Page 68 of Grotesque Love

“Mmmmm.”

He lets out a quiet growl. “Behave, little gargoyle, and maybe I’ll let you join in next time.”

After some clean up, the four of us sit down together so that I can enjoy the dinner Jas prepared for me. He heated it up and insisted even though I don’t have much of an appetite anymore, too lost in the afterglow of the intense moment that transpired between us.

Sax exudes both authority and warmth, at the head of the table while Jas sits so close to me that our arms brush lightly whenever I move, but every glance we share is a silent conversation in itself. Mal sits in quiet contemplation opposite us, his gaze fixed on the faint blush gracing my cheeks.

The air between us is thick with unspoken words, each of us feeling something different, yet connected. Is this what love feels like?

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ARIANWEN

After the meal, Sax carried me back to the tower, my arms wrapped tightly around his neck as we launched into the night air.

I don’t care if thisisall in my head, I have never felt so free with the warm summer night breeze on my skin and my feet literally swept off the ground. As we hide away in the tower, exploring one another’s bodies waiting for the sun to rise, learning more about each other until we’re piled into the bed, spent and sweaty, I decide that if this is all just a dream, I don’t want to wake up.

If only it worked like that.

The sound of crunching gravel cuts through the early hours, and the drifting nap I’d been enjoying.

“What was that?” I ask, my voice quivering as I untangle myself from Sax’s embrace, a jolt of fear shooting up my spine. Silence hangs heavy in the air, and I know.

Like a sudden gust of wind extinguishing a flickering flame, a wave of realisation crashes over me. They don’t need to say anything.

I know.

The room feels suffocatingly still as my three gargoyles exchange a glance, their stony features betraying no hint of emotion.

A sinking feeling settles deep within the pit of my stomach, twisting and churning with a sickening certainty.

I know that look – the silent communication between my guardians. It’s a language all its own, one that speaks volumes. I can no longer deny the inevitable.

“It was a car.” The words tremble on my lips, each syllable heavy with the weight of what it means. “Wasn’t it?”

I climb out of the sheets and sit at the end of the bed, my head in my hands as I try to calm my breathing.

Forcing out my next words is an act of sheer will, each syllable a painful admission of the terror that starts to soak into my skin like a bone deep chill. But as I say them aloud, I know that there can be no denying the truth we’re all avoiding any longer.

“He’s back.”

The heaviness in the room keeps growing, expanding like a living thing as I continue to stare at my three…what are they? Lovers? Monsters? I guess they’re the closest thing I have to friends right now.

Sax’s movements are deliberate, as he climbs out of the bed and kneels at my feet. The faint light filters through the one remaining stained glass window, casting shadows across his weathered features, accentuating the lines of sorrow etched into his stony visage.

“The Lord of the Manor has returned,” his voice is barely audible, yet it reverberates through the room with the weight of inevitability.

Jas and Mal exchange a glance, something passing between them like a fleeting gust of wind. Their expressions betray a myriad of emotions – guilt, concern, perhaps even a hint of resignation.

Their gazes shift to me, and my skin itches with their unspoken words as they cover me like a wire wool cloak.

My voice wavers, “What are we going to do?”

I can almost feel the tension crackling around us, a palpable energy born of uncertainty.

Show me I’m not alone,I silently beg.Show me this is real, that I didn’t conjure you while he was gone. Tell me that I can rely on you to stand with me. Don’t leave me alone with him.

And then, like a beacon cutting through the impending darkness of my panic, Sax’s voice pierces the silence with unwavering resolve. “Do what you’ve always done. Don’t give him an excuse to hurt you. We’ll keep watch over you.”

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