Read Online Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George - Free Book Online

dark,” Celie called back, and her teeth began to chatter with cold. “We’ll wait in the tower for morning.”
    Flying was always cold, courtesy of the wind and one’s proximity to the clouds, and she had no cloak. In addition to that, her gown had several rips in it, from catching on the grabbing branches of the forest, and the wind was slicing right through every one of them.
    â€œI don’t know how you stand it,” Lilah said, her teeth chattering. “I’m freezing! Did you really fly around the Castle at night?”
    â€œYes,” Celie said, thinking of how easy things had been when keeping Rufus a secret was her biggest worry. “We’re going to have to have a warm place to sleep,” she said, and Rufus tilted his head to show that he had heard her. “Head for the tower.”
    Rufus’s father was still flying alongside Rufus, and Celie wished that there was some way she could send him backto fetch her companions. Rufus would understand if she asked him to go back for Rolf and the others, and she wished that she dared send him, but she could tell that he was tiring, and she knew she wouldn’t ask him to fly all that way again.
    But before they reached the ruins, and as Rufus started to fly lower over the trees from exhaustion, the other griffin squawked and veered to the right. Rufus started to follow him, and Celie panicked and yanked on the harness, digging her heels into his sides as well to try to keep him on course. If they landed too far into the forest they’d be hopelessly lost.
    But Rufus’s father flew ahead of them and cried out again even louder. His call was commanding, and Celie knew that she had lost. Rufus’s whole attention was on the larger griffin now, and she had no choice but to hang on.
    They swerved again to the right and then Rufus’s father began to descend. Celie refreshed her grip on the harness as Rufus also began to go down among the trees, landing in a sandy clearing to the west of the lake.
    â€œNow what?” Lilah asked, releasing her painful grip on Celie’s waist.
    â€œI suppose we might as well get some rest,” Celie said doubtfully. “It’s too dark to go back for the others.”
    Neither of them knew how to make a fire, but Lilah made a hollow in the sand and they curled up together. Rufus lay down next to Celie, radiating warmth, and after a moment, his father lay down beside Lilah. She made a small
eep
,but when he just sighed and appeared to go to sleep, she relaxed.
    Celie wasn’t sure she would be able to sleep, with everything that had happened. She wiggled away from Lilah just a little, so that she could pull Rufus the lion out of her bodice and give him a secret cuddle.
    â€œWhat is it?” Lilah asked drowsily. “What are you doing?”
    â€œI — I found this in the griffin stable,” Celie told her, rolling over so that Lilah could see her stuffed lion in the moonlight.
    â€œIt’s Rufus,” Lilah said in astonishment.
    Celie’s griffin raised his head and made a questioning noise.
    â€œNot you, Rufus, but that Rufus,” Lilah said, reaching out to touch the toy. “
Where
did you say you found him?”
    â€œIn the griffin stable, just before the Arkower came,” Celie said. “Rufus’s parents had him all along. Because —” She stopped. It felt strange to say it aloud. “Because Rufus’s father is the one who ate Khelsh,” she said finally.
    â€œIs he really?” Lilah sounded impressed. She reached behind her back and thumped Rufus’s father’s side. “Good job, sir!”
    Rufus’s father lifted his head, gazing down at Lilah in the moonlight. Her eyes were starting to close from exhaustion, though, and she didn’t seem to notice.
    â€œI hope Khelsh was a tasty meal,” she said sleepily. “The Arkower looks a little stringy, though