Damarion was healing, though—I could feel my efforts working. That part of magic I was close to having down.
The roar of victory from my right made me flinch. Austin’s answering roar, delivered while he still stood on his hind legs, shook my bones. The gargoyles joined in, their wings flapping, their growls vicious.
The basajaun wasted no more time. He crossed through everyone, shoving gargoyles out of the way, and bent to the flowers. Straightening with them, he turned to me, and everyone fell silent to hear what he would say.
“We have reached our agreement. These will be a wonderful treat.”
“But…” I put out a finger, happy for his help but hoping for a little clarity about the rules. After witnessing his display of violence, that seemed of the utmost importance. “The mages were on your territory when they shouldn’t have been, right? Wouldn’t you have…spiked her head anyway?”
“Yes. But I would not have waited around after you had gone into the cave. I did that to make sure no one snuck up on you.”
“Riiight… But they did sneak up on us.”
“The polar bear smelled me.”
“Okay, but—”
“He knew that I could only be in that position if I was stalking prey. It was all the alert he needed.”
“Except he wasn’t—”
“Then I enacted my punishment for their trespassing. I only ever kill one for the first offense.”
I couldn’t do much more than stare. His smell alert would’ve been great if it had informed us of the problem before the mages had stepped out of the trees. His retribution would’ve been amazing if it had come before Damarion had been injured.
As if hearing my thoughts, Mr. Tom said, “Duu-mm azzz roc-ksss.”
Dumb as rocks. I had to agree with him there.
“Right. Fine.” I sagged with sudden fatigue, my stomach still churning. “They’re dead. Clearly. Horribly so, even. Good day to you.” I peeled away my meager clothing, changed to my gargoyle form, and took off flying. I needed a glass of wine. And maybe a sedative.
32
Butterflies filled my stomach. I didn’t want to do what I was about to do.
My knuckles were white as I wrung my hands, perched on the edge of my seat in one of the large sitting rooms at the front of the house.
“He is coming now, miss,” Mr. Tom said from the doorway, his tuxedo pressed, a white towel once again draped over his bent arm. His love of watching old butler movies was officially getting out of hand.
A week had gone by since the showdown with the remaining mages. Five had snuck around the area, learning my habits and those of the town. Four had successfully kidnapped me and imprisoned me within the mountain. Two had been taken down by Bigfoot’s scary uncle. That meant my team had only taken down three of them—or really two, since Austin was technically still a free agent.
That was unacceptable. I needed to make some changes. I needed to bring everyone under one umbrella and get them working together. I could only make a decision about who should sit on my council if I knew which of them were team players. Baby steps.
Step one was this meeting.
The wooden carving on the mantelpiece moved and changed, a woman holding a sword emerging within the pattern, along with a large gargoyle who flew down to land beside her. Without warning, she spun and sliced with her sword. The gargoyle’s head flew off, the body disappearing within the changing designs and the head bouncing along the ground. The woman stowed her sword and bent, picking up the head in a palm, and…
I looked away, my mood souring. I mention in the house, one time, how gross it was for the basajaun to spike a head like a football, and suddenly it was Ivy House’s favorite joke. I really did question her sense of humor.
At least it was obvious she supported my decision. That meant a lot, since it affected her, too.
I stood when Damarion filled the doorway, his face hard and his eyes wary. He probably knew what was coming.
My stomach clenched with unease. I hated doing stuff like this.
“Hi Damarion, please…” I motioned to the chair that had been placed opposite me. “Have a seat.”
“You’re looking well,” he said, his gaze sliding down my front. He stopped before me and bent to give me a kiss on the cheek.
Over the last week, he’d thankfully gotten the hint that any chance of romance between us had flown out the