Page 69 of The Beauty and the Griffin

“Duh! They’re not griflets anymore, in case you haven’t noticed,” Win snapped at me before turning to ask them for details about their hunt.

She was right. I did sound ridiculous, like a clingy mother. While Win questioned the griffins, who would always be those sweet clumsy hatchlings in my heart, I seized my opportunity to speak quietly with the Gamekeeper. “They’re so big and mature now. Do all magical creatures grow that quickly? I miss my little pin-feathered hatchlings!”

“Every variety of creature is unique,” he said. “But griffins are unusually precocious.”

When I sneaked a glance at him, I inadvertently met his gaze. My heart gave a lurch, and guilt swept through me as I looked away.

An impression of his golden eyes filled with longing and love appeared behind my eyelids whenever I closed them. Yes, I loved him dearly. So dearly that the thought of leaving him behind at the end of this adventure turned my heart to lead.

But how could I agree to marry abeast? If he’d been a dwarf? No problem. Even a shifter or something mostly human . . . maybe. But although the Gamekeeper walked upright, he was, well, beastly. Although I had never found him revolting. He always smelled clean and good, and his fur was soft.

For the first time, I hesitated, considering the possibilities. If the Gamekeeper asked nothing more than a sweet companionship arrangement, I thought I could handle that, maybe. If it could only be the way it was back when I visited Faraway Castle every summer—the two of us talking, laughing, and communing for the rest of our lives—I would have welcomed that. With all my heart.

But I didn’t know if such an arrangement was even possible. Anyway, he’d stopped proposing to me days ago . . . probably because I’d begged him to stop. What could I do now, beg him to start asking again?

At this thought, I glanced his way and met his eyes, golden like a lion’s but far too expressive to belong to a beast. He wasn’t really a beast. He was a sentient being with a heart that loved deeply.

Can humans die of confusion? I felt torn to pieces inside.

As soon as we rose from the table, Win rushed out into the corridor with the griflets, but I lingered, hoping for . . . well, maybe another proposal? Not that I’d exactly decided to accept . . .

“I wish you a good night, Beatrice,” the Gamekeeper said with a polite bow.

“You don’t wish to talk?” I blurted, inexplicably panicking.

“I treasure our conversations—never doubt it—but tonight I am weary.”

“Weary from maintaining the magical borders?” I dared to ask.

“And for other reasons. Sleep well, dearest.”

Before I could blink, let alone recover from that unexpected endearment, he was gone. Was the “something wrong” I’d sensed related to his exhaustion?

I rested poorly that night, waking after brief snatches of sleep to find my heart racing and sobs filling my throat. I struggled to sit upright in bed, and by the dim light of the banked fire I saw Chicky sleeping in one of her impossibly contorted positions on the hearth.If I asked, would she help me visit Niel again? But what could he do to help us here in the future? Nothing at all.So, I lay back down, dried my face on my pillowcase since tissues weren’t a thing at the palace, and tried to stop worrying.

It eventually worked; in the morning I felt better. But then I realized that the hearth was cold and no one had come to lay out my clothes. After letting Chicky out of the room (she wasn’t good at unlocking doors), I drew my own bath and selected clothing from the highboy. I was used to serving myself, but I missed the friendly silence of my maids’ company, and I couldn’t help wondering if the castle staff might be in some kind of trouble. Would the invisible chefs, footmen, and maids have gone to take part in whatever battle seemed to be waging somewhere nearby? Or maybe at Faraway Castle?

In the breakfast room, the buffet didn’t appear as quickly as usual, but I was relieved to see any food at all. There were no oranges or sticky buns, my favorites, and Win complained of her scones being stale. The griflets devoured their meal without complaint, but afterward Dodger paced the corridors, up and back, his talons clicking on the tiles. When he and Chicky began to bicker, I sent them out to play in the gardens. They may have been adults in appearance, but they were adolescents on the inside.

“Don’t wander off,” Win cautioned them.

In the peace following their departure, I faintly sensed the Gamekeeper’s presence, but he never appeared. I spent most of that morning in the music room, playing moody concertos and sad love songs on the piano. By noon, foreboding had formed a cold lump in my chest.

“You feel it too, don’t you?” Win inquired at lunch, which consisted of cold sliced beef, slightly stale rolls, and a bowl of apples. “We must leave while we still can.”

“What are you talking about? How could we leave?” I laid my serviette beside my empty plate.

“Back through the caves, of course. The power that trapped us here is fading quickly as the enemy weakens.”

“No way in the world am I going back into those caves.”

Win rolled her eyes, then shrugged. “Okay, we’ll fly. The griffins can carry us. Beatrice, we’vegotto go help with the battle. Dodger told me he wants to help,” she explained while wrapping extra food in a serviette.

I shook my head in disbelief while she tucked the bundle of food inside her loose jacket and picked up the coat hanging on her chair. “Us? Fight in a magical battle?” I pointed from myself to her. “Neither of us has enough magic to be of any use whatsoever. Someone would have to waste time and energy protecting us instead of fighting! And the griflets may look grown up, but they’re adolescents with no common sense, let alone battle training.”

She gave me one of her patronizing smiles. “You obviously don’t understand the importance of this battle. It will affect the entire world. Everyone with any magic at all must participate. I finally got a message through to my friends, and help is on the way. They’ve made a gap in the barrier.”

None of this sounded right, and her attitude irked me. “I can’t stop you from leaving, but I’m staying here. My magic would be of no use at all, and the griflets are too young to fly that far with us on their backs.”

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