I watch in horror as Father’s features twist in front of me.
It’s nothing like the change brought on from the stone. This is a grotesque stretching and bubbling of muscle and bone. He falls to his knees, groaning in agony. His clothes rip around him. His skin darkens to gray, and then it hardens and cracks.
More terrified than I’ve ever been in my life, I scream.
Chapter 19
Firm hands grasp hold of my shoulders. Galinor drags me from the room before it fully registers that it’s him who holds me. Once we’re outside the chamber, Milton slams a heavy cross beam in place, locking Father inside.
“No!” I yell, scrambling to lift the wood. “Mother is in there!”
Galinor pulls me back and wraps me fully in his arms. Milton says something, but I don’t hear over my panic.
“Anwen, stop!” Galinor commands, and that finally gets through to me.
I stare at him, gasping for breath.
“Your Ladyship.” Milton’s voice is clipped and irritated. He rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “He won’t hurt your mother. She’s the only one he’ll listen to when he’s like this.”
I rub my eyes to try to get the horrible image out. “He’s a gargoyle.”
Forever, I will be haunted by the image—the gray,twisted horns drilling from his skull, the black depthless pits that became his eyes, the leathery, stone-like skin.
Galinor clutches me closer.
If I find the demon who did this to him, I will slay him myself.
Realizing I’ve gone still in his arms, Galinor says, “Anwen?”
I glance up, and he gives me an odd look. My eyes must be wild.
“The fairies said the curse will be lifted once the caster of the curse dies,” I tell him. Galinor looks concerned, but I press on, “I will find this man, and I will kill him.”
Galinor and Milton exchange a look.
I’m exasperated they don’t immediately see the brilliance of my words. “It will lift the curse!”
“Anwen,” Galinor says. “Curses deal with blood magic. I’m not going to let you go after a wizard. I don’t want you anywhere near one.”
I pause to think. “The caster isn’t necessarily human. It might have been a griffin or a dragon or—”
A soft knock sounds from my parent’s chambers. Immediately, Milton raises the beam and opens the door for my mother. Once she’s through, Milton again secures it.
She takes a deep breath and lays her head back. “Or a gremlin.”
“I’m sorry?” I am genuinely started by her theory. “You think it was a gremlin that didthat?”
Gremlins are small, obnoxious creatures with large ears and larger feet. They use their magic for trivialirritations like changing the color of a person’s hair or stretching out the fingers in one’s gloves.
“They don’t even live in Elden,” I argue. “They’re from the other side of the world.”
Mother sets her hands on her hips, and her eyes drift to the ground. “One lives here.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your father obtained him several years before you were born.”
I cross my arms. “Obtained him? You make it sound like he brought it here with a ship full of cargo.”
