Page 18 of Gryphon’s Fire

“Who is Saraphina?” I asked, my own muscles tensing. Was this a previous lover? That would certainly complicate my desires where Keir was concerned.

Keir calmed those fears when he answered, “Our younger sister. She was still a child when I left.”

Eldon’s watery eyes glanced up, momentarily latching onto Keir’s. “She cried for months after you left. Mother slept in her room for almost a year.”

A harsh gasp escaped Keir’s lips. “I… That wasn’t my intention. I⁠—”

“I know that,” Eldon quickly answered. “Or at least I know that now. You had to leave. I should have gone with you, but if I had…I’m afraid he would have gone after Phina.” Eldon cupped his face, his oily hair covering his fingers. Voice muffled, Eldon said, “That’s who he’ll go after next, and now not even Mother is there to protect her. Goddess, I messed everything up. All I could think about was myself and getting out of there. I…I never meant for Mother to die or to put Phina in more jeopardy. I-I should go back and⁠—”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Keir shifted closer to his brother again. He grabbed Eldon’s wrists and pulled his hands away from his face. “I will not trade one sibling for another. We’ll find another way.” Inhaling, Keir’s voice was steady when he asked, “Why did Jaakobah do this to you?”

Eldon barked out another contemptible laugh. “It wasn’t just Jaakobah. He had Father’s blessing.”

“Fucking hell,” Keir cursed. “Father’s that far into the Wasting?”

Eldon nodded. “I think so. I don’t know if that’s the only reason, but Goddess, I hope so. I don’t want to think that he would have done something like this if it weren’t for the disease.”

I could easily understand that point of view. None of us wanted to imagine someone we loved would be capable of causing so much harm if they were in their right mind.

“After you left, Jaakobah turned his attention on me. At first, I was confused. I thought he wanted to bond with you. Father said Jaakobah loved you and that you’d broken his heart.”

“The only one Jaakobah has ever loved is himself,” Keir vehemently argued. “And the only reason he was upset when I left was because my refusal to bond with him left him in a hierarchal limbo. Jaakobah wanted to bond with me for status and power only.”

“I know that now. That’s why he turned his attention on me.”

I heard Keir gasp a quiet, “No. That… When I left, you weren’t even of age. You were underage, and I never⁠—”

“I know,” Eldon repeated, tone soft. “I have never once, not even on my darkest days, thought you purposefully sacrificed me when you left.”

“Goddess.” Keir’s head dropped, and I scooted closer, placing our bodies in contact with each other again. “I did this, Lazarus.”

“You did not,” I protested, but Keir heard nothing but his own self-recriminations.

“I thought leaving would make things better. But if I hadn’t left, if I’d just stayed and bonded with Jaakobah, then Eldon would⁠—”

My growl shook the room, waking Vidia’s eggs as they rustled within their shells. Pulling Keir from the floor, I held him at arm’s length and gripped his chin within a cupped hand. “I will hear no more. I will not tolerate that word, bonded, in association with another, especially one as unworthy as this Jaakobah. Your lot in life is not to sacrifice everything you are for those around you, Keir Montenegro. Whoever claimed otherwise was very much misinformed.”

Keir’s eyes slid closed, and I knew he was fighting back tears. “But I could have done something more. I just left and started a life here.”

“Even if you’d tried, it wouldn’t have done any good,” Eldon said, still seated on the couch and looking even more miserable than before. “Father wouldn’t have listened. No one in the flight would have listened. Why would they? Jaakobah talks a good game. He’s charming and strong and…he’s everything a flight would want in a leader, at least superficially. Jaakobah’s good at telling the others what they want to hear, even if it isn’t true. Especially if it isn’t true,” Eldon’s voice trailed away.

“I went along at first,” Eldon said, words so quiet I had to strain to hear them. “It was nice. Jaakobah’s handsome and all that attention… I couldn’t believe you’d walked away from that. I thought you were an idiot.” Eldon scoffed. “But I was the idiot.”

“We are all idiots at some point in our lives,” I pointed out. “If not, then you aren’t truly living. You are simply existing in a vacuum where no choices need to be made. Only oracles know the future, and I would not wish that malady on my worst enemy.”

“Not even Verona or Axios?” Keir asked, giving me pause.

“I stand corrected.” It was an easy admittance that softened the pinch around Keir’s eyes.

“Perfectly understandable.” Keir wrapped his fingers around my wrist, pulling my hand away from his face but entwining our fingers. “Thank you,” Keir said before steeling his features and turning back to his brother. “At some point, you discovered what I did about Jaakobah’s true intentions.”

Eldon nodded and his lips pulled thin. “I overheard him talking to a friend. I’m not sure who it was, only that it was someone outside our flight. He said… Jaakobah said all kinds of things, all of them derogatory. He talked about what a fool Father was and how easy he was to manipulate. And when he spoke about me… It was like I was nothing more than a piece of meat hanging on the local butcher’s hook. All the nice, complimentary things Jaakobah said to me in the past were all lies. He said I was… I won’t repeat all the hurtful things he said.” Eldon looked away, and I took the opportunity to grab another glass of water. His hands were steadier when he took the second glass with a muted “thanks.”

Eldon drank deep but didn’t finish the second glass as quickly as the first. Wiping another stray tear from his eyes, Eldon stared into the water, as if it might hold all the answers. “I confronted him.”

Keir did a quick inhale. “I don’t imagine that went well.”

“No. Jaakobah tried telling me I’d misunderstood and that he was playing the individual on the other end of the conversation.”