“Why? You couldn’t have changed anything.”
“No, but if I were your Sorceress, then she’d understand and share in your pain. You wouldn’t be so alone.” Her throat tightened. She’d only known him a short while, but she was already certain Gregory was the noblest being she knew. If anyone deserved a bit of happiness, it was him. She wasn’t the Sorceress he remembered, but perhaps she could still give him something he craved. Her fingers traced a line over the curve of his shoulder, down his arm and along the inside of his forearm.
“If I understand the restrictions correctly, it isn’t that we must remain chaste. Instead, we must ensure we never have a child together.” She caressed his side, and he shivered at her touch. The contrast of warm, soft skin over hard muscle stirred a great many longings. If there were any justice in the world, she would be free to give him what she sensed he most wanted—the love of his Sorceress and a child by her. But if that was forever denied him, perhaps she could give him something more than a few forbidden kisses. And if she was honest with herself, she’d wanted him since she’d first sensed the tenderness within his soul, wanted to touch him, to hold him within the protection of her arms while he was vulnerable.
He rumbled something indecipherable in her ear and then sat stiffly beside her.
Oh, he had picked up on her thoughts. Her cheeks warmed.
“Gregory, I’m not familiar with the world you came from, but in my world, there are things I can do to ensure I don’t get pregnant. There are protections we can use... or ways to share pleasure without the risk of a child. I mean, if we both decide that is the path we wish to take... once we get to know each other a little better.” She paused and glanced up to his face, knowing her own was burning a bright red.
“Protection?” In human form, his astonishment was all too easy to read by the way one eyebrow arched nearly to his hairline. His expression made her blush hotter. Unable to maintain his gaze, she ducked her head.
“Yes,” she cleared her throat, “Please don’t make me show you the visuals. Remember about awkward conversations—I might bolt.”
“I doubt whatever your world has invented will work in this situation. We are Avatars, and as such, we carry the potential of creation within us. The two sides of our power yearn to be together and create. Nothing your world could possibly create could holdfast against that power.”
He stroked the side of her jaw and on down the column of her throat to rest his palm between the swell of her breasts. His fingers feathered lightly against her skin. Her lids fluttered shut at the heat his touch aroused in her. Warm breath caressed her face a moment before his rumbling voice broke over her.
“If we tried to come together as lovers, our magic would ensure fertility—we must never give our powers that opportunity. It would be disastrous for this world and all others near it.” He got up and began pacing again. Between one stride and the next, his human form vanished, and he was all gargoyle again.
Mortification burned hot in her soul. She plucked at her robe as she smoothed out the wrinkles, welcoming a distraction so she wouldn’t have to look up at him until she had her hormones under control. She’d just tried to seduce her gargoyle—again.
Another thought occurred to her, and anger awoke. “How could the Divine Ones be so cruel?” She folded her arms across her chest. “And their rules are pure bullshit. We’re not allowed to have a child because the child would be too powerful. Yet we’re so fertile that birth control won’t work. If we’re not allowed to reproduce, why the hell not make us infertile? Or disinterested in sex? I don’t understand why these Divine Ones would do this. Is our loyalty being tested or some shit like that? ’Cause if they reward their loyal servants with that kind of shit...”
“It’s not like that,” Gregory replied as he came to stand in front of her. “The Divine Ones only ask us to endure what they themselves endure. All of creation stretches out between them, and if they were to reunite, it would unmake all they have made. To overcome this problem, the great God and Goddess use our mortal bodies to bear their children. They infuse us with their power and spirit, then in a moment of fire and ecstasy, we die as the Divine Ones birth their newest child into the Realms.”
“Holy shit! That’s supposed to make me feel better about all this?”
“It’s a great honor.”
“Fire and death. Some honor.”
Gregory sighed with annoyance and bumped her thigh with his tail. “You only say that because you don’t remember the pleasure...”
“Death...”
“A happy occurrence for us. Death only means that we return to the Spirit Realm and become one being once again. And we always carry the knowledge that we will be reborn again one day.”
Lillian frowned. “How many times have these Divine Ones knocked us up?”
“Such disrespect.” Gregory chuckled. It was the first sign of humor she’d seen from him all evening. When he had himself under control, he continued. “While our duties to the Divine Ones are many and varied, they have only honored us with their greatest gift twice in this present era, once for the Shieldbearer, and once for the twins, the Lord of the Underworld and the Lady of Battles.”
“I’m sorry, Gregory. I’m not angry with you, and I promise I’ll try to accept the whole Avatar thing. What you need is your Sorceress of old.” Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him closer so she could rest her cheek against his chest. She needed him to know she wasn’t scared of him. “And now, for the first time, I’ve been born in the form of a dryad. That makes it a little more difficult for you, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but I don’t care. I will fulfill my duty to the Divine Ones.”
“Got any idea what that is this time around?”
“Hunt down evil.”
“And?”
“Destroy it.”
“You’ve certainly got a one-track mind. I mean, do you have any specifics?”
“No.” He exhaled, then leaned in to sniff at her hair. “But I’ve found evil here, so I’m in the right place, for now. Once we’ve defeated these Riven, we can return home, destroy the blood witch, and learn what the Lady of Battles has been up to. Even imprisoned, she’s been busy.” He settled upon the bed next to her.
After a few moments, his muzzle dipped close to her neck. Before she could say anything, his warm tongue brushed under her ear. He pushed her robe off her shoulder as he nuzzled her, his eyes half-closed.
She wasn’t sure if he was aware of his actions. A warm weight bumped her hip and settled in her lap—his tail, the tip flicking gently. She brushed her fingers along the bladelike end. He allowed a few caresses, and then his tail slithered out of her grasp and wound its way around her waist.
She frowned.
Touching him had already gotten her into enough trouble for one night.
Forbidden, forbidden, forbidden, she chanted to herself, then said aloud, “Okay, so we’re a little weak in the planning department, but for what it’s worth, I’ve got your back. And now that I know the rules, I think I can play along. Kill the bad guys, preserve the Light, no-contact bed sports, return home, and do nasty things to this Lady of Battles. Got it.”
The bed shook, and she glanced at Gregory. He was shaking with silent laughter. “Yes, my Sorceress, those would be the rules.”
A yawn snuck up on her. She blushed and apologized. “It’s been a long day. If you don’t mind, I think I’ll go to bed now.”
He nodded and unwound his tail from her waist. She immediately missed the warmth. The other side of the bed dipped under his weight as he crawled in. Lillian watched his progress with an arched eyebrow.
“Ah... with me being a dryad and all, aren’t you tempting fate a little?”
“Perhaps,” he rumbled, on the edge of sleep. “But I crave contact or at least closeness after being locked in stone for so long. Besides, how does a person react when they are denied what they want most?”
“Oh, they crave it al
l the more... so you’re saying this and stuff like the shower, it’s okay?”
“Yes. As long as we don’t take it too far.” His voice held an edge of sadness, and he glanced off into the distance with an unfocused look.
After she turned off the bedside lamp, she mulled over the sadness in his tone. Of course, he probably remembered an earlier time when his Sorceress loved him and knew enough not to tempt him. Her poor conflicted gargoyle. She really was going to do better.
The soft sheets caressed her legs, and she burrowed deep into her pillows with a contented sigh. Even though her eyelids were heavy, she blinked them open. Gravity wanted to pull her toward the depression where Gregory’s weight made the bed sag. She let it.
When she was snug against his side, she reached out and touched his face. Cupping his cheek, she whispered in his ear, “I’m sure your Sorceress loved you as much as you loved her.” She placed a chaste kiss on his forehead, between the deadly horns.
“Yes, she did.” The essence of sadness echoed in his voice.
Lillian snuggled into him and combed her fingers through his mane. She kept up the motion until his breathing evened in sleep. “Rest well, my gargoyle. I’m sure she’ll love you again like that one day.” She curled her body against his, hoping the contact would sooth away any nightmares. “I think she already does.”
Chapter 24
SHE STOOD IN THE SHADOW of twin obelisks, their massive girth nearly twice the dimensions of an ancient oak tree’s base. The pillars of polished onyx framed a view of open sky. Below, a narrow valley stretched down and away from her. Starting about a third of the way down the mountain’s east side, greenery softened the stark slopes and increased in lushness near the bottom. Several hundred feet below, a wide river cut a twisting path through the valley floor.
Some of the tallest mountain peaks reared up through the clouds. The entire scene reminded her of dark boulders poking up out of the foam-dotted crests of rapids. It was as beautiful and breathtaking as anything she might see on earth, but the twin suns and teal-colored sky were unique to a different land, far from the place she now called home. Yet she knew this place from recent dreams, and a more disturbing memory from long ago, when she was still a child.
With newfound fear gripping her, she turned away from the view of the valley and stepped between the two great obelisks. A sprawling temple-fortress of polished black onyx reared above her head. It sat midway up the slope of what had once been the proud pinnacle of an extensive range of mountains. To either side, smaller peaks flanked the temple’s mountain, their rounded, stony shoulders showing their age. She remembered the name of this mountain with its crown of vapor: The Dark Mother of the Ridge.
Tall, elegant columns made of the same dark stone as the obelisks marched up the side of the mountain until they came to the gate of a great, sprawling city carved into the ancient bedrock. Flanking the giant gate were two statues. Each identical. The huge statues depicted an elegant lady wearing armor and a long skirt. She was poised over an armor-clad warrior, her sword stabbing down into her victim. Lillian suppressed a shiver at the expression of fierce joy on the stone woman’s alien face with its too-large eyes and sharp angular features. She glanced away.
Steep, garnet stairs emerged from the base of the city’s main gate and cascaded down the side of the mountain like a blood-red waterfall, adding to the soul-chilling feel of the place.
The heavy, black velvet of Lillian’s skirt brushed the steps as she made the long walk up to the Battle Goddess’s fortress. The garnet steps were polished to such a shine that she caught glimpses of her reflection upon the stone’s surface. Had she not witnessed her own face, she might have thought she’d somehow stepped into someone else’s dream, for this vision was too extraordinary for her brain to have borrowed the images from her mundane life.
A black, leather harness hugged her waist and hips. The weight of a sword and scabbard swung against her leg with each step. A breastplate of deep burgundy matched the stitching of her skirt. The strange garb felt both familiar and foreign at the same time, just like the dream itself.
This was not the first time she’d visited this place in a dream, and like the other times, her body continued the journey to the city without her control or consent. Clammy sweat trickled down her back. Lillian was a passenger in her own body—a puppet, nothing more.
Her feet carried her through the gate and beyond, into an eerily empty city of more black and red stone. At last she came to the entrance of the temple with its simple post-and-lintel archway, a maw of darkness at its heart.
Against her will, her feet carried her through the archway and deeper into the temple.
As she walked farther into the empty fortress, she heard the rattle of chains being drawn tight. Her journey ended at a great hall and another magnificent set of stairs. Though this one was much shorter than the one leading up a mountain.
The soft rustle of fabric on stone and more rattling of chains flowed down the stairs from the temple entrance above her. Lillian wanted to turn and run, but instead, her body dropped into a deep bow.
“My special one,” a voice like the wind, eternal and strong, whispered from the darkness beyond the temple’s second, smaller archway. “What news do you bring me?”
“Great Lady,” the thing controlling Lillian’s body replied, “the gargoyle has awakened from his stone sleep.”
“At last. I had not planned to wait this long. Do not make me wait longer still. Bring him soon so I can continue my work.”
“You will not have long to wait. It is as you thought. He is still loyal to me, even though he suspects I carry darkness within. I shall bring him to you when I have made him mine in all ways.”
“Good. Continue to serve me well, and you shall be greatly rewarded.”
“You are ever gracious. I will not fail you.” Lillian straightened.
“Go, before the gargoyle awakes...”
Chapter 25
LILLIAN AWOKE WITH a jolt, the last remnants of a dream scattered even as she tried to grasp them. Heart pounding, she reached for Gregory and found his side of the bed empty. There was something important she needed to remember so she could tell him. But whatever the dream had revealed vanished within seconds, leaving her with nothing more than a sense of foreboding.
“A meaningless nightmare,” she mumbled to herself. “You idiot.”
Of course she’d had a nightmare. No wonder with all that happened last night. A night of magic and awe turned to one of death and carnage. Gregory could have died. Her mind shied away from the memory of the battle. She wasn’t ready to face that yet.
It was for the best the gargoyle was gone since her rational mind had slipped into gear at some point during the night, and now, in the light of day, she could hardly believe she’d invited him into the shower with her, and then allowed him to sleep in her bed. Again.
She tossed the covers back and headed into the bathroom to dress. While she pulled on clothing, she went over the events after the battle and concluded she must have been high on magic when she’d whispered that she loved him. Crazy-ass thing to say. She didn’t know who or what she was beyond what others had told her. Before she took up the responsibility of a lasting relationship, she needed to know who she was, what she wanted, and what she would become.
A nightmare was the least of her worries.
Once she had dressed, she emerged from her room into the hall and froze in place. A group of five slender, pale-skinned men with very pointed ears acknowledged her presence with deep bows while she stood thunderstruck. The alert intensity of their gazes and the fluid way they moved reminded her of martial artists. If that hadn’t been enough for Lillian to guess their natural occupation, their weapon belts and tunics with the emblem of a silver stag adorning the heavy forest-green silk would have been enough to scream “soldier.”
She wanted to call them elves but scoured her brain for memories of the Hunt. Ah, her grandmother had called them sidhe. After one more
lingering glance at their ethnic garb, she mumbled a hasty hello before hurrying on down the hall. Soft footsteps followed in her wake.
If she was not mistaken, Gregory had enlisted some new guard dogs. As if the unicorn wasn’t bad enough. When she found her gargoyle, she would enlighten him about certain niceties, like discussing his plans with her before implementing them without her knowledge.
She increased her pace and was about to glance behind to see if the sidhe were still following when Sable opened the door of the guest room. Her eyes widened when they met Lillian’s.
Sable bestowed Lillian with an elegant bow.
Alrighty then. Lillian must have crossed into an alternate reality if Sable was willing to show her such respect. “Care to tell me why you and those men bowed to me?”
“We all felt the power you and the gargoyle summoned. Rumors are flying like bees in a clover field. Some speculate you and the gargoyle breached the Veil between the Realms and drew on power directly from the Magic Realm. Instead of just gathering up the Veil’s cast-off power.” Sable raised an eyebrow in question. When Lillian didn’t confirm or deny her statement, the dryad continued. “Regardless of the truth, anyone who requires magic to survive will cluster to the gargoyle with the hope he will allow others to make the journey when he leaves this realm.”
“Sorry to spoil the anticipation, but they’ll have a long wait ahead of them, since I don’t plan on being driven from my home by the Riven.” A tiny, hummingbird-like creature whizzed by Lillian’s head as she came around the corner, heading for the stairs. “Was that a fairy?”
“No, it was a hummingbird.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 16
