The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince: An Epic Fantasy Romance (Heirs of Magic Book 1) by Jeffe Kennedy

Author:Jeffe Kennedy [Kennedy, Jeffe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy
Publisher: Brightlynx Publishing
Published: 2021-01-24T18:30:00+00:00

~ 17 ~

True to Lena’s prediction, King Groningen kept them there until well into the night—and asked to hear the particulars of what happened several times, including from Zeph’s perspective. She hadn’t expected he’d grill her so thoroughly, nor that he’d ask such penetrating questions. Groningen extracted salient details from her that she hadn’t realized she’d noticed at the time. He also didn’t buy into Astar’s glib explanation about the freak lunar eclipse being caused by an unusually dense storm cloud, but he noted it down and didn’t press further.

Fortunately—after he’d discovered they hadn’t eaten since morning—he also sent for food for all of them. Eating gave Astar a second wind, but after several more hours of discussion, he was flagging. So much so that Zeph was thinking up excuses to end the meeting, or at least postpone until morning, when the sharp-eyed king noticed and relented. “Bah! I’m four times your age and outlasting you, Willy boy. What is the world coming to?”

“I don’t think it’s quite four times,” Astar replied wryly, spoiling it by having to stifle a yawn.

“He also battled a stone giant and saved my life, twice,” Zeph added, then cocked her head, tapping her chin in thought. “Or three times, depending on how you divide it up. Anyway, Astar is a hero and has probably earned his bed for the night.”

Groningen glared at her fiercely, bushy brows lowered. Then he abruptly slapped the table, laughing in that booming way of his. “I like her,” he informed Astar. “I bet she has some sharp claws, too. If I were a younger man… Ah, well.” He heaved his considerable bulk up from the chair, reaching to tug on a braided silk rope. “I’ll have someone show you to your rooms. We can go over this in the morning. I’ll want to hear the tale again from everyone, along with their perspectives on what Queen Andromeda saw with this rift.” When the same page returned to guide them, Groningen issued a set of rapid-fire orders, including summoning half a dozen people to attend him.

Astar and Zeph followed the page out and were handed off to another, who led them back through hallways as twisty within as Elderhorst looked from without. “Apparently King Groningen isn’t done discussing the problem,” Zeph observed to Astar.

He smiled wearily. “I’m just relieved he let us go for now. I don’t know where the man gets his energy.”

“How old is he anyway?”

“I don’t think anyone knows exactly. He was already king of Carienne when late High King Uorsin was an upstart troublemaking sailor from Elcinea.”

Zeph did the mental math, figuring Ursula’s age against her father’s likely age when she was born—and came up with a figure that could put Groningen at close to four times Astar’s age. Tala tended to be long-lived—shapeshifting made for an excellent rejuvenator of aging flesh—but Groningen seemed impressively vital for a mossback. Maybe he had some Tala blood in him from way back. Many mossback families did, from the days before Annfwn sealed itself off.

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