24
My first instinct is to rush into the water and drag her out of there, but my next instinct is to stay as far away from the pond as possible.
Water drips from the ends of her hair as she shivers. “I thought I was prepared for anything, but it turns out I’m not. I don’t know what I am now.”
It only takes me a heartbeat to know. “Elyria! You’re… human!” When I first saw Llion’s baby girl all that time ago, I thought she was a human baby because of her rounded ears and delicate skin. Only her wings told me she was a gargoyle. Without our pointed ears and the luster of our skin, elves could appear human too. Male gargoyles are the furthest from human in appearance. Now, without wings, Elyria looks just like I imagine a human looks.
“Human!” Elyria takes a step back, splashing involuntarily as her legs buckle.
Jasper jolts beside me. He’s ready to race into the springs to help her but he pauses before his foot hits the water. His hesitation tells me that, like me, he doesn’t want to go in. I study the waves, the sparkle within them, casting my gaze upward to the single drip falling from the ceiling. I’m not afraid of the springs themselves, but some instinct tells me not to go in there at the same time as Elyria. The deepest magic is at play here to cause this final stage of her transformation. That sort of magic should be treated with the greatest respect.
Remembering Senturi’s advice that Jasper is the only one who can help Elyria, I withdraw to Baelen’s position off to the side, reaching for his hand.
A tear tracks down Elyria’s cheek. She’s frozen, panicking, unable to move.
Jasper’s soft inhalation is both worried and determined. He hovers at the water’s edge before he seems to make a decision. “Elyria, come out. You’ll be okay.”
She shakes her head, wet hair slapping against her small waist. “I don’t think I can.”
Instead of softening his approach, Jasper becomes stern, an insistent frown settling on his forehead. “Come out of there, baby.”
Her eyes widen, surprised at what he called her, before she gives way to panic again. With a small shake of her head, tears spill down her cheeks. “I can’t, Jasper.”
“Then you’re never going to know what I want to say to you.”
Her body language shifts, a flicker of curiosity overcoming her fear. She takes a step, but the water swills and laps at her hips and she sucks in a breath. “What if I can’t come out? What if I disappear? I died four hundred years ago. What if my wings are just the beginning…”
Jasper’s jaw tenses, his eyebrows drawn down. “You know I won’t let that happen.”
His response seems to jolt her out of her panic. She pushes through the water, inhaling sharply as it washes around her, jumping at every splash. She reaches the stone steps at the side, ascends, but stops on the top one, her feet mere inches beneath the surface, water spilling from her clothing, fear washing over her so fast that she turns deathly pale.
He is three paces away but he doesn’t close the gap, waiting for her to take the last step on her own. When it’s clear she’s not going to budge, Jasper plants his feet, but he visibly relaxes.
“Elyria,” he says softly, making her crane forward to hear him. “I want you to come here because I want to tell you…”
She tips forward. “What?” she whispers. “Tell me what?”
“You’ll never know if you don’t take a chance.”
She worries at her lip as she stares at the final step between them. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m scared.”
His posture doesn’t change. He’s still relaxed, but his voice takes on an edge. “I won’t hurt you. Ever.”
I’m surprised, but I shouldn’t be. Jasper has Sight and he must have seen that it’s not only the water and its effect on her body that she’s afraid of now, but of what her relationship with Jasper will become. It’s plain to me that he loves her but sometimes you can’t see what’s right in front of you. The uncertainty must be killing her.
She sucks in a breath. “That’s not true. You’ll break my heart.”
He considers her words in true Jasper style, without fuss, taking them in like a wave sweeping up over him before responding. “Love can’t break your heart, Elyria. Only mend it.”
Elyria is the polar opposite in her reaction. She’s suddenly a hot mess, tears streaking down her cheeks. “You can’t mend my heart, Jasper Grace. Nothing can do that.”
“If that’s what you choose.” He’s still incredibly calm; much calmer than I would be. But just when I think that’s all he’s going to say, the corners of his mouth move in an upward direction. A slow smile breaks across his face.
Yeah. I’m never going to get used to seeing that.
