I laughed as Keegan inclined his head respectfully. Karvey returned it, his granite expression always looking faintly unimpressed by the entire concept of flesh.
“You’ve had visitors,” Karvey said.
I stilled slightly. “What kind?”
“Shifters,” he replied. “A few pacing along the edge of the Stone Ward. Just beyond your property line.” His eyes shifted toward the treeline. “And if I’m not mistaken… two orcs.”
Keegan’s posture changed in a way that was nearly imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know him.
“Inside the Ward?” he asked.
“No,” Karvey said. “Just beyond.”
I followed his gaze to the tree line that looked unbothered and normal. Only the senses of a gargoyle would know what to see between the obvious.
“They didn’t approach, though,” Karvey continued. “They walked the line and observed. Then they moved on.”
“You ignored them?” I asked.
Karvey studied me for a beat. “Yes.”
I nodded slowly and let out a sigh. “That was the right call.”
Karvey grunted in approval. “Observation is not aggression.”
We stood there for a moment in the fading light, three very different kinds of guardians under the same sky.
Karvey’s expression shifted slightly. I noticed the smallest tightening around his stone brow.
“I know what’s happening,” he said quietly. “I’ve heard the whispers.”
I looked up at him.
“Displacement,” he continued.
“Yes,” I said softly.
“It has happened before.” Karvey shrugged. “Even with my own kind.”
That caught our attention.
“Centuries ago,” Karvey went on, “gargoyles turned on the very structures we were sworn to protect.”
I blinked. “Turned?”
He nodded once. “Pressure built among our kind. We were created to guard, to watch, and to hold. But when territories shifted, and humans began expanding faster than stone could settle, some among us decided that survival meant preemptive destruction.”
Keegan’s brow furrowed. “They destroyed their own buildings?”
“Yes.”
The word was heavy.
“They believed that if the structures fell, no one could claim them,” Karvey said. “No one could misuse what we guarded. It was… flawed logic. Very flawed.”
I felt a chill move through me despite the warmth of the evening.
“Fear,” I murmured.
