Capture the Crown (Gargoyle Queen #1) -Jennifer Estep Page 0,92

spaces. At first, the spaces appeared to be empty, but then two eyes appeared, glowing like purple matches in the shadows. Then two more eyes in another space, then two more, and two more, until dozens and dozens of pairs of eyes were peering at me.

My breath caught in my throat. Slowly, the eyes crept forward, and the shadows morphed into strixes. The hollowed-out spaces were their nests, starting at the ground level and climbing to the tops of the tower walls. Some of the strixes were larger than Floresian stallions, while others were babies, no bigger than kittens, with lilac-colored feathers, instead of the darker amethyst ones that marked the older creatures.

At the sight of the prince, the strixes fluffed out their feathers and chirped out high, happy, singsong greetings. Soon, the notes Leo! Leo! Leo! pealed through the air like bells ringing. Longing pierced my heart. The gargoyles often greeted me with similar, albeit lower and more grumbling, cries whenever I visited them on the Glitnir rooftops.

One of the strixes flew down from a high perch, landed in front of Leonidas, and nuzzled up against him. Lyra, of course.

Leonidas laughed and stroked one of her wings. “Sorry I haven’t been around much today. Maybe we can go for a ride tomorrow.”

“Hold you to it,” Lyra chirped, then fixed her bright eyes on me. “Maybe she can come with us. The gargoyle is almost here.”

Leonidas frowned. “Gargoyle?”

Lyra opened her beak, but I cut her off before she could answer him.

“As much as I’m enjoying seeing the rookery, I thought we were going to break into Milo’s workshop. We need to do that before he leaves the dinner.”

Leonidas eyed me. He knew I was changing the subject, but he didn’t call me on it. He stroked Lyra’s wing again, then gestured at me. “This way.”

He rounded a fountain and headed deeper into the rookery. Lyra hopped along behind us, her talons scraping against the flagstones, while the rest of the strixes watched silently from their nests.

Leonidas walked to the very back of the rookery and stopped in front of one of the walls.

“What are you doing?” I asked. “We’re wasting time. Milo could decide to leave the throne room at any second.”

“We’re taking a shortcut.”

A mischievous grin creased his face, softening his features and brightening his eyes, and I was suddenly reminded of the boy he had been—the one who had seemed so genuinely concerned about me. My heart twinged, but I ignored the tug on its strings.

Leonidas pulled down on a particularly large thorn on one of the liladorn vines. A soft click sounded, and part of the wall slid back, revealing a narrow corridor with a low ceiling. “This way.”

He stepped into the corridor. Lyra looked at me, as did the other strixes. I wondered if the creatures would eat me if I didn’t do as their prince wanted. Probably. Either way, I doubted I could leave the rookery without getting torn to pieces, so I stepped into the chamber.

Lyra stayed behind in the courtyard. She pushed that same thorn back up with her beak. The wall closed behind me, casting the chamber in total darkness.

A hand grabbed mine, and I had to swallow down a surprised shriek.

“This way,” Leonidas said. “You can trust me. Promise.”

I couldn’t see his face, but his voice floated through the darkness and wrapped around me as surely as his hand clutched mine.

“Lead the way,” I whispered back.

His fingers slowly curled into mine, and he carefully drew me along behind him.

I didn’t know how long we were in the passageway. It could have been a minute, or two, or ten. But sometime later, Leonidas abruptly stopped, and I slammed into his side. We stood there, pressed up against each other. I tried to ignore how warm and strong his body was, how good he smelled, and especially how this innocent contact made me think of other, far more pleasurable and wicked things we could do in the dark together.

Leonidas dropped my hand and stepped away. I started to reach for him but clenched my fingers into a fist instead, grateful the shadows hid the traitorous motion.

He must have pulled on a handle, because another soft click sounded, and I heard something slide back.

“This way,” he whispered. “And be quiet. A guard or two is usually posted outside.”

Leonidas took my hand and led me forward again. The longer we walked, the more light that appeared, and I blinked against the growing glare. A few