Page 146 of Stone Temptation

His sorrowful eyes fell on Luke. “He displayed great power…” Seth hesitated for a moment, fingers trembling, as if afraid. “He might be a useful weapon in the future. You’ve seen how the monsters are changing, sensed it. We all have. There will come a day when we either leave this world to its fate or find new methods of fighting back. Either way, this system is unsustainable.”

Hard facts no gargoyle wanted to admit. How many years did we have left? Ten? More? Less.

“I don’t understand,” I said, head pounding. “What’s this power? The invisibility?”

He puffed on his joint, raking a hand through his hair. “For the past three years, my team of enchanters have been studying him, supplying the potion to keep him contained. I really must speak with King Declan.”

Fuck’s sake. “Are you really dancing in circles with the info?”

“I’m trying to get this out, Asher.”

I sighed. “Does anyone know where the king is?”

“No. He’s vanished.”

I cocked a brow at him. “How does a king just disappear? Someone will know where he went.”

“A king with many secrets can vanish. The moment my spies discovered the ring, I knew something wasn’t right. Especially after his rumored affair.”

My brain hurt from the shock. “His what?”

“Don’t say anything, but I have it on relatively good authority that he had an affair with a human woman.”

Whoa. Room spinning. “But he loved the queen. He… He wouldn’t do that. Would he?”

“I don’t know for sure.”

“Could this burned woman be her? And what does it have to do with Luke?”

He shrugged.

I looked down at my mark. “We have to find the king.”

“He doesn’t want to be found.”

“Your spies don’t have any clues?”

“Not yet.”

“What about Luke and his power?”

He ignored me, smiling wistfully at the human. “I really do have his best interests at heart. I like him. You don’t understand how much it hurts seeing you with him. Walking in on you naked, experiencing him as I can’t.”

“Didn’t you blow him once a month?” Those words made me sick. “You never thought to move your relationship on?”

“No. That’s not what he wants. He never looked at me how he looks at you.”

The butterflies fluttered again, my heart craving a dose of Luke’s azure orbs.

Seth spoke softly, eyes glistening as if about to weep. “The chess, the oral sex, it’s a smokescreen, a method to administer the potion secretly. So I can be close to him.”

“You mean, you tricked him into it?” Gods, I’d rip his head off.

“No, no. Never. I offered it to him. This is all consensual. He enjoys it. I would never force myself on him or anyone.”

I’d still rip his head off. “But you didn’t tell him you were drugging him?”

“No.”

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