He shrugged, though he was still confident he didn’t snore. “If I snore, it would be just as loud over by the wall.”
“No, it wouldn’t.”
Now she was just being silly or dragging her feet for another reason.
“I know you don’t love me romantically, but this new behavior now begs a different question. Are you actually afraid of me?”
“No, of course not. I’ve known you since you were a child.”
“Afraid of me as an adult male, then?”
“Nope.”
“Is it this body, then?” His voice dropped until it was a vibration in his chest. “Do you find my new body desirable and that frightens you?”
He didn’t know what demon possessed his mouth and made him say those things, but he discovered he wanted to learn that answer. Curiosity was a dangerous and seductive emotion.
“Still nope. And as much as I freely admit to liking your scent, it doesn’t stir anything more than a little appreciation.”
“We both need rest.” Though, was that mild disappointment he felt at her words? Yes, it was. His pride hurt more than a little. He’d worked hard designing and mastering his new form so that he could one day court Anna. “There is no reason for us not to share a sleeping area until I can make one for you.”
Anna shrugged, saying ‘fine’ in that most neutral way.
“Excellent. And if you’re not too exhausted to stay awake for a few minutes, I’ll fill you in on what Maradryn was talking about earlier.”
“As long as it isn’t a long story.”
“I’ll keep it short.”
“Still, let’s get ready for bed first, that way if I fall asleep, you can continue in the morning.”
OBSIDIAN STOOD BEFORE the washbasin as he shed his hybrid body for his true form, wanting his more familiar shape to ease any fears Anna might still have. At least that was his hope.
When he exited the smaller chamber, Anna was already sitting in the middle of the nest with her hands buried in her fluffy head of hair.
“The hell with this. I’m going to fall asleep before I get the first one in. You remember how to do rows? Want to help?”
Obsidian nodded. Sometimes, when he’d been a child, Anna would read to him while he did her hair. Or he’d read to her while she did his. He’d missed those times ferociously when he’d first come to Haven. “Can you do mine up in a couple braids first?”
“Sure thing.”
Grinning with happiness, he padded over to sit in front of her. She used a bit of the mane oil he’d given her earlier and finger combed that through before starting to section it into lengths. Enthralled by the steady pressure of her fingers, he fought not to purr.
“By the way, what did Maradryn want you to tell me?”
Anna’s voice dragged him back to the present. Suddenly he wished he could wait until morning, because he feared after he told her the full extent of what the healers had learned, it would destroy the fragile thing growing between them. But Anna deserved to know. It affected her as well.
“When I was younger, only my blood was powerful enough to convert another into a gargoyle.”
Anna’s fingers stilled against his scalp. “It’s not just your blood anymore, is it?”
“No. Any bodily fluid can now begin the process. Even my saliva. Though, the agent in my blood is much more potent than what’s found in my saliva.” Obsidian coughed and folded his hands across his lap.
“Go on.”
“My seed is almost as potent as my blood. The healers say it’s designed to convert and impregnate a female at the same time.”
He heard Anna’s teeth click together as she closed her mouth. After another ten seconds, she drew a deep breath. “Holy hell. That’s some badass STD.”
“STD?” He didn’t know the term from his time on Earth.
“Sexually transmitted disease.”
He wrapped his head around the term. “Yes, that describes it accurately.”
“Gargoylism is now an STD. Talk about the need for safe sex.” Anna paused then whistled. “So, you’ve never been laid?”
He shook his head.
“The Council of Elders wants me to wait until they know the full extent of my abilities. Some believe I won’t come into my full power until your magic finishes maturing.” He halted and looked at her over his shoulder. “Even if the elders didn’t require it, I’d still have been cautious. I don’t ever want to steal anyone’s choice again.
“Well, that’s...er...complicated for you.” She paused again and then dropped her hands to rest on his shoulders. She gave him a squeeze.
With his back to her, he couldn’t read her expression, but he could read her scent, and her mind opened to him a small crack.
She was softening toward him, sympathizing with what he’d had to go through growing up while learning how different he was from other gargoyles.
“Obsidian, I did choose. You seem to forget that fact. Even though you were a child, you gave me the choice of being healed by your power or ending my life to save my soul from the Riven.”
“But you didn’t know the power would tie you to me as close as it has. It might as well be enslavement.”
Anna didn’t deny his words, but she gave him another squeeze before returning to work on his mane. “I don’t regret it.”
He drew in a steady breath. “And now that I’m Obsidian instead of your beloved Shadowlight?”
She smacked him on the side of the head. “I still don’t regret it, you big idiot. You’ll always be my beloved Shadowlight.”
Obsidian sighed, a catch in his throat making it impossible to speak for a few moments. When he could, he continued. “The healers did confirm that the darkness inside me was only designed to create one Kyrsu to be my second.”
Anna chuckled. “Always knew I was one of a kind.”
After finishing his mane, she stood and then came around to sit in front of him.
“One moment.” He stood and went to the shelves running along one wall and sorted through them until he found the bowl containing gold beads and clips that he wished to work into her hair. Then after one more glance at her head, he went back and grabbed a small hand mirror.
“You can tell me if I’m doing them wrong,” he said as he handed it to her. “It’s been years, and I wasn’t very good at it back then.”
“At this point, I’d settle for pigtails if I don’t have to do it myself.” Anna yawned and rolled her shoulders.
Pigtails? He huffed with disdain. His Kyrsu would get something better than a hairstyle that was inspired by a pig’s tail.
He settled down behind her and arranged his supplies close at hand while he began to systematically map out the shape of her skull and decided what pattern would best accentuate her features.
“It must be like a virus.” Anna started up the conversation again. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. I just assumed magic was this amorphous substance that could be shaped into any tool, but what you describe sounds much more like a virus. Somehow the Battle Goddess figured out how to take a virus and mutated it with magic until it was capable of doing what she needed it to do.”
“I’m only vaguely familiar with your Earth science and medicine, but that seems logical.”
Anna just shook her head. “She created the ultimate biological weapon, one that would convert her enemies into her own enslaved army.”
“Indeed.”
“How contagious are you?” Anna paused. “Obviously, I don’t have to worry since I’ve already been converted. But what about other people? How dangerous are you to them?”
“How contagious are we, you mean,” he continued, finally working up to tell her what she hadn’t yet come to realize herself.
“We?” She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. “Of course I’m a carrier.”
“Yes.”
“God. We’re biohazardous.”
She had to explain the word, but once he understood, he
agreed with her assessment. They were dangerous.
“How bad is it? Not airborne, obviously, or the healers wouldn’t have let us intermingle with the other island residents.” Anna’s fingers drummed against her thigh.
“A direct fluid exposure is needed,” he said as he started on a second braid.
“Then the virus can’t live outside a host for long?”
“The healers do not believe so.”
“Good. Otherwise, we’d risk infecting others by a simple touch.”
Obsidian nodded. “The one small blessing is that it takes several exchanges over the course of a few days before the virus has changed the new host body enough to survive in it long-term.”
“So even if you accidentally exposed someone to your blood during a session in the training ring, they wouldn’t be converted immediately.”
“No. That only happens after several willful exchanges,”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”
“Yes.”
They were silent for a time after that, the only sound the slide of his fingers against her hair.
By the time he was nearly finished braiding her hair, the moons were lower in the sky, and Anna’s head was tipping forward.
“I’m almost finished.”
She mumbled a sleepy acknowledgment.
After he tied off the last braid, he tucked her against his chest and lowered them into his nest. She never woke, merely shifting until she was more comfortable.
He briefly thought about leaving his nest to her and sleeping over by the wall as she’d planned to do. While he was no longer a frightened child locked away in a dungeon cell, he had missed the comforting warmth of curling next to his Kyrsu.
Holding Anna in his arms was a balm for his loneliness. Only she’d ever been able to soothe away his worries.
So, with no guilt, he curled around her and was soon asleep.
Chapter 24
BANDS OF PRESSURE WRAPPED her chest and thighs. As she swam out of sleep, she wondered when and how she’d managed to get injured again. She blinked open her eyes to discover she wasn’t wounded. Nope. She was presently being smothered to death by a seven-limbed octopus.
The octopus was actually her big brute of a Rasoren. Presently he’d mistaken her for his teddy bear.
Obsidian slept oblivious that she was awake. If the situation had been different—say she was marooned in the Arctic—being folded in his arms, wings, and coiled tail might be appealing. But since they weren’t, they needed to set some ground rules.
As she stared up at the wooden rafters of the peaked ceiling, she catalogued the sensation of waking up in his arms. He had damn fine pecs, rock hard abs, and an absolutely lovely scent clinging to his warm skin. She hadn’t noticed it this strongly before.
She breathed in a deeper lungful. Mmm. Nice.
Obsidian might just be her new favorite scent. It took her a minute to realize she’d turned her head to rub her cheek against his skin.
A touch of reason slowly returned.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“Your gargoyle body is entering sexual maturity.” A sleepy purr accompanied his words. Moments later Obsidian ran his muzzle along her arm, his tongue darting out to lick her skin in places. “I can taste the pheromones in your sweat. Your first fertility cycle.”
“What are you talking about? I had my first period when I was eleven.”
“Hmmm.” He took another sniff as if to make sure and another little purr escaped him before he continued his previous train of thought. “But when I converted you, I was only eight, so my blood and magic only changed you into a preadolescent gargoyle. It likely took the magic raised during last night’s dance to trigger your change. The healing magic might have helped things along as well.”
He continued to sniff along her skin in a way she knew her rational mind wouldn’t like. The problem was, she wasn’t feeling too rational, and she wasn’t nearly as bothered by his words or actions as she likely should be.
“I had not thought of this complication. I suppose I’d always just assumed you were sexually mature.” He continued to nuzzle the skin of her shoulder and back of her neck.
She’d likely find this awkward later.
“Maybe you should let me up now?”
“Very well.” Obsidian’s rumbled agreement held a hint of disappointment, but he released his hold on her as his wings folded back.
She rolled to her knees. Now that she was away from his scent, she felt more alert. She studied him suspiciously. He ignored her. Too busy stretching, rolling, and arching his back like a cat in a patch of catnip. Jeez, he was even purring for fuck’s sake.
The entire session was far too weirdly sensual for her peace of mind. She cast a glance down south of his belt. He was a big fellow. It would be noticeable if he were sporting morning wood. Whatever was going on in his mind, it didn’t seem to include a raging desire for her. At least that was a relief.
“Morning wood?” Obsidian laughed. “I think that’s just a human condition. At least, I’ve never suffered it.”
That might be true, but something was going on, and Anna didn’t like it. “Stop reading my mind.”
“I’m not. You initiated the link. Your magic is running back along our link, teasing my senses. It’s an invitation, I think.”
“The hell it is!” But when she reached for their link, her magic was already flowing along it like he’d said, and there was no reason it should be doing that since he wasn’t hurt.
She slammed up her mental shields and stopped the flow of magic. Feeling an unusual heat in her cheeks, she tried to ignore the fiery blush as she focused on him.
“Sorry about that. Wouldn’t have done it knowingly.”
“I know.” Obsidian shrugged a little. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t flattered. Though I know this part of our bond makes you uneasy, so I’ll try to prevent it from happening in the future. You caught me unawares this time.”
“Don’t apologize. Wasn’t your fault.” It was her stubborn and apparently frisky gargoyle nature that was the issue here. She needed to find a way to shut that shit down.
“We should likely go to the healers. They might have something that will help. As it is now, the first male to catch your scent will begin to speculate if you’re really human at all.”
“Healers? Why didn’t you start the conversation with that? We could already have been half-way there.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “There’s no hurry. It’s not life or death.”
She gave him her best death glare.
“Fine. I’m coming.”
Obsidian muttered something under his breath that didn’t sound too complimentary.
MARADRYN WALKED ACROSS the length of her workroom to one of the shelves running along the west wall. After shifting a few jars aside, she found the one she wanted. “Anna, Obsidian is correct. Your gargoyle nature has matured overnight. There was no sign of it yesterday morning or even last night when we chatted. You’re most certainly entering your first fertility cycle. But considering a string of gargoyles didn’t follow you here, I think it’s safe to assume the pheromone is only designed to entice your Rasoren.”
Fan-fucking-tastic.
If she’d had the ability, she’d have melted between the seams in the stone floor and vanished into the dirt.
But as the healer said, she was lucky it didn’t affect all gargoyles.
Anna stared at her sandals and grit her teeth. “Please tell me you have something to make my body stop producing this shit.”
“No, but I have something that should help Obsidian.” She unscrewed the lid of the jar she held, gave the contents a little sniff, scrunched up her nose and then reached in and scooped a bit of the pale green paste onto her fingers. “This cream is made from a tree possessing a substance in its bark and sap that contains a mildly caustic compound. The cream completely burns out a
gargoyle’s ability to smell for a good half a day. That should give him a reprieve until you learn to neutralize your pheromones using a shadow magic shield.”
Maradryn paused and looked up at Obsidian. “And you shouldn’t have any trouble focusing on your training session today.”
Obsidian didn’t move his feet, but his upper body leaned away from the approaching healer. “I’m sure I’ll be able to manage just fine. The cream isn’t necessary.”
“Ha! Says you until you get distracted and come to me for healing after you get a sword thrust through your gut.” Maradryn deftly snagged his lower jaw and pulled him down to her level. Then fast as a snake striking, three of the fingers covered in the cream, smeared a strip under his nostrils.
He reared back and whined, his eyes already streaming.
Shit. He’d actually whined.
When the healer held out the jar, its lid now safely tapped back in place, he took a few more steps back and grunted in denial.
Anna held out her hand. “I’ll keep that somewhere safe in case we need it again.”
“Be careful. That is at full strength. As you can see, he only needed a little bit to do the job.”
“Yep. Got that from the whine.” But she wouldn’t ask Obsidian to use something she wouldn’t try herself. Anna popped the cork and dipped in one finger and then cautiously held it up to her nose.
It was almost a pleasant scent until it detonated like a bomb going off in her face.
A pungent scent invaded her nose, mouth, and eyes. A frosty eucalyptus-like burn swiftly amped up into a ‘mouthwash on steroids’ sensation. From there it increased in unpleasantness until it was like she’d borrowed the devil’s own brand of aftershave, mixed in a little vapor rub, then added a dash of napalm for good measure.
Sputtering and gasping, her eyes and nose streaming, she managed to wheeze out a weak, “Fuck me!”
Maradryn arched a brow.
“Fuck! Shit burns. What’s this crap normally used for? Torture sessions?”
“Training sessions. Though usually a more dilute form. One of the tasks for the Adept Trial requires the student to learn to hunt and track using senses other than their nose. Not all enemies can be tracked by scent. This replicates that handicap.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 134
