If it weren’t for the storm’s power, he wouldn’t have known. We wouldn’t have known. I have no idea how I’m supposed to feel about that. Gargoyle females only have two children—always twins. Their whole culture is set up around making sure the female is free to choose a good mate. Elves, on the other hand, can have multiple children but often choose to cloak themselves in contraceptive spells. If I’m some sort of hybrid, I have no idea what the consequences will be. Will I have twins? Or more? Obviously notnoneor Baelen wouldn’t have stopped us.
I examine the dress he handed me, consider the other clothing options, and swap the dress for long pants and a fitted shirt. I find boots in the bottom of the closet and then I sit on the edge of the bed while the shower runs and finally clicks off. I wait for Baelen to emerge, trying to figure out what I’m going to say, trying to push away what I want.
It turns out he was in such a hurry to get away from me, he didn’t take any clean clothes either. He emerges with a towel slung low across his hips, water dripping from his slicked-back hair down his broad chest. My heart rate increases. I remember his body moving against mine, his chest beneath my hands, his hands flexing against my back.
I can’t share the same space as Baelen and not throw myself across the distance and rip that damn towel off him.
I jump to my feet. “I’m getting breakfast. You can explain all about Outlier Senturi when you’re fully clothed. And I do expect answers, Baelen Rath.”
I race to the door, stop in the doorway, glance back as a smile breaks across his face. Oh no, he doesn’t. He can’t push me away and then suck me back to him with a single smile and naked muscles and water droplets and…
Oh, I’m clutching the door again. I force my feet to move.Awayfrom Baelen.
The Priestess meets me halfway along the corridor. “Supreme Incorruptible, you’re awake.”
Well and truly.
She seems nervous. I guess she’s trying to figure out if I hate her.Yes, old lady, I do.
I say, “Good morning, Priestess. I need to know what the situation is with the gargoyles who were imprisoned in Slave Station. I know they were responsible for looking after the whole palace but I told the miners to free them. I don’t want anyone kept here against their will. If that means I have to grow my own food and do my own washing, that’s fine with me.”
She relaxes, settling into stride with me. “All of the gargoyles—including the slaves and the guards—have been told to return to their families. Many have chosen to remain.”
I’m curious. “How many?”
“All of them.”
I miss a step. “Why would they choose that?”
“Let me see… You killed Howl, opened the deep springs, allowed everyone to heal before you, ordered the fallen gargoyles to be treated with equal respect whether they were friend or enemy, destroyed Harem Hall, wept over the body of a fallen warrior, led your people to freedom… Shall I go on?”
My people.Freedom.
Suddenly my need to be with Baelen seems so small compared to what the gargoyles have faced: whole families ripped apart, children kept from parents, wives taken from husbands and used as leverage. I study the floor as I walk. “I’m humbled by their trust.”
She twists her hands in front of her. “I’m very sorry about what I said last night. I don’t want to cause you pain. It’s just that… trust is a fragile thing. It was a fight to get the clan leaders to accept you.”
“You don’t want me to undo it all by choosing Baelen.”
“Give it time. He will prove his loyalty to the gargoyles the same way you have, and then they will embrace him too.” She tips her head with a cautious smile. “Then we can talk about bending the rules.”
“I understand.” Wait a week, Baelen had said. Can I get the gargoyles to accept him in a week?
When we reach the food hall, my empty stomach is ready to stage a full-blown rampage, but I rein myself in. The tables are full of male and female gargoyles eating and talking, some are quietly telling their stories, others are crying, many are rebuilding friendships. I stalk straight for the cooking area off to the left, heading for the gargoyles hard at work frying eggs and sausages. They stop what they’re doing as soon as they see me.
“Good morning,” I say to the male who presents himself to me. He is very thin like so many of them. It makes my hunger seem like a mere twinge.
“He’s the head cook,” the Priestess whispers at my ear.
I acknowledge him and each of the workers. “Have you already eaten this morning?”
“Uh…” The head cook gives me wide eyes. “We usually eat whatever is left over.”
I compress my lips in a disapproving line. “From now on you will eat before everyone else. You can’t work on empty stomachs. What’s more, you will put down your… uh… utensils right now please, and eat something. But go slowly; this food is rich.”
“We will eat once we have served you, Supreme Incorruptible.”
I open my mouth to object but the Priestess interrupts. “Thank you, Head Cook.”
