Page 65 of The Verdant Cage
Gryphon blinks, and we break into two copies of the same smile. His nearness, the intimacy of our shared emotion, quicken my pulse.
“And if they’ve got you pinned?” I ask, feeling bold.
A flicker of surprise softens his face, and he guides me backward to the rock, pressing me against cool stone. Sal and Meryl’s gazes snap together—are you seeing this?—as Gryphon raises his forearm to hover in front of my neck. That blocks my view of the girls, but not Eero’s shit-eating grin. With willpower I didn’t know a human could possess, I force myself not to blush.
“Your forehead is surprisingly strong,” he calls over his shoulder, tapping his own. “It can do a lot of damage, especially when your opponent has you pinned. Proximity gives you power. Drive your forehead into their face, remembering not to signal the move.”
“What if you’re shorter than them?” Meryl asks.
“All the better if your forehead hits at nose level.” He rests his hand on the back of my head and softly guides it forward and down. The top front of my skull perfectly meets the bridge of his nose, his lips nearly grazing the center of my forehead.
Albert glides out of the cave then, stopping a meter away from Gryphon and me. I take the respite, tearing my eyes from my betrothed, but Gryphon seems not to notice him. “Meryl and Sal, you two practice all three releases with each other. Eero, I’ll get to you in a minute.”
He returns his attention to me. When our eyes lock, a full-body jolt courses through me. He’s so breathtaking, so confident in his strength and knowledge that for a second, I consider what our future would look like if I did nothing but let my choices be made for me: Marry Gryphon. Train. Have babies. Let a murderer walk free and allow Jarek to gain more and more power in the Valley.
I know it’s impossible. Ignorance is a fur-lined cage you can’t return to. Not once the door’s been opened. But still…
I accept his hands around my neck again. Like yesterday, my anatomy training helps me remember where—and understand why—to direct force in my moves. After an hour of repetition, I’ve learned to reliably break free from all the basic locks Gryphon tries to put me in. I even get in a good headbutt to his cheek before he can dance away.
“Oh oh,” Eero calls out from where he watches on the rock. “Marina won’t like your pretty face bruised like that, Gryphon.”
The comment makes me miss my footing. I take a jab to the shoulder, and needles shoot down my hand. I pivot, barely avoiding the uppercut that frequently follows one of Gryphon’s punches.
“Shut up,” he mutters to Eero, never taking his eyes off me.
I know Eero was just teasing. Except, was he? Had there really been something between Gryphon and Marina? My childhood insecurities, nurtured in the fertile soil of years of taunts and rejections, seek the surface.
Albert is near enough that his sharpened words land in my ear. “Yeah, Eero. Shut it.”
I’m so shocked by the ferocity in his young voice that I turn to look at him.
“Pay attention, Rose,” Gryphon barks, “or you’re going to get hurt out there.” The anger that simmers below Gryphon’s surface is suddenly at a boil. Eero’s teasing, my carelessness. I don’t know what sets him off, but his face tells me he’s considering aiming his frustration at me.
“Eat dirt,” I say, refusing to be his target.
I step away from him. I need a second to sort through the bloom of jealousy I just felt. Everyone knows Albert’s a duck for Marina, so it’s no surprise he wouldn’t want to imagine Gryphon and her together. But Eero hadn’t teased Albert.He’d teased Gryphon. That, plus the depth of the younger boy’s reaction, makes me think there might really be something between Marina and my betrothed. I’m ashamed I began to let myself fall for him. I don’t know what his endgame is, but it doesn’t matter. His caring for Marina will make leaving to rescue Jonas that much easier.
“Are you done with your break?” Gryphon sounds deeply annoyed.
And with that, he’s flipped my switch. I’m back in it, swinging at him with a dramatic right hook. It would be impossible not to see it coming, which is why I’m able to sneak my real move, an uppercut, past his initial defenses. It’s only his years of training that keep my fist from striking true. Rather than burying it in his chin, I land a solid hit on the arm he raised to block me.
He stumbles slightly, rights himself.
Irritation flits across his features. His shoulders and then his arms make all the micromovements—almost a shudder—that signal he’s flexing to rain terror upon his opponent: me. I find myself matching him move for move, rolling onto the balls of my feet, a taste like metal on my tongue. I sense he’s about to spring when, to my great disappointment, he goes still, restraining himself with visible effort.
So that’s the trick to upsetting him. Get in a strike while he’s dreaming of Marina.
“Break.” His voice rings deeper than I’ve ever heard it.
Adrenaline surges through me. I’m dying to make some crack about him forgetting to watch my eyes, but Meryl has me by one arm and Sal the other, and they’re dragging me toward the creek.
.
“That was fun,” Sal says dryly, shoving me toward the water. “Why don’t you go cool off?”
“Why don’t you mind yourself?” I snap.
The walk has allowed me to calm myself enough that I’m no longer boiling, but I’m still on edge. Neither Eero’s wisecrack nor Gryphon’s reaction should have set me off that much. It’s got to be the accumulated grief of the past few days leaking out.
