Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) (28 page)

“Because I could’ve done it. If you weren’t here—if…” She saw him twitch, as though the mere mention of his attachment to her were that disturbing. “Lena, if not for you, I would have crushed them. You’re ruining every conquest your grandfather set out for me to complete.”

“Hmm…” She relaxed her head against the cold back of the tub. “Maybe you should have let me die. Maybe I was meant to die, like Ben, back in that cabin, so that you could be king.”

“You keep going back to that—you know, I wouldn’t have let you die. You were never going to die. It’s a simple reason, Lena. It’s because you’re a Daray, and as you once said, you’re not done screwing with my life yet.” He smiled grimly.

“I’m a Collins, not a Daray.” Lena insisted out of habit.

Griffin rested his head back against the tub, his hair almost touching the suds and his eyes closed. “Fine. You’re as much a Collins as you are a Daray. Pick your reason, you were never going to die back there, so give me a break already. I took two bullets for you.”

Lena splashed some water at him. “You took two bullets to save my life. I took two to…what? To improve your political reputation?”

He glanced over his shoulder, smiling broadly, almost annoyingly. “Something like that. I had a marriage certificate drawn up this morning. You can sign it before we get on the plane today.”

Lena locked eyes with him. She sighed, still smiling. “No.”

“Okay…Now you’re just being difficult. What? I’m not going to say it, if that’s the game you’re playing.” He looked at her sternly. He wasn’t smiling anymore. “You win, okay? I can’t go anywhere without you, and I can’t do a damn thing about it.”
   

“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to go with you. I understand how it is.” She said, nodding.

“You…what then? Why not? I told you, I’m not going to say it!” He said, his voice strained and trying to hide his disappointment behind his anger.

“Griffin…” She smiled gently, shaking her head. She set her glass of wine down on a nearby towel stand before crossing her arms on the tub edge nearest Griffin and rested her chin on her hands. “He said a lot of crap while he was alive, but the one thing that’s stuck with me is that he said marriage wasn’t about love. And you know what? He was right. One vote per household. I can’t marry you without one of us losing our position on the Council. So unless you’re volunteering yours—“

“I’m not.” He interjected flatly.

“We can’t, then. But I suppose we’re going to have to work out living arrangements of some sort.” She ran one wet hand through his hair.

Griffin cleared his throat, shook her off, grabbed his glass of wine, and stood up. “You’re going to demand we take Brandon with us this afternoon, no matter how foolish and dangerous it is?”

Still with her chin rested on her hands, Lena paused for dramatic effect. “Ah, yes, as a matter of fact, yes, I am. And you’re going to try to stop me, no matter how foolish and dangerous it is?”

“Don’t mock me,” he half sneered, “I’m not bothering. This is your negotiation, so get it out of your system. Whatever you think you can do, just do it so we can get on with our lives.”

“You don’t think it’s going to go well?” She called at him as he left the bathroom.

Do what you think you can. I don’t care. Be ready by noon.

*****

As it turned out, Griffin had hired his own private jet weeks prior to fly from California to Pennsylvania when she had contacted him, and it had been sitting on-call ever since. They were driven with an escort to the airstrip, where they boarded the plane. Several people offered to come with them, but Griffin wouldn’t allow it—the meeting had only been agreed to upon the terms that they would come alone. While Griffin was decently concerned that they were about to be assassinated, Lena was surprised at how calm he was.

“You’re not worried they’ll shoot us on sight? My, my, Griffin, you 
are
 losing your touch.” She chided as Griffin waved off the last of their supporters. Lena finished buckling Brandon into his car seat before taking her seat own across from Griffin’s.

“Those were the terms and I didn’t have a choice. I have to be around you, and I don’t want to be around you while you’re continuously upset and depressed. It’s…distracting.” He took his seat and quickly changed the subject. “Besides, I can trust my contact wouldn’t have brought you all this way only to kill you now. He’s been quite useful.”

“You mean, it’s not Howard? You didn’t set this up with Howard?” Lena asked, surprised that anyone else had bothered to help her.

“Howard’s not in favor right now, princess. People were a little angry that he didn’t notice you were pregnant all those months.” Griffin said sarcastically. “And no, I didn’t set it up with him. I haven’t spoken to him in months. Everything’s been done through a benefactor, someone probably in the inner circles of the New Faith, who has been unwilling to identify himself for obvious reasons.”

Lena thought for a moment. “Greg Mason?”

“Speaking of my sister and
 
that
 family…” As Griffin began, Lena felt her heart drop. “No, I wouldn’t think so. They were highly suspicious that the Mason’s residence would be amongst your first stops if you left the country because you’ve been so friendly with each other in the past. They were put under house arrest in January, and the children were removed from the residence for a period of a few weeks, though I’m told they’re doing quite well now. I imagine you’ll be wanting to speak to her next?”

“They took their kids?” Lena asked. “Why?”

Griffin raised his eyebrows in a manner highly reminiscent of Daray. “Because they’re far too attached to them, as I’ve warned you about, though I must say I don’t think Hesper’s taken it as distastefully far as you have. They were hoping it might inspire someone to say where you were hiding.”

Lena’s voice quavered. “But they’ve been returned?”

“They’re fine.” Griffin muttered, shaking his head. “The New Faith is too soft to have actually done anything.”

“All the same.” Lena said. She reached over to rest a hand on Brandon.

Griffin looked over at Brandon and sighed. The plane taxied and took off; it wasn’t until they reached cruising altitude that he spoke again. “Where did he come from? Lena, who is he?”

Brandon wrapped his fingers firmly around Lena’s thumb. She frowned. “He’s exactly who you’ve said he is. That’s all that matters.”

Griffin undid his seatbelt so that he could lean forward and get a closer look at Brandon. “That poor bastard back in Maggie Valley. He was the father, wasn’t he?”

Lena looked up and stared out the window into a clear, sharply blue sky. He was talking about Tom—the reason she was still alive. The father that had loved Brandon so much that he would never know him. “Don’t tell me what happened. I don’t want to know what they did to him. Yes, he was.”

Griffin looked into her face and nodded slightly. He sat back. “Howard and Doctor Evans identified the body as the human-born who left with you last fall—he was only a human-born, so no one cared to look into the matter further. If I’m not mistaken, though, he must have aged quite a few years more than the rest of us since the last time I saw him.”

Lena only nodded. It was probably better if people thought Devin was dead—Howard and the doctor had done him a great service by ensuring no one would go looking for him. She unbuckled Brandon from his car seat and moved him into her lap so that he faced Griffin.
 
See Brandon? Griffin.

Brandon only watched Griffin warily. Griffin looked up at Lena uncomfortably. “You know I have no interest in this.”

“I know.” Lena said plainly. “But he has an interest in this. I have an interest in this. You’re going to have to learn to deal with each other, because you’ve got a long road ahead of you if you don’t. How’s Darius?”

Griffin seemed confused for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure who she was talking about. “I have no idea. I haven’t heard anything. How was he the last time you saw him?”

“He was one. He’d have to be two now. He’s a smart kid. Trouble—he gets into everything. He likes making messes. I bet he’s been a handful since he started walking.” Brandon turned his head and nestled in against Lena’s shirt. She gently stroked his hair with her hand, and looked back out the window. Griffin followed her gaze silently.

The landing was smooth, and the drive from the airport to Waldgrave seemed to flash by. Lena still wasn’t sure what she was doing or what she was going to say to anyone about anything. She had somehow found herself on the wrong side of the fence despite her best efforts, and she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to convince anyone that it hadn’t happened by design.

Waldgrave was the same as it was every summer—green grass, blooming gardens, the smell of dry pollen on the air. Pete was standing in the doorway of the barn when they pulled up; Lena looked right at him, but he didn’t wave. She wasn’t even sure he recognized her. She felt different and strange now, as though she was invading this place instead of coming home.

As Griffin parked the car under the covered parking off the side of the house, Lena unbuckled Brandon and lifted him into her arms. There were so many other cars around—rentals, doubtl
ess. Most of them black or a nondescript gray that was almost white.

“So, how does this work?” She asked suddenly. “I mean, it’s not going to be us in front of…of everyone?”

“Could be.” Griffin responded, slamming the driver’s side door closed and coming around to help Lena. “It’s what I would do. The diplomatic thing to do would be to have us meet with a smaller group—just two or three, so it’s one on one. They’re not happy with you lately, and like I said, I wasn’t given the option to debate such circumstances.”

Lena felt her heart pounding in her chest. Speaking in front of the Council was never easy, and she had always had the chance to prepare in the past. In her mind, she saw a disaster unfolding in her near future.

“You’re the one who wanted to do this. These are supposed to be your people.” Griffin closed the car door behind her as Lena settled Brandon into a comfortable hug and turned to face the house. His tone was almost mocking. “Your…friends, I believe you considered them. Just get it out of your system so we can go home.”

“Think what you want. There’s always a way, Griffin. We just have to give them what they want.” She said, adjusting Brandon’s hat.

“They won’t give you anything back.”

“They will if they feel there’s a chance I’ll swing human-born support.”

Griffin snorted. “And how do you suppose you’re going to do that?” He asked arrogantly, going to the trunk to get the suitcases.

But Lena didn’t respond. She fidgeted with Brandon a little more, trying to calm her nerves.

The side door was unlocked. Griffin went in first, looking around cautiously—there was no one waiting for them in the side entrance. He put down the suitcases and gestured Lena in, and as she crossed the threshold she felt as though Waldgrave was alien. There were the white walls, the dirty floor mat, the banging of the uneven washer load…everything that had been there the first time she had ever stepped foot into the house, and every time she had done so since that first time, but this time was different. In her heart she knew Waldgrave was a memory now; it would never be the same again.

Griffin led her into the kitchen, which was also empty and completely in order. No ticking clocks, no dirty dishes or smudges on the fridge. The house was sterile, and slightly under-heated, just as it had always been. Tame, almost, except for all the memories of life she had attached to it. The contrast between the goose bumps on her arms and the warmth of Brandon in her against her was startling. It wasn’t until the living room that they met anyone waiting for them.

Howard and Rosaleen were sitting patiently on the couch, dressed as they habitually were in a suit and a stiffly pressed dress, with Jason Rivera and Master Astley standing off by the stairs. Griffin put his arm out to stop Lena from walking into the room, attempting to push her behind him. In the stony silence, Lena could feel, for the first time, that all eyes were not on her; everyone seemed to be trying to look at Brandon. She hugged him closer.

That’s a show of confidence, bringing him here…
 Jason caught her eye. He still looked so young to her, but so serious. The light in his eyes had never returned after his father’s death. 
You don’t fear for your son’s life?