A Griffin's Voice

Chapter 3: The Truth Comes Out

Archer’s P.o.V.

Our parents walked into the room with two servants carrying two trays of food. Carter’s parents smiled at them. Seth’s mother, Queen Heather, stepped forward toward the twins with a soft smile lighting up her face. “Hello, my dears. We wanted to come to introduce ourselves as well as bring you both something to eat. We……um……also wanted to ask you both a few questions. Things that we saw tonight worried us. We want to make sure you both are okay.”

The young griffin royals looked at each other for a few moments. It was easy to see that they were linking each other. Eventually, they both turned back towards our parents and stood up. “Of course, Your Majesty. We are very thankful for the thought of the food, but our father decreed that we don’t eat tonight. We will respect his decision as we didn’t obey the rules that have been drilled in us our entire lives,” Prince Fox quickly began.

“You are able to ask anything that you want to ask, though. Don’t worry about anything that happened today. Please. We are honored to meet all of you though and for this once in a lifetime chance to mate with not one, but five princes,” Princess Fawn finished. I find the last part of what she said strange, since I know for a fact that she doesn’t like us already. Hopefully with time we could win her over.

These young royals are so respectful, but it is so easy to see that it is fear-based respect. It has been ingrained into them that if they aren’t completely respectful at all times, then they suffer. It is clear that they are terrified of our parents. It honestly hurt that she was afraid of my parents. I know for a fact that my parents would never lay a hand on her. None of the other parents would either. My poor mate.

Carter’s parents stepped closer to them with easy, kind smiles. I could tell they were trying to put them at ease. It was then that I noticed the tremors running through both of them. It broke my heart to see her and her brother that terrified. “There is nothing to be afraid of, my dears. No harm will come to you here within our kingdoms. My name is Daniella, and this is my mate, Victor. Our son is Carter. Welcome to the family, my dears,” Queen Daniella kindly said.

“Accept the food, please. Your parents will never know,” King Victor said in the softest voice I have ever heard from him. “Also, like my mate said welcome to the family. Both of you.” The young griffin royals relaxed a little bit, but not much.

Seth’s father stepped forward with a dark look. “I am King James, and this is my mate, Queen Heather.” He brought her forward with his arm around her waist. “Seth is our cub, and we look forward to passing Escana to him as soon as he mates and marks you. Seth has brought a concern to me, though, and I had gotten concerned during that dinner as well. Are you two being abused?”

That drew everyone’s attention to them, but my friends and I were all looking directly at Princess Fawn. Neither of them would look at any of us though and stared directly at the ground as they started to tremble even more. Dean huffed and went over to her. He put a hand on her chin and pushed it upward until she was looking directly at him. In the eye. “Beautiful, answer King James right now. Answer honestly for me.”

“In your world……yes. In our world……no. We come from two very different worlds. Where we come from it is an everyday occurrence that is used to strengthen all griffins and to make us all better warriors. So, we never give in to any form of torture.” She was whispering by the end and shaking horribly. Dean continues to hold her face up and pulls her close to try to comfort her.

“A griffin will never speak under any amount of torture due to how we are raised. We grow used to it and can withstand it for years on end. Whipping. Branding. Burning. Cutting. Silver. Wolfsbane. Anything and everything we can stand. It will have no effect on making us talk. We will silently endure it all while any of you would be speaking long before any griffin,” Prince Fox added quietly.

“That is horrendous! You are children! No child should go through that! How can the Goddess be allowing this to happen,” my father, King Adam, snarls. I happen to agree with him, but the fear in both of their eyes at his snarl breaks my heart into a thousand pieces.

Avalon’s P.o.V.

What they both just described to us is absolutely sickening! I can’t believe they endured it. To endure something like that……Jackal and I have a new respect for these griffin royals. Especially our chosen mate. I can’t imagine doing that to my own children, I hope she doesn’t want to. It is absolutely sickening to imagine doing it to my own children.

Queen Becky drug me out of my thoughts as she stepped toward her mate and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Calm down, Adam. You will only scare them further.” She turned towards my mate and her brother. “I am Becky, and the male that lost his cool is Adam. We are Archer’s parents. I promise no one will hurt you, including my mate. He is only angry for you both and about what you both have endured. Were you two punished earlier for what you said? Which wasn’t even bad at all.”

Prince Fox quietly nods his head, while Princess Fawn trembles in fear and looks down at the floor since Dean had taken his hand away. It broke my heart, so I stepped up to her side that Prince Fox wasn’t standing. I touch her arm before pulling her closer in an effort to calm her down. “Calm down. I won’t let them touch you again. Can we just use your brother’s and your first names please? You both are welcome to use ours.” Prince Fox quietly nods after looking at his sister. “Thank you, Fox.”

Jackal is currently seething in my head, so I quietly and quickly opened a link with him and was met with his pure rage. Calm down, Jackal. She is safe now. We won’t let anything happen to her. I won’t let anything happen to her. Our parents won’t let anything happen to either of them.

They better not be touched again. Either of them. Also, if she is in any f*****g way, I will take control and kill everyone in the world. Honestly, it really surprised me how much he was already protective of her. He never cared about anyone. Even me. He even seemed concerned about her brother and that was even more surprising. It was very refreshing to see him care about someone else other than himself for once. I mean he never has liked anyone. I mean he barely tolerates me, my friends, or their spirits. Maybe she is exactly what we all need……I guess only time will tell.

Dean’s P.o.V.

It hurt to know what she had been through, but now it would never happen again. My parents will make sure of it. Both of my parents stepped up behind me as I still stood in front of her, wishing that I had never dropped my hand away from her. “I am King Damon, and this is my mate, Queen Hope,” my father extended a hand towards her, and she took it with a smile. “Dean has told us a lot about you, and I can tell you that he is already in love with you. I look forward to meeting you when there is more time to talk. Now, why can’t you two get any medical attention?”

I am actually curious about that as well. I look down at my future mate. She is injured. I can smell the fresh blood on her. I can smell it on her brother as well. So, they obviously aren’t healing for some odd reason. It is confusing and unsettling.

“I am sure you’re wondering about the healing as well. You see griffins can’t heal themselves in the same way as other shifters. We have better healing than humans, but not like other shifters. For that kind of healing, we need our healing suave to speed it up. As far as not getting any medical attention……part of the torture, part of the training is having to bear the wounds silently while they slowly heal over the next few days up to a week. That means no medical attention……beyond what we can administer to each other with the basic supplies that we are given. Bandages. Water. Soap. That way we can clean them and bandage them,” Fawn softly and quietly explains. “We will be just fine. Just sore until they heal. It will just take time.”

Queen Heather quietly linked with someone before returning to the conversation just as my mother started to speak. “My Dear Girl, we just want to help and part of that is you both need to let us get those wounds looked at and healed tonight.”

Fox spoke up in an authoritative voice. “I am sorry, but it isn’t needed. We will be fine, just like my sister said. All we need to do is to tend to our wounds tonight once everyone leaves us alone.”

My mother sighed before looking him directly in the eyes. “What kind of punishment was it, My Dear Boy?”

“Just some lashes from a whip. Nothing too bad.” He didn’t seem to care at all while he spoke. He seemed to completely accept it. I looked at her and saw that she didn’t seem to care at all, either.

This is strange, Thorn. Neither of them seems to care about what happened. Who doesn’t care if they get whipped?

People who are completely used to it. It seems to me that they are very used to it. My poor mate. Be good to her, Dean, or I will make your life a living hell. I will make it, so you never shift again. And that right there made me know just how much he already loves her. And I know he isn’t joking. Now, my life just got more interesting……and harder.

Of course, Thorn. I will always be good to her. I promise that I will die before I lay a hand on her or hurt her at all. I felt his happiness at my words as he withdrew into the back of my mind.

Carter’s P.o.V.

My sweet mate. I love the sound of those three words already. I am truly in love with her, and I can tell that Atlas is as well. At first Atlas wanted nothing to do with her, but then we saw her. The more that we learn about her, the deeper we fall in love with her.

She is such a soft-spoken princess. How could anyone ever want to cause her harm? It breaks my heart to know what she has endured, but it makes her who she is. My sweet princess is so strong to have survived and endured any of it. Especially without complaining. I will make sure to tell her just that by the end of the day. If there is time for that.

Eventually, King Keagan took a single step closer to my sweet mate before halting and dragging a hand through his hair before he spoke. “I am King Keagan. My mate is Queen Becky. Our son, Avalon, hasn’t told us much about you yet, Young Princess, but that doesn’t surprise me. Avalon is the quietest in the group and doesn’t say more than he has too. Now, since I have introduced myself, I want to make sure that I fully understand the situation before me. You have both been abused, but neither of you seem to care much about that. That this is normal in the griffin culture. Is this correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Fox instantly replied. I figured out of conditioning that he needed to reply immediately to avoid retaliation.

I just simply stared at him, though. I was dumbfounded by how he answered. How the f**k is he so calmly talking about this like it doesn’t matter? I look over at my sweet mate and notice that she doesn’t even seem to care either and is just as calm as her brother. It was making Atlas and me hurt realizing how little either of them cared about themselves. How f****d up their parents are. How messed up their parents made them. And as one of her mates, it is now my duty to make sure that she realizes just how to care about herself and that she should.

Seth’s P.o.V.

What the hell is this? What the hell is going on here, Major? What the hell is up with these two? What is wrong with them? There has to be something wrong with them. This isn’t normal for anyone. I link my lion spirit, Major. Something isn’t completely right here. They should at least care a little bit about themselves.

I suspect that this is stemming from the torture. I suspect that they are completely brainwashed to believe that they don’t matter. I suspect all griffins are and that that is why they are such amazing warriors. I mean they both did admit that they have never been allowed to experience anything or have a childhood. They have always been treated like warriors. We will work with her though, Seth. We will show her the world and the fun things within it. We will show her how to value herself. It will just take time. Calm down and be patient, Seth. We can’t undo all of the damage in a day. Our mate will be fine with our help. I am stunned. This is the most that Major has ever spoken at a single time. Normally, it is only a few words at a time. It surprises me so much.

I take a deep breath and mentally ready myself for the road and challenges ahead of us before replying to Major. You are right. I am sorry for losing my head for a moment there, Major. I shouldn’t worry. Plus, there are five of us humans and five of you spirits. It isn’t just on me to help our mate. I just need to sit down with the boys so we can talk about this. Maybe tonight we can. I just need to give it time. I just need for us to work together to help and guide her. It will just take time. I just need to be slow with her and let her guide this relationship. Major is right. It will just take time. It will just take all of us together to guide and help her through this all and her past. I can’t rush it. Thank you, My Brilliant Lion.

I mentally saw Major puff out his chest before I closed our link. The voices of my mother and Queen Daniella floated into my ears. They were trying to convince the twins to let them patch up their backs, put the griffin healing suave on them, and to eat the food they brought up fifteen minutes ago. Dean and Avalon were trying to push her to listen to them and to do it. I watched her closely and saw that she was getting fed up with them. Instantly, I move forward. “Dean. Avalon. That is enough. She is getting upset with you two hounding her as well. Let my mother and Queen Daniella deal with this please. Something that my father told me as soon as this was decided is that forcing and crowding a griffin is the worst idea possible. Not only will they never agree, but they will also explode. It will only push the griffin further away. It will only push her further away from us.”

Dean and Avalon step back and lower their heads in shame. I offered her a gentle smile, stepping back to stand beside them. Major makes sure that I don’t miss seeing her smile back at me, because I would have missed it. A few seconds later, my mother steps closer to Fawn and places a hand on her shoulder. Queen Daniella steps towards Fox and places a hand on his shoulder. “Let us help deal with the wounds. We won’t let either of you be punished for telling us. We will make sure that you both are protected.”

Fox and Fawn glance at each other quietly for a few minutes. It was clear they were linking from the spaced out looks in their eyes. Finally, they walk towards the bathroom and shut the door behind them. Roughly five minutes later, they both came back out shirtless and turned towards all of us showing us their backs. What I see is horrifying.

There aren’t just wounds that are still bleeding, but there are countless scars. I can’t even count how many scars there are let alone the wounds. They quietly lay down on the bed letting Queen Daniella and my mother tend to their backs. After the wounds are cleaned out the healing suave is put on top. While their backs are being bandaged, I speak up. “How many lashes did you both get today? Also, I can’t tell, but how many scars are there?”

“A hundred lashes each earlier. If I am honest, I have no idea how many scars there are. There are too many on top that cover up all the older scars that are beneath them,” Fawn quietly speaks up.

“What do you mean ‘beneath them’, Angel,” Archer cautiously asked.

“Scars that are underneath all of the other scars. Ones that you can’t see,” muttered Fox.

This is completely heartbreaking to hear this being said. I know my parents are hurting just as badly as I am for these two young griffins. I can only imagine that my friends and their parents are hurting just as much. I want to do something for her. I want to take all of the pain away.

“We are going to handle this in the morning, but I promise you both that nothing like that will ever happen again,” King Adam snarled out as softly as possible in his anger. He took a deep breath to steady himself. “Please eat. You both need to eat. After that or with your dinner, just watch a movie and relax before bed.”

My mate and her brother looked at each other oddly and then back at King Adam with the most confused expression. I chuckle at them both as I realize that neither of them knows how to work a TV. Let alone knowing how to work all of the apps to find a movie. “I will show you both how to work the TV and the apps on it,” I brightly tell them. “Maybe the seven of us could even watch a movie together.”

I glance at all my friends. Avalon looks like he doesn’t care either way. Dean seems to agree but is annoyed at the same time. Carter and Seth are eagerly nodding their agreement. I look back and see Fawn shrugging her indifference as they both start to eat. Once they are done, my mother and Queen Daniella grab the trays while the other three queens push the kings out of the room.

Avalon and I teamed up while we showed Fox and Fawn how to use the TV and the apps on it. But it quickly becomes extremely obvious that electronics are not their type of thing and will likely never make sense. So, Dean took over the remote as all five of us chuckled at them. He turns on the movie Saw. Major and I am unsure about this, but we kept quiet and let the movie play. I look and notice that Carter and Archer seem uncertain as well, as they keep casting glances at Fawn.

We all sat on the bed together, but Fox and Fawn were near the foot of the bed. We quietly watched the movie other than when Fawn started to whimper. She started to hide behind Fox, who was shaking in fear, but trying his best to be brave for his sister. Just like I predicted would happen.

After the movie finally ended, we said our ‘good nights’ to the twins for the night. I am just hoping that neither of them would have any nightmares and would be able to sleep soundly. I go my separate way from my friends and go to my room for the night. And collapse onto my bed as I think about my mate before falling asleep to thoughts of her.