Page 45 of The Labyrinth

“I didn’t want this to happen this way.”

I opened my eyes to see Griffin, hands wrapped around the bars to my cell. He didn’t look good. In fact, he looked like he had been up for most of the night. His cheek was swollen, and if I had to bet, he had been Ten’s punching bag. I got to my feet. “Where’s Ten? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. Pissed, but fine. He’s on house arrest until the fight.” He sighed. “I think they think seeing you die in the cage will be punishment enough for him. You have to understand, I did everything I could so he wouldn’t get found out, but he was too goddamn stubborn to just be honest with me…”

That statement solidified it for me. I wouldn’t die. Couldn’t die. I couldn’t die in a cage, a reflection of Iris all those years ago. Ten had barely survived it the first time. He wouldn’t make it a second time. “Who’s they?”

“His father’s old council.” Griffin ran a hand over his stump of a horn. “They’ve hated him since he fired them years ago. They’ve basically been biding their time, waiting for some reason to kick him out, and with the Raven’s uprising they only needed the smallest thing. And then you…”

I nodded. “Then they found out I was in his house.”

“Exactly.” He rested his head against the bars. “I tried to warn him. But there was only so much I could say without getting all of us in shit.”

I was quiet for a moment, imagining Ten at home, how he would react to me not being there. Somehow, I couldn’t imagine it was very quiet. “You don’t seem too bothered that I’m a human.”

Griffin shrugged. “Why should I? You make Ten happy. I haven’t seen him like this, ever. If anyone can make Ten this happy, that counts for more than anything in my books.”

I couldn’t help the smile that crossed my face, even in my dire circumstances. But it dropped just as quickly. I crossed over to the bars, squeezing the metal tightly between my hands. “What’s going to happen to me?”

“You’ll be put in the Cage for one fight. It's a fight to the death. Not to put pressure on you, but the outcome of the fight will determine both yours and Ten’s fate. If you die, Ten will be held as guilty and removed from power. If you win, according to the Council, you’ll both be free to go.” Griffin grimaced. “How free, I can’t tell you.”

I digested the information as calmly as I could.One fight. To the death. Guilty. There was a lot riding on this. On me. I looked up into Griffin’s one eye, expecting it to be black like Ten’s, but it was a rich brown color. It made him softer somehow, despite his scars. “How is he doing? Really.”

He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “Not good. He’s pretending to take his punishment, when in reality he’s just trying to figure out a way to break you out of here.”

“He can’t break me out of here. Where would we go? We’d be fugitives.” I rubbed my hand across my forehead. I needed Ten to stay calm right now. “I’m going to have to fight. You need to tell him I’m going to fight.”

“I’ll tell him, but I don’t know how much good it will do. I’m not exactly his favorite person right now.” Griffin rapped his knuckles on the bar, a quiet echo sounding through my cell. “I should go. I’m not supposed to even be here. I just needed to make sure you were alright.”

I smiled sadly. “I’m okay. It’s not your fault, Griffin. Ten will come around.”I hoped.

He cocked his head, his lone eye not quite looking like he believed me. “I might not have put you in here, but maybe I should’ve done a better job of covering up Ten’s trail. He’s so stupidly in love he didn’t realize all the mistakes he was making.”

Ten. In love with me?No. I laughed softly. “Ten’s not in love with me.”

This time it was Griffin’s turn to laugh. “If you truly believe that, you’re both utterly clueless. But I should be going.” He pulled away from the bars, casting one last look at me. “Hey, Rissa?”

“Yeah?”

He smiled, and the expression completely changed his face from one of a battle-scarred warrior to a sweet soul. “Don’t die. I’ll never live it down.”

I laughed harder than I should have, but I knew it was a joke laced in truth. Ten wouldn’t ever let him live it down. But luckily for him, I had no intention of dying.

Chapter20

Ten

Ithrew the vase over my head. It smashed against the wall into a thousand fucking pieces. I didn’t remember how old it was, or how much it was worth, but I knew it was valuable. And now it was in a million shards on the floor of my living room, and I couldn’t care less.

“Fuck. Fuck!” I screamed. I grabbed the stand the vase had rested on, and tossed that, too. It careened across the room, smashing into the wall before it remained lodged there, half in and half out. I grabbed the couch, flipping it up on its side. I had never been this angry before. Ever. All I could see was red. All I could feel was sheer rage, bubbling thick inside my veins. My heart thumped erratically. My ears were filled with a violent buzzing. I needed something to release this anger, growing inside me like a tumor, but I had no release other than destroying my house.

Because the one thing that kept me tethered to this planet wasn’t here. She was gone, taken to the one place I hated more than anything in this city. And yet, if they would’ve let me, I would’ve swapped places with her in a heartbeat. I would’ve killed a thousand people in the Cage if it meant Rissa was safe. Instead, she sat in a holding cell, waiting for her fate, and there was nothing I could fucking do about it.

I glared at the two men outside my front door, making sure I didn’t leave. I could take them both, especially with the fury lacing my soul. I could burn the city down for Rissa. And I would. I would do whatever she asked me. But I had to think about the place I was leaving her to come back to. I could kill everyone in my way between here and the Cage, but someone would hear about my rampage and kill her before I got there. I was trapped, and they knew it.

I should’ve known Mal and the rest of my father’s council were only biding their time, waiting for me to slip up. I should’ve been more careful with Rissa, covered my tracks more. I should’ve leaned on Griffin, told him the truth from the start, even though I was pissed at him. I was angry with him, sure, but the old council was only using him to mess with me. He hadn’t been the one to leak my secret. Someone else must have caught wind, or saw us the night we went to the church.Or fucking Blaze…

For fuck’ssake. I kicked the base of my couch, and then smashed my foot into it again. And again, and again, until the underside of the couch was shredded, demolished to nothing. “Fuck it all!” I bellowed. “Fuck you! Fuck all of you!”

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