Nameless (Nameless #1)(64)

“And Joshua?” Zo whispered.

Gryphon cleared his throat. “Told the Seer I knew nothing of Tess. That he acted alone.”

Zo’s head whipped up. Gabe’s arms fell away as she took a step closer to Gryphon. “They’ll punish him. They’ll hurt him!”

Gryphon walked over to rest his forehead on the trunk of a tall pine tree. He covered his face in his hands.

“No!” Zo ran up to him in anger. “You don’t get to be weak! I trusted you, Ram! I trusted you!” Zo yelled. Gabe held back her arms, but Zo wasn’t through with Gryphon. “You should have known the Seer would do that.” She kicked and struggled until her whole body went limp in Gabe’s arms. “You should have stopped them!”

It was so much easier to be angry at Gryphon than herself. Zo had been so oblivious back home. Not seeing that her little sister needed her there. Not getting to know Tess well enough to predict her following. This was her fault. After her parents died she’d been too blinded by her own pain to recognize Tess’. The poor girl didn’t just lose her parents; Tess had lost her only sister as well.

Selfish.

Through the trees Gryphon’s mutinous-looking friend Ajax stood like a stone statue in the forest. A livid rock with arms crossed in front of his chest, ready to kill someone. Zo was too distraught to care about him or his heavy glare.

Gabe rested a hand on Gryphon’s shoulder. “How do we get them back?”

“We have to break Joshua and Tess out at the same time. It’s the only way,” said Gryphon.

That much was obvious. “But they’ll know it was you,” said Gabe.

“Joshua will not take my punishment. This was not his fault. I let things get out of control.” He swept his hand in Zo and Gabe’s direction, as if they didn’t realize he meant them.

Zo’s anger flared again. “That’s right. You should have slaughtered me the moment you discovered I was a Wolf!” Zo had no right to goad him in his pain. But her own anguish was a venom she couldn’t contain.

“Zo, be reasonable,” said Gabe. “He’s just trying to do the right thing.”

But Gabe didn’t understand. Zo had had everything perfectly worked out in her mind. For as long as she could remember, she’d hated the Ram. By admitting Gryphon was a decent person, she was admitting that other soldiers inside the Gate might be somewhat decent as well. It was all or nothing, and she’d staked her life’s mission on the ideal that every Ram soldier needed to die for the world to be a better place. Every Ram. Without that foundation, what did she have? Where could her hate go?

Zo bent her head and buried her wet face in Gabe’s side, too confused to even meet Gryphon’s devastated expression.

A rustling in the trees sent Ajax running to discover the source. Moments later Eva, Sara, and a baby-carrying Ajax came to stand next to Gryphon. They all looked at Gabe like he had horns sprouting from his forehead. Ajax’s face was red with anger.

Gabe’s voice rumbled in his chest as he spoke. “What is your plan, Gryphon?”





Gryphon and the others sat in a circle on the ground, with the exception of Ajax, who stood guard behind his wife and sister-in-law. Ajax had remained silent throughout the whole discussion, leaving Gryphon, Gabe, and the others to sort out a great deal of the particulars.

Gryphon had suggested that he and Gabe retrieve Tess that night at the Gate Master’s home. Then, before sunup, they would go for Joshua. Ajax would stay with the women and help Sara prepare the baby for the journey. Gryphon would contact the Historian for help. If they didn’t find a way to open the gate without alerting the clan, all of their efforts of freeing Joshua and Tess would be for naught. For some reason, he felt he could trust the old woman to help them escape.

Timing would be vital to the plan, because once the Gate Master discovered Tess was missing from his household he would come immediately for Gryphon. And the last thing any of them wanted was the whole of the Ram forces on their tail.

Gryphon tried not to think about their chances if Barnabas sent a mess to recover them outside the Gate.

Eva spent most of the meeting scanning the forest, for what, Gryphon did not know. Sara rocked her already sleeping babe and kept glancing up at Ajax, as if making sure he was still there.

Zo hugged her knees to her chest and stared at her feet. She nodded her consent, and spoke up when her opinion was called for, but otherwise remained silent in her desperation. Every now and then she would catch Gryphon’s eye. Without words or gestures, she seemed to apologize.

Gryphon resisted the urge to comfort her. To pull her under the wing of his arm and hold her. If he was honest with himself, he needed the physical contact likely as much as she did.

But Zo had Gabe for that.





Gryphon met Ajax that evening on his way to their barracks to conference with Zander and the rest of the mess. He’d worn his long, dark cape made of fine-spun wool that wisped around his ankles as he walked. His father’s cape. It seemed fitting since the rest of Gryphon’s world was cast in harsh shadow.

The two mess brothers fell in line without a word. The rhythm of their swords hitting against the giant round shields at their backs mingled with the soft footfalls of their heavy, fur-lined boots.

After a while, Gryphon couldn’t stand the silence. “You’re angry.”