On the other hand, the human side of the government didn’t want to risk pissing the council of elves off even more, so the hunters would probably receive pretty hefty sentences when all was said and done.
Ambrose, for the most part, was back to normal. He still didn’t have full use of his vocal chords again, so most of the time he just glared and pointed at his clients when he wanted them to do something.
The only difference in the elf was that he was infinitely nicer to Daphne now. She still didn’t want to talk about everything that had happened that day, but something had bonded the two together forever.
It wasn’t a romantic bond. Had it been I would have torn the elf in half and tossed him into the ocean. No, if I had to put a finger on it, it seemed more brotherly.
Sometimes I caught Ambrose hovering over her while she worked like he was some kind of guardian angel.
“Do you and your man friend want a tour of the stables?” Hal asked, bringing my attention back to the pair strolling in front of me.
Daphne turned to me, her whiskey-colored eyes dancing as she reached out to link her fingers through mine. “What do you think? These horses have nothing on Cocoa and Marshmallow, but they’re still lovely.”
My chest sang from the contact, and every inch of my body felt warm and sun-drenched, like it was spring rather than nearly winter.
“Anywhere you go, I go,” I told her, earning myself a blindingly bright smile.
I’d spent two hundred and fifty years feeling so alone, but now, with my dragonfly at my side?
I didn’t need wings to fly.
Epilogue
“Are you sure you don’t mind keeping an eye on me?” Cash asked nervously as he watched me decorate the living room for Christmas.
“I already told you a hundred times, Cash, it would be my honor to watch over you for your solstice stone sleep,” I said to him, holding up a rope of sparkly silver garland. “Now, can you please hook this up there so I don’t have to go and get a ladder?”
Cash obediently took the garland and did as I asked.
“Is that good?” he asked once we’d stepped back to observe our work. I’d insisted on decking the entire house and barn out for our first Christmas together and the living room was the last spot to finish.
“Perfect,” I said with a grin. “Now, tell me why you’re so nervous about going into your stone sleep?”
We’d been discussing it ever since we returned from Massachusetts. Gargoyles used their solstice stone sleeps to rest and refresh for the year to come, it made them healthier in their minds and their bodies. There was also a spiritual component that made them more in tune with the spirit world around us, but that was always harder for me to follow.
Cash had confessed that the last time he’d succumbed to the stone sleep had been when he was hurt doing something with Dallan. Dallan had protected him, but it was still a source of anxiety for my gargoyle.
But I was here now, and while I didn’t possess super speed, strength, or anything else that I could use to defend Cash, I had a 12-gauge shotgun that would dissuade most people from our property on the slim chance that something did happen.
Cash sighed and sank down into the couch, pulling me with him.
His fingers traced the still tender tattoo on my neck that he’d spent the morning touching up as an early Christmas gift to me. Now, my pink dragonfly looked just as vibrant as the day I’d gotten it with my mom.
Cash laid his head on my chest, listening for our matched heartbeats, our song whispering between us.
“Tell me,” I prodded, wrapping my arms around his head and holding him close.
There was a beat of silence before he replied.
“The last time I went into stone sleep you were kidnapped,” he said quietly.
It had only been a few months since Ambrose and I were taken, and it still seemed to hover over everyone at Monstrous Ink like a perpetual storm cloud.
Ambrose was still recovering, though he was mostly back to normal. But he didn’t seem to go out with everyone as much as he used to.
“I won’t get kidnapped this time,” I promised. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
“In my head, I know that,” Cash said, lifting his face so that I could look into his worried silver eyes. “But every instinct in my body is rebelling against it anyway.”
