When I turned back toward the hunters, I found them both staring at me wide-eyed. Joe swallowed hard, and Alice’s grip tightened around her gun. The weapon trembled as she aimed the barrel, though she didn’t bother pulling the trigger. It was useless, and she knew it.
“I knew it was you,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “You were never dead, were you? You’ve all been putting on a charade this whole time.”
I cocked my head, lifted my eyebrows. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You dodged my bullet,” she said.
“I got lucky.”
“And if I pull this trigger, will you get lucky again?” She arched an eyebrow. “Should I test it? Or...” She spun on her feet to place the gun against Alaric’s temple. “Should I test it on this grotesque chunk of rock instead?”
“Leave him alone,” I said, fisting my hands. “He has nothing to do with this. Killing him won’t solve anything.”
“Maybe it will put him out of his misery,” she said with a laugh when his muscles pulsed against the stone. “Looks like he can’t manage to change his form anymore.”
She slid her finger against the trigger just as the heavy double doors flew open. The Queen strode into the Scriptorium with tendrils of smoke curling around her rigid body. Witches streamed in behind her, all demonstrating the same show of power. They were armed and ready, and the hunters were few next to the witches’ hundred strong.
“Lower your weapon.” The Queen’s icy voice bounced off the walls. “Or I will suffocate you with a hundred tiny shadows. And, trust me, your death will not be short.”
The hunter snarled, but she lowered her weapon. “You’re making a very big mistake, witch. As soon as Eris gets wind of this, she will send an army of hunters here to kill every last one of you. The time for mercy is over.”
The Queen’s eyes slightly widened. “And Eris is your leader?”
The woman pressed her lips together and shook her head. She would speak no more, choosing silence. She clearly did not want us knowing the inner workings of their operations, most likely worried we’d use the information to our advantage. And she was right.
“Very well.” The Queen turned and called out over her shoulder. “Tess, take our prisoners to the dungeons.”
Tess strode out from the crowd, nodding once in my direction before turning her focus on the hunters. She lifted her fists before her, closing her eyes as she drew her power from deep within her. Shadows writhed around her arms, curling into snake-like vines as they slithered around her wrists. She sucked in a deep breath and pushed. The vines stretched across the room, yanked on the hunters’ wrists, and cinched each one tight to the other.
The Queen’s teeth flashed when she shot the hunters a vicious smile. “Welcome to the City of Wings.”
Chapter 5
I perched on the edge of the table, between an empty platter of fish and a half-eaten cake. The festive atmosphere had vanished immediately after we’d taken the hunters into the dungeons. Kipling and Silas had captured the other three with help from some witches hell-bent on getting involved. After our enemies were behind bars, the witches had retreated to their corner of the city, leaving the rest of us to clean up the mess. Only the gargoyles remained, along with Kipling and Tess.
“What the hell are we going to do?” I finally asked, breaking the heavy silence that had descended upon the hall, a place that only moments ago had been bustling with excited energy. “When they don’t return to their base, wherever it is, the other hunters are going to get suspicious. Some Commander guy sent them here to keep an eye on us. What happens when they don’t report in?”
“Indeed,” Kipling said as he rubbed his chin. He let out a heavy sigh and dropped back his head to stare at the ceiling, a visible weariness settling over his body. “And if we let them go, then they will return and tell the hunters exactly what they discovered here. There is no win in this situation, unfortunately.”
Despair opened up a chasm below me. Everything I’d done—what I’d gone through that night in London—it had all been for nothing, not if the hunters had already discovered I was still alive. I’d faked my death as a way to buy time, but we’d only ended up with two weeks. We needed months. To get my sword, to train, to form a plan for fighting back. I’d been stuck here on this island doing nothing for far too long. And now I was paying for it. We all were.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. Because, once again, this was my fault. I’d jumped out from behind that curtain and shown the hunters who I was. Silas had told me to hide in the tower, but I hadn’t listened. Instead, I’d run straight into the paths of the hunters.
But if I hadn’t, Alaric would be dead. It was hard to regret my actions, even if they had cost us the element of surprise.
Kipling held up a hand and gave me a kind smile. “I understand why you did what you did.”
“Well, I don’t,” Jasper said with a frown. “First, it’s the security system research and now this. We were waiting in the tower for you, Rowena, but you went after your research instead of coming to us.”
Tears pricked my eyes. “I didn’t want the hunters to find it. If they learned we plan to go after the sword, you know they’d do whatever they could to stop us.”
“Those hunters were never getting out of this damn place.” Jasper scowled. “And they sure as hell were never going to get a chance to report their findings. Besides, there was no need for you to show your face. Bullets cannot harm gargoyles when they’re in their stone forms.”
I swallowed hard. So, it really had all been for nothing.
Marcus met my gaze across the table, his silver-flecked eyes piercing mine. “What security system research, love?”
“Nothing,” I said quickly, shooting Jasper a sharp look. This was not the time to bring up my sudden interest in all things breaking and entering. It would only complicate matters when they were already complicated enough.
“No, I want to know about this research stuff,” Sebastian cut in from where he leaned back in a chair, his bulky arms crossed over his chest.
“Alright, I think that’s enough, “Kipling said, holding up his hands in a show of peace. “It’s been a long day, and it’s late. Let’s think on things and figure out a solution to the hunter problem tomorrow. The shifters will take turns keeping watch from the tower. We have our alarm system, but it’s best we have eyes up high just in case. Eli, you take the first shift. Silas, you’ll go second. And then Jasper, you can finish off the final shift until dawn.”
And with that, the Festival of Wings came to a sad, anti-climatic end, full of dread about what the days ahead might bring. My only solace was...we were still safe. All of us. At least for now.
Chapter 6
After helping Kipling clean up the dining hall, I returned to my room. Jasper stood by the fireplace, stoking the burning embers with his back toward the door. He didn’t turn, but I knew by the stiffening of his shoulders that he could sense I’d entered my bedroom, though I hadn’t made a sound. The shifters hadn’t been particularly forthcoming about their powers. In truth, they’d never said they had any, but I knew they did. And enhanced sense of hearing was definitely one of them.
Jasper pushed a heavy breath from his lungs. “Don’t ever do something like that again. You could have gotten yourself killed.”
Instantly, I bristled, more at the tone of his voice than at his words. “They were one second away from shooting Alaric in the head. What else was I supposed to do? Hide there and let it happen? I didn’t know it wouldn’t kill him. Besides, you know as well as I do that their bullets can’t harm me.”
“We don’t know if the sword is still in Scotland Yard. They could have had it with them. And when the others realize you’re alive, they will do everything in their power to kill you with it. The Queen’s necklace is somewhere on the bottom of the Thames. There’s nothing to protect you anymore.”
“Yes, well.” I shrugged. “We’ll deal with that when it happens. In the meantime
, I’m not going to stand aside and let anyone kill a gargoyle.”
Jasper rested the gleaming metal fire poker against the wall and shifted to face me with crossed arms. “We’re supposed to protect you. Not the other way around. You should have listened to Silas and followed the plan to hide in the tower whenever there’s trouble.”
I matched his crossed arms with a pair of my own. “I’m not the same damsel in distress you guarded for three years in the Stone Keep, Jasper.”
His eyes flashed. Those bright golden eyes that looked like twin yellow moons. I couldn’t help but notice they were brighter than any normal pair of eyes should be, beacons in the flickering shadows that were cast on the walls by the fire. And then those eyes dropped to my lips. My skin flushed, and my palms went sweaty. Instinctively, I took a step back, desperate to keep a large space between us.
He pursed his lips, a slight smile erasing the tension that held his shoulders in knots. “Something wrong, Ro? Too warm in here? Your face is flushed.”
The teasing tone of his voice made me relax, but only slightly. This was normal, familiar. It was a dance we’d done before. I would notice his massive biceps, and he would notice me noticing him, and then...My cheeks flamed even more, remembering the way his soft lips had felt on mine.
His golden eyes sparked in the dark as he took a step closer to me, reaching out a hand to brush my cheek. My body went tight, and my eyes drifted to his lips, full and thick and surrounded by light stubble that reminded me of the scattering of stars in the sky. But his fingers stopped just short of brushing my skin. He held his hand there for a long silent moment before he dropped it to his side, like a heavy rock crashing into the sea, never to be seen again.
He cleared his throat, frowned. Why wouldn’t he just touch me? Why was he trying so hard to hold back?
“I should go,” he said, voice tight.
My heart thundered hard as disappointment shook through me. And I found a courage I didn’t know I had. “Why? Why do you keep doing this?” I hated the hint of pain I heard in my voice because I didn’t want him to know just how much his repeated rejection hurt.
He refused to meet my eyes as he edged toward the door. “I’m sorry, Ro. This is my mistake, and I shouldn’t keep making you feel this way. Just know that I can’t. We can’t.”
When he disappeared through the door, I fought the urge to follow after. But I stood there for a very long while, my hand pressed against my cheek. The spot he’d almost touched but then hadn’t. And I swore I could feel the imprint of his fingers on my skin.
* * *
An icy chill dug into my bones when a distant clock tower rang through the night. I looked up, finding a silver crescent moon slicing through the dark sky. In the distance, I spotted the source of the sound. It was the clock in the City of Wings, chiming out one, two, three. It was the middle of the night.
Frowning, I glanced around. How had I gotten out here? And then an ear-splitting roar shook me to my bones. A roar coming from...just around the corner.
My heart shook in my chest as I took several small steps down street to peer around the corner. There, on the other side, stood a gargoyle. In the deep shadows of the night, it was impossible to tell which gargoyle it was. Partially because he was no longer built of flesh and bone. His stone form rippled and shook, trembling as if trapped in an earthquake. His back arched as he screamed, his long fingers reaching up toward the sky as the steel gray shuddered down the length of him, freezing him in place.
And then all was silent and still.
* * *
When I awoke, my heart pattered against my ribcage, and sweat drenched my silk nightgown. Images poured through my mind. Confusing, painful images of a gargoyle shifter screaming in pain. I sat up and hugged my soft blankets to my chest. Surely it had just been a dream. A nightmare. Not a vision, like I’d had before.
Because if it was a vision, then it meant one of my shifters would soon become stone.
Chapter 7
Kipling’s face was grim when I sat down for breakfast. He held a piece of paper in his hands. It was folded, yellowed, and lined. From my spot across the table, I could see the scrawl of handwriting, though I couldn’t make out the words. He dropped the paper on the table and frowned.
My heart thumped. “Is that from the hunters?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Though I can’t say whether this is better or worse. The Blood Coven sent a letter. By raven. They’re demanding to meet with you, Rowena.”
The Blood Coven? I lifted my eyes to find Marcus, who was seated three chairs down, anchored on the edge of the group beside Eli. That was how we’d met, I couldn’t forget. And now his coven was calling for me. From the look on his face, he wasn’t particularly surprised.
“I was wondering when they’d reach out,” he said. “It’s not in their nature to mind their own business. Though, technically, this is their business. The fate of their power rests on us.”
“Did they say why they want me to meet with them? Are they going to come here? To the City?”
“I’m afraid not.” Kipling’s voice was a snap. “They want you to go to them.”
“Well, she’s obviously not going,” Jasper broke in, his eyebrows furrowed. “Especially not without all of us accompanying her.”
“No point in even discussing it,” Eli added. “We should focus on what we’re going to do about those hunters in our dungeons. They can’t stay there forever.”
“It wasn’t a request, boys,” Kipling said with a sigh. “It was a demand. As it turns out, they’ve gone and completed our heist for us. The Blood Coven has Rowena’s sword. If she agrees to go and meet with them, they will hand it over to her. And if she doesn’t...well, then they’ve pledged to put it right back into the hands of the magic hunters.”
Jasper gripped the table, and the wood creaked underneath his powerful strength. “They wouldn’t. It would be fucking them over just as much as us.”
“If they handed over the only weapon that can kill Ro, then they would be helping the magic hunters end...magic,” Eli said with a frown. “That doesn’t sound very logical to me. Why would they be willing to destroy their own powers?”
“Because they are cunning,” Kipling said. “And they know what to say to get our attention. Also...there’s one more thing. To complete the exchange, they demand for Rowena to return Marcus to them. And no other gargoyle shifters can go.”
I sucked in a sharp breath.
“Unfortunately,” Marcus interjected with a flinch, “it won’t be a bluff either. Yes, they are voicing the threat to coerce you into doing what they want you to do, but they will follow through. In all the years my family have been their pledged guardians, they have never threatened something they would not do. If you don’t go get that sword, Rowena, then there is no doubt in my mind they’ll give it to the hunters.”
Abruptly, I stood from the table. We’d had a plan. One that was falling apart with every passing beat. The Blood Coven now had my sword. And while that might seem like a better situation than before, it truly wasn’t. There was no way in hell I could leave the city to meet with them. Not even to get my sword. Magic hunters were breathing down our necks, and we had to deal with that before we could move onto anything else.
Besides...I wouldn’t say goodbye to Marcus.
“They’ve also put a time limit on their request,” Kipling said. “You must be there by noon tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” My mouth dropped open, and I shoved back my chair, pacing from one end of the table to the next. It was the only way to calm my racing thoughts, hurtling through my brain like a tornado. “That’s impossible.”
“Of course it’s impossible,” Jasper said, bearing down on the table with his fists. “Why are we talking about this like we’re actually going to let her go, least of all with Marcus? It’s not even up for discussion. The answer is–fuck the Blood Coven and their threats.”
Kipling didn’t respond. He merely met my gaze with a frank
and open expression. I knew what he was thinking. He thought I should go, even though it would likely piss off every single gargoyle in the room, including the one I would have to convince to go with me. Hell, even Sebastian was likely to object. His newfound protective instincts toward me were purely self-serving, but there was no way in hell he’d sign off on anything that would potentially put me in danger.
“I think she should go,” Marcus said quietly, his eyes downcast.
A fist wrapped around my heart, and all I could do was sink into my chair, gaping at him. Why would he agree to go so willingly? Did he really want to say goodbye so soon?
Sebastian scowled. “Of course you would say that. You’re probably dying to get back to those bloodsuckers.”
“That’s not an option, is it? Rowena cannot go alone to the Blood Coven’s castle.” Silas finally spoke up, a quiet voice from the chair closest to mine. He sat still in his seat, a tension radiating off his body. His eyes bored into mine, and my breath caught at the brilliant darkness of them. It felt almost as if I could see my own reflection staring back at me, almost as if he could see inside my soul and read my inner-most thoughts.
“For once, Tower Boy and I agree,” Sebastian said. “She’s not going.”
“She wont’ be going alone,” Marcus said in a snap. “I’ll be with her. The Blood Coven knows me and trusts me. They wouldn’t dream of doing anything to harm her.”
“I know you like to insinuate yourself into these situations, Marcus, but dare I remind you that you aren’t pledged to protect her?” Jasper asked with a growl. “Your assignment is the blood mages. Ours is Rowena.”
Carved in Stone_Protectors of Magic_Book 2 Page 3
