Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,160
felt.
“How are things in Myrkvior?” I asked.
A humorless smile lifted his lips. “Tense. And in Glitnir?”
“Also tense.”
He nodded. “You might be interested to know that Milo has been holed up in his workshop ever since we returned.”
I snorted. “No doubt he’s working on a new weapon to try to kill me.”
“Yes,” Leonidas replied. “I haven’t been able to find any trace of the tearstone. Milo must have moved it out of the palace. I’m sorry, Gemma. If I knew where it was, I would tell you.”
“Would you?” I challenged.
“Of course.” He kept his gaze steady on mine. “I will never lie to you about anything. Never again. I promise you that.”
A spark of foolish hope flared in my heart, but I quickly, ruthlessly extinguished it. “And I will not trust you. Never again. I promise you that.”
He grimaced, and we both fell silent.
“You don’t have to worry about the tearstone anymore,” I said. “I will deal with Milo when the time comes. And Maeven as well, if she dares to interfere again.”
Leonidas nodded again. “As is your right. I’m sorry, Gemma. So sorry. For everything that happened. For everything that you suffered because of me. If I could go back and change it, I would. I never should have brought you to Myrkvior.”
“Why did you bring me to the palace?”
“You know why.”
“I thought you promised not to lie to me anymore,” I snapped.
He grimaced again, but his gaze remained locked with mine. “I brought you to the palace because I always remembered the girl from the woods.”
“You never forget the first girl who tries to kill you.” I echoed what he’d said in Milo’s workshop.
A small grin curved his lips. “It certainly made you memorable.”
“Why did you save me in the woods that day? Why did you kill your own captain? Especially after I had just tried to kill you?”
His grin faded away. “Because I knew what Uncle Maximus would do if he got his hands on you. I wouldn’t have doomed anyone to that fate. Plus, I thought that if I helped you escape, that it might make up, just a little bit, for everything Mother had done at Seven Spire, for all the horrible things she had done to you. Foolish, I know.”
Perhaps. But at least he had tried to do the right thing, which was more than most people would have done, especially given our families’ bloody history.
Leonidas cleared his throat. “But you weren’t just the girl who tried to kill me. Mostly, I remembered the girl that I talked to for months afterward. The one who was a mind magier just like me. In many ways, you were the only friend I ever had, besides Lyra and Delmira. But then you went away. I always wondered why.”
“Because I was afraid of you and my power and everything else,” I confessed, unwanted emotion thickening my voice. “Alvis made me that gargoyle pendant, so I blocked you out, along with my magic and everything that happened during the Seven Spire massacre.”
What a strange pair we made, him yearning to remember those times, and me trying so desperately to forget them. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why we were so drawn to each other.
“I did something similar after the Regalia Games. I still have nightmares about the tidal wave that Uncle Maximus used to try to kill Queen Everleigh.” A shudder rippled through his body.
As much as I hated to admit it, the two of us were far more alike than different, including how haunted we were by our pasts.
“Was any of it real? When we were on the balcony the night we snuck into Milo’s workshop? Or in my chambers after Wexel attacked us in the old armory? Or on the dance floor during the ball?” The questions tumbled out of my lips before I could stop them.
Surprise flickered across Leonidas’s face, although it quickly vanished, replaced by something much brighter and hotter, a promise of magic and fire that made desire sizzle through my veins. “If you were here right now, then I would show you how real it was.”
The low, husky vow in his voice sent a shiver skittering down my spine, even as that desire in my veins flared up to new heights.
“If I were there, then I would shove my dagger into your heart,” I snarled.
He arched an eyebrow at me. “Now who’s lying? I thought we weren’t going to do that to each other anymore.”