Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,58

Sheesh. At this rate I’ll never find allies.

“What about the lake?”

“It’s too small to supply all the animals. The academy used to get their fish fresh from the waters outside the island walls, but lately . . .” He frowns, hesitating as if what he has to say is a secret.

“Lately?”

“Let’s just say it isn’t safe anymore.”

Translation, there are darklings around the island walls. Which is new. The waters themselves are supposed to have magic that prevents the darklings from coming anywhere near campus.

“So, what are you doing here?” he asks, turning his back to me as he uses a hose to fill a trough with water. “Besides breaking into a griffon enclosure? Which is incredibly dumb, by the way.”

“Dumber than kicking Rhaegar in the balls?”

He cracks a smile. “That was also pretty stupid. He already hates you. I’m not sure why you would provoke him.”

“Probably the same reason why you’re smiling. Because he deserves it.”

“Okay. So why are you breaking into the griffon enclosure?”

“I wasn’t breaking in,” I lie, because that’s exactly what I was doing. “I’m . . . hiding.”

There’s truth in that, at least.

“From Rhaegar?”

Basil is probably the only person that doesn’t know what happened at the Selection. I shake my head. “From everyone.”

“This is a good place. No one ever comes here.”

“I can’t imagine why. Seeing beautiful animals locked in cages while they slowly die is so calming.”

“Sometimes I imagine opening all the cages and setting them free,” Basil says, his gaze unfocused somewhere behind me.

For the first time, I think he might know a little about cages and freedom. He’s bound to Rhaegar by the same rules of power that I despise. He might hate his cage. He might feel himself wasting away. But he has no more hope of escaping than the griffon does.

“Hey, want to go inside with me?” Basil jerks his chin toward the gate, his floppy ears waving back and forth. “I need to collect a stool sample and a few feathers.”

“Heck yes.”

He hands me an object wrapped in foil.

Inside I find firm white fish, still cold, their scales nice and bright. “I thought you said there wasn’t any fresh fish?”

He shrugs. “I stole those from the mortal cafeteria. I mean, do you guys ever really eat the fish sticks anyway?”

He does have a point.

The gate opens with a creak. The griffon doesn’t move, following us with his eyes. Basil locks the door behind us, his hooves sinking into the muddy enclosure, and says, “While I grab what I need, you can toss him those.”

“And then what?”

“Don’t get eaten.”

Right. I follow his instruction, tossing the fish at the griffon while sending soothing thoughts his way. Again, that same crushing feeling of sadness threatens to overwhelm me, and something about it strikes a familiar chord.

When we’re done, I’m almost relieved to escape the griffon’s sadness.

“Why is he like that?” I press, helping Basil tag the feathers and label the poop.

“That’s what Professor Balefire is trying to figure out.” He wipes his hands on his shirt. “But he won’t find what he needs in these samples. I know why the griffon barely eats. Why his feathers are falling out. It’s because she never came back.”

“Who?”

“His mate, a wild griffon who used to sit in those trees outside the menagerie and call to him. The few times he escaped, you could see them flying together in the sky. It was beautiful. But the magic that keeps him shackled here always draws him back.” Basil lifts his head to the night sky as if he can still see her in the trees, waiting. “One day, she left and never returned. I don’t know if she was injured or if she simply decided she couldn’t wait any longer, but the day she left, I think he finally gave up his will to live.”

Tears blur my vision as I watch the griffon sniff the fish I tossed him and then look away. Before I met Valerian, I would have scoffed at the idea of giving up everything for a mate. But that was before I glimpsed the all-consuming pain of losing Valerian.

By some magic I still don’t understand, his soul is tethered to mine, a part of me.

And I know, I just know that if I end up marrying Hellebore, Valerian will share the griffon’s fate. Living without really living. Alive but dying inside.

He won’t survive.

Through my blurry vision I suddenly notice Basil’s face mirrors my own. And then it hits me. How did I never see