Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3) Read Free Page A

Lena. She tried to remain calm. “So, what are you trying to say? What are his chances?”
    “They’re not good.” He sighed, looked at Lena, and then away. “And frankly, miss, the only reason we’re trying is because you’re demanding it. His life isn’t going to be pleasant, even after we get him sewn back together. Did it ever occur to you that maybe it was just his time?”
    Lena stared at the young man until he looked back up at her; there was a sort of arrogance about his stony brown eyes that she had only ever attributed to doctors. They all had God complexes, deciding who lived and who died, and this one seemed more than a little put out that the decision to end it, for once, was not in his hands. Lena spoke with determination. “No. It didn’t. Because it’s not his time. And I want to be informed the second he’s allowed visitors.”
    The man nodded and she turned and left. Lena went back to her room, and Mrs. Ralston brought her breakfast and sat with her. She mentioned that she hadn’t seen Griffin at any meals since breakfast the day before, and that some of the other Representatives were becoming anxious about the situation; given the precarious standing of the Daray household, many of them were worried that he was sick—some of them, no doubt, were anxiously hopeful that it would be lethal. She asked Lena if she knew anything about it. Lena lied and said she didn’t, and told Mrs. Ralston that she would find him and talk to him, which she promptly did after her trays were taken away.
    She walked up to the fourth floor and knocked on his door. He didn’t answer.
    Griffin!
    She knocked again, harder.
    Griffin, come on, you can’t stay in there forever!
    Lena stood in front of the door for several more moments, but he never came. She knocked a third time, but still nothing. She tried the door handle, but it was locked, so she sat down next to the wall.
    Look, please open the door, okay? I don’t know what happened way back when, and it makes no sense that you’re doing this. I mean, so what? So what, Griffin? So he lied to you about some stuff. My dad lied to me about stuff, but he had his reasons. I mean, I’m not saying that my grandfather had reasons, because he was just a bastard sometimes, but I found some stuff that I want you to look at. I think we should look into this, because I’m beginning to think that something was going on. And maybe it was all a lie, and maybe it was all true, but there’s only one way we’re going to find out, and that’s to go looking for the answers.
    Lena paused. She couldn’t hear any activity behind the door. She sighed, and tried a different tactic.
    People are starting to worry about you, Griffin. And we don’t need them worrying now, when we’re dealing with this whole situation with Rollin. I mean, do your drama on your own time, okay? We don’t need people worrying about the Daray house in addition to the challenge to the authority of the Council. You’re being such a selfish brat.
    Nothing.
    Oh, by the way, I brought Devin into Waldgrave and he’s staying because I say so.
    Nothing. Lena’s brow crinkled; something wasn’t right.
    Griffin? Are you even there?
    Lena pressed her ear to the door, but there wasn’t anything to hear. In his normal state, he never would have allowed her to speak to him in that fashion—anything that resembled a flat order or demand was usually enough to set him off. Calling him a brat should have created some sort of angry response, and she didn’t care how sulky he was, news that Devin had come into Waldgrave should have instigated a small war…spending so much time and effort to save the life of a human-born was ridiculous. Besides, Griffin hated Devin. He hated the very thought of him, because he felt outdone by him; Devin was the one thing that never failed to goad him to a response. He must have been   really  depressed to not even bother to answer…
    Panic suddenly flooded through her veins.