be right there,” Zo managed, and Raca, after only a small hesitation, left them.
When they were alone again, Gryphon took Zo’s hand and brought it to his lips. “I don’t want to part like this.” He kissed her hand again. “Please tell me what’s going on.”
Zo couldn’t meet his eyes, but eventually the words just spilled over. “Millie says I’m broken.” She chewed on her bottom lip, stalling to give her emotions time to settle. “She says that, somehow, the ailments of my patients are carrying over to me.”
Gryphon frowned. “My ribs.” He reached out and gently ran his hands over her bruised ribs. “Those men burned in the fire last night.”
Zo nodded. “I didn’t want to tell you because I’m still trying to hide from it myself.” She looked up at him. “Who am I, if not a healer?”
Gryphon cupped the back of her neck and, before Zo had even a moment to prepare herself, bent down and touched his lips to hers. It was a tentative kiss. A brush and a peck. She tilted her head a fraction to one side and threaded her arms around his torso as he pressed his palms into her back, bringing her closer. The kiss deepened, its rhythm soft and deliciously sweet. Her heart fluttered when he abandoned her lips and moved along her jaw to her ear. “I really don’t want you to go.” His deep voice resonated strong and tender, sending a chill down her spine.
Zo squeezed him closer, tucking her chin and pressing her head into his chest so she could hear the steady rhythm of his beating heart. Doubt whispered in the recesses of her mind, lingering in the background of her thoughts. A pest that wouldn’t fully be ignored. He thinks my people are animals.
Zo held fast to Gryphon’s hand as they hiked up to the slot canyon at the northern end of the valley. Joshua and Sani followed behind, arguing about whether speed or strength was more important in hand-to-hand fighting, while Zo tried not to think about leaving.