The Gargoyle Gets His Girl

by Kristen Painter

  “We will.” She reached up and kissed him. “Then we have to get out of here.”

  “Agreed. Any ideas? You know this place better than I do.”

  “Can you shift?” She waved her hand impatiently. “You have my permission if that’s necessary.”

  His eyes went down to slits, then he nodded. “Pretty sure I can. Especially since you said I could. Will you be able to guide us out?”

  She sighed and stared out toward the castle. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been here. I’m not sure I could.”

  “Let’s get a better look.” He hooked his fingers around hers and tugged her away from Martin. When they were at the wall of windows, he spoke quietly. “When you touch me, your touch overrides the bracelet some. It’s also helped to break some of the bracelet’s hold on me. Not completely, but enough that I can think. Although I’m pretty sure if you tried to leave, I’d have to do something to stop you.”

  She peered up at him. “That stinks. I wish I knew more about the bracelets. Anything else you’ve figured out?”

  “You’re more powerful than Zane, but maybe only equally as powerful as the fae who created the bracelet.”

  She picked his hand up and studied the metal cuff controlling him. She brushed her thumb over it. Tapped it once. Then she raised her face to his, eyes searching. “I want to try something. I might be able to get complete control of the bracelet using my powers. If I can do that, I should be able to get it off you. I just don’t know what the side effects will be.”

  “I don’t care. Do it.” He held his wrist out.

  Behind them, Martin stood staring blankly, his bracelet keeping him rooted to his spot and focused on his task, but not much else.

  She stared at Nick, her heart filling with how good and brave he was. She nodded. “Here goes.”

  She wrapped her hands around the metal as best she could with her wrists still taped. It wasn’t like any other metal she’d touched before. It was stubborn, streaked with bad intentions and coursing with negative energy. She pushed in deeper, gasping as the metal resisted her. Sweat beaded down her back. She closed her eyes and dug deeper. As if sensing what she was trying to do, the metal pushed back. She ground her teeth down, but nothing she did made any difference.

  She let go and sucked in a breath. Her head spun a little as she shook it reluctantly. “Trying to force my will upon that bracelet was like trying to make a stream run uphill using only my hands. I’m sorry.”

  He cupped her cheek. “You tried, Willa. That’s all that matters.”

  The doors swung wide. “Well, isn’t this a touching scene?”

  Willa turned. A woman entered with a passel of guards around her. She was dressed like a queen. Long, fluttering robes in brilliant greens streamed out behind her as she strode into the room. Jewels adorned her everywhere—earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, woven into her hair, encrusted on her dress. Zane followed after her, the slightest bit of tension creasing his forehead. Enough to tell Willa that her brother was no longer the one in charge.

  The bejeweled woman stopped in front of Willa. “Hello, sister.”

  “You must be Kyanna.” It was like looking in a mirror. Kyanna had Willa’s aqua eyes and honey-blond hair. Her features were a little more angular, like their father’s and Zane’s. There was no doubt they were related.

  Kyanna smiled. “Yes.” Her gaze skipped to Nick, and her lips pursed like she’d just tasted something sweet.

  Willa understood. Nick was a prize. But Kyanna wanted him for very different reasons than Willa did. She stepped into Kyanna’s line of sight. “What do you want with me? Why did you force me here?”

  “Force?” Kyanna frowned, and she looked at Zane. “I told you to ask her.”

  He shrugged. “I did. She refused.”

  Kyanna scowled. “Get that tape off her.”

  Zane frowned but did as he was told. Willa rubbed her wrists. Maybe her sister wasn’t so bad after all.

  Kyanna took a seat on one of the benches perpendicular to the wall of windows. Sunlight spilled over her and sparked off her jewels, showering the room in prisms of light. She held a hand toward the bench opposite her. “Sit.”

  As Willa obliged, Kyanna tipped her head at Zane. “Wait outside.”

  Frowning, he did as he was told. Kyanna’s guards remained in the room.

  She smiled at Willa. “We finally meet after all these years. I’ve only heard stories of you from our parents. It’s good to see you face to face. I understand you’re a lapidus, the same as I am.”

  Willa crossed her arms. “I’m not having a sisterly chat with you until you take this slave bracelet off Nick.”

  Kyanna eyed Nick for a moment, a sly, unyielding smile on her lips. “In due time. Let’s get to know each other a little first.” She looked at Willa again. “Now, as I was saying, you’re a lapidus also.”

  “I suppose.” Willa had no choice but to play along and hope for the best. Or a chance to get them out of here. “I never really had any formal training after I left, but I’m really good with metals and stones. I make jewelry.”

  “How nice for you. You left when you were fourteen?”

  “Yes.”

  “And that was all the training you had.”

  Willa nodded. “All the fae training. I apprenticed with a jeweler and learned my craft that way.”

  Kyanna paused like she was mulling something over. A sense of satisfaction came over her, and she relaxed, folding her hands in her lap. “I imagine this must be a surprise for you, finding out you have a brother and sisters after all these years.”

  “No, I—sisters? How many of you are there?”

  “One more. Shay is eight years old and ungifted, but a sweet child even if she is useless when it comes to metal and stone.” Kyanna’s smile faltered. “We’re not a surprise?”

  Willa shook her head. How could anyone call a child useless? “Before I left, I knew only that my parents had had two more children. The court…” Telling her sister that the court had paid their parents to produce more children might not go over so well.

  Kyanna blinked hard, then her smile steadied. “The court rewarded them. I know that. The court still offers a bounty to any parents who can produce a lapidus. We’re a rare breed, you know.”

  “I know.” Willa nodded. “You’re definitely a lapidus then.”

  Kyanna’s smile brightened. “I am. And one of such great power that King Edwyrd made me his All Seer.”

  Willa tried to recall her lessons in fae government. Beside the king, there was no one more powerful than the All Seer. It was a position she might have ended up in if she’d stayed. But power wasn’t something that had ever appealed to Willa. “You’ve done well for yourself.”

  “I have.” Kyanna preened.

  “And Zane is a lapidus also?”

  Kyanna snorted, a very unladylike sound. “Rocks and ruins, no. He’s a stone mover. Nothing more. But he’s very loyal to me. As you’ve discovered.”

  Willa made a little noise of agreement in her throat. “I’m still not clear what it is you want from me.”

  Kyanna shifted slightly, pulling herself up straighter. “I want you to come home. To live here again. To work for me.”

  Willa frowned. “That’s very sweet, but I have a job and a life outside of this world.” And a man she was crazy about, but bringing that to Kyanna’s attention didn’t seem like the smartest thing just yet. “My home is in Nocturne Falls now.”

  Kyanna made a little shape with her mouth that implied she knew better. “Think about it. That’s all I’m saying. Take some time and—”

  “I appreciate that, but I don’t need time. As flattering as your offer is, I’m not going to run away again. I’ve worked hard to build a life for myself out of nothing. I have to say no.”

  Kyanna’s eyes took on a hard glint. “You’re sure about this?”

  “Positive.” Willa felt relief knowing they’d be headed home soon. Then she realized how naïve
that was. She steeled herself against reacting to that thought and played along, all the while understanding that Kyanna was most likely out to get exactly what she wanted. “But I would be happy to come back and visit at some point.”

  “Visit?” Kyanna laughed. “You really don’t get it, do you?” She stood and lifted her hand. “You’re not leaving. Zane,” she barked.

  Their brother jogged back into the room. He must have been listening closely on the other side of the doors. “Yes?”

  “Go with the guards. Take our sister and her pet to the dungeons. Make sure you strip her of all her jewelry.”

  The guards rushed forward and took hold of Willa, overpowering her. She screamed at Kyanna. “You have no right!”

  “I have every right. I’m the All Seer, and you are a wayward citizen, a wayward lapidus, who refuses to give her talents to the kingdom.” She slashed her hand through the air. “Take them away.”

  With the simple command of “Move,” Zane marched Nick away. The guards dragged Willa after them. She twisted to glare at Kyanna. “You can’t keep us here against our will.”

  Kyanna smirked and shook her head. “I already am.”

  Nick held his tongue until Zane and the guards were gone. Zane hadn’t told him to be quiet again, but he’d stayed silent, letting the fae think otherwise.

  Nick curled his lip. He and Willa were somewhere underground in dank cells that smelled of earth and must. The only light came from dull crystals set in the ceiling just outside the bars of their separate cells. The cells shared a common wall and were fronted with bars, but other than that, they were very different.

  His bars were thick iron. Hers, he’d seen on the way in, were dowels of wood about the thickness of a child’s wrist. Her entire cell was lined in wood, including the wall between them, which was stone on his side. Judging by the pair of matching cells across from them, the dividing wall was about five inches thick.

  He leaned against the stone. “Willa?”

  “What?” She sounded about as dejected as a person could be.

  “Hey, we’re going to get out of this.”

  “How?”

  “I could probably break through this wall between us right now.” It would take two or three good blows, but he could do it.

  “Then what? We don’t have a plan and you’re under their control. All it would take is a word from my sister and you’d be incapacitated. Or worse.”

  “I’ll figure out a plan.” Something would come to him, but right now, he needed to lift her spirits a little. He stuck his hand through the bars and reached toward her cell. He could get his arm out only a few inches beyond his wrist. “Come here. Reach toward me. I want to see if we can touch.”

  Soft, trudging footsteps scraped across the dirty floor. A few seconds later, her fingers brushed his. “What now?”

  He laced his fingers through hers. It was good to touch her. “Now we think.”

  She curled her fingers, squeezing down on his. “I feel defeated. And betrayed. And angry.”

  “I know you do. But we have an advantage.”

  “What?”

  “Your sister thinks you’re not as powerful as she is.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You don’t know that.” He tugged at her hand. “Focus on one of those crystals in the ceiling. See if you can make it brighter.”

  “Nick, I don’t have the slightest idea how to do that.”

  Time for some tough love. He had to get her to react. “Look, the pity party is over. Snap out of it.”

  “Nick—”

  “I mean it, Willa.” She tried to pull her hand back, but he held on. “You want Kyanna to win? Then keep doing nothing. Otherwise, focus on that crystal.”

  Her fingers clamped down. Three seconds later, the crystal flared, and she exhaled a loud breath. “I did not expect that.”

  He grinned. “I did.”

  “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

  “Did what?”

  “Made me react.”

  “Yes. And I’m not sorry. Just because she’s had more training doesn’t mean you’re not as strong. You’re the firstborn.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything.”

  “It might. And clearly she needs you for something or we wouldn’t be here.”

  She sighed. “I still don’t know how to get us out of here.”

  A scraping sound made him pull his hand back. Light spilled into the space, then disappeared again. A thin wisp of a child walked past his cell and stopped in front of Willa’s.

  She peered through the bars. “Are you Willa?”

  “Yes,” Willa answered. “Who are you?”

  The girl stepped closer, her hands twisted nervously in the fabric of her dress. “I’m Shay.”

  A soft exclamation escaped from Willa’s side. “You’re my little sister.”

  Shay nodded. “Are you really here to kill me?”

  Willa fell to her knees against the wooden dowels. “Oh my, no. I would never hurt you. Who told you that?”

  Shay looked unconvinced. “Kyanna.”

  Willa nodded. “I see. Well, Kyanna wasn’t very nice to me. She put me and my friend, Nick, here in this dungeon.”

  Shay stared into Nick’s cell. “Zane said he’s a levitating gargoyle.”

  “Leviathan,” Nick corrected. “But I can fly.”

  Shay took a step closer to Willa. “You’re friends with a gargoyle?”

  Willa had no way of knowing if Shay had been sent down here to spy on them or not, so she chose her words carefully. “Yes. Very good friends.”

  Shay looked at Nick again. “He looks mean.”

  “He’s not mean at all.” Well, he was a mean kisser, but that was neither here nor there. “Zane’s meaner. He put duct tape over my mouth and wrapped my wrists and ankles in it to keep me from getting away from him.”

  “That is mean.” Shay’s mouth bunched up on one side. “But Kyanna’s meaner.”

  That felt like progress. “Is she mean to you?”

  Shay shrugged. “Not too much anymore. She thinks I’m useless now so she leaves me alone.”

  “I’m sure you’re not useless.” Willa hesitated. “Why does she think that now? Did she have a reason to think something else before?”

  Shay’s gaze narrowed. “Are you a lapidus?”

  That wasn’t an answer to Willa’s question, but she let it go and nodded. “Yes. And Kyanna wants me to work for her. But I refused. That’s why she locked me up.”

  Shay came closer, shaking her head. “That’s not why she locked you up.”

  “It’s not?”

  “Nope.” Shay’s little nose scrunched up, and her voice grew softer as she leaned in. “The king is dying. Kyanna wants to be queen. But she thinks you’re dangerous.”

  “Dangerous? In what way?”

  “She thinks you might challenge her to be queen.”

  “I can’t imagine why she thinks that. I’m just a jewelry maker.”

  Shay nodded. “I heard her talking to Mom and Dad. She wanted them to go get you. They wouldn’t. I was listening through the door. She made Zane do it.” Shay shook her head. “He’ll do anything she tells him because he likes all the stuff she gives him.”

  Willa let that sink in. Her parents had refused to help hunt her down. That was something. The news about Zane came as no surprise. He was definitely riding Kyanna’s jewel-encrusted coat tails. “I’m glad you were listening. It’s good to know that Mom and Dad didn’t want to help her.”

  “Yeah, well, she got real mad at them. Told them they’d better not try to stop her.”

  Willa sighed. Her middle sister was turning out to have a real goddess complex. And it looked like Willa had been thrust into the position of doing something about it. “Shay, how did you get in here?”

  “I told the guards Kyanna said I could.”

  “Smart girl.” Willa smiled at her little sister. “Do you think you could help us get out of here?”


  Shay backed up, shaking her head. “You won’t be able to get past the guards.” Fear danced in her eyes. “And Kyanna will hurt me if I do.”

  “I’ll protect you, Shay, I promise. Please, help me.”

  Shay paused, confusion clouding her sweet face. “I can’t. I’m too scared of Kyanna. But if you’re as powerful as she says you are, you should be able to get yourself out of here.”

  “Why does Kyanna think I’m so strong?”

  Shay’s eyes flicked toward the door. “Because Mom and Dad told her you were.” She canted her head. “Isn’t that why you ran away? Because you couldn’t handle your gifts? That’s what Dad said. They were too much for you.”

  “No, Shay.” Willa leaned her head on the slats. “I ran because I hated being forced to do things I didn’t want to. I hated having my life planned out for me. And for not having any say about it. I didn’t want to spend my life in service to the king. So I ran…because I wanted to live a different kind of life.”

  Shay came close again. “The kind of life you live now?”

  “Yes. Free. My gifts are my own, to use as I see fit.”

  “You could be queen.”

  Anyone could be in Rhoswynn. The crown passed through the royal family, but if the line ended, a new ruler was chosen from the citizenry, usually someone highly gifted. “I don’t want to be queen.”

  She wanted to be a wife. Maybe Nick’s wife. And to be a mother. And a woman whose life was filled with love and friends and family. Not politics and power games and scheming.

  Shay sat on the other side. “I wouldn’t mind being queen. You get a lot of pretty dresses.”

  Willa looked hard at her little sister and thought about some of the things the girl had said. “Could you be?”

  Shay shrugged. “Maybe. Someday.”

  Next to her Nick made a noise like, Isn’t that something?

  “Shay, Kyanna said you don’t have any gifts.” She’d also said Shay was useless, but no child should ever hear such a thing said about them. “That’s not true, is it?”

  Shay pursed her lips. “I’m not supposed to talk about that.”

  “You can tell me. I’m your big sister. It’s my job to protect you. Even though I know I haven’t been here to do that.”