Page 96 of Grotesque Love

“You’re safe now,” Mal says gruffly, his voice catching with emotion. There areThere are hints of frustration in his tone, but I know it’s not directed at me. He’s likely blaming himself for almost being too late to save me, but that’s just foolish. The only person to blame here is Carver. And maybe Danvers.

Thank god he’s gone now. They both are.

“We’ll never let anything happen to you ever again,” Jas promises.

I long to comfort and reassure him, all of them, but I can’t summon the energy. I want to stay awake, to cherish the last hour or so with them before dawn draws them back to their sentinel states, but my eyelids are like lead and I don’t think I could fight slumber even if I tried.

As I drift in and out of sleep. I’m aware of a soft mattress, blankets being drawn up around me, and then the cool press of someone beside me,Jas,I think, as the weight of the last few hours starts to pull me under.

They must have taken me back to the tower.

Good.

That house was never a home, and wherever they are is exactly where I want to be.

I snuggle in against his stone chest, smiling to myself as he draws me closer, his tail snaking its way around my leg and up to my thigh, tethering me to him. I smile.

This is the reassurance Jas needs – he’s always been the tactile one – and I crave the comfort of his arms as much as he needs to ground himself in my touch. Together, we drift off into a dreamless slumber.

When I wake, I no longer have a clingy grotesque wrapped around me like a vine, and blinking, I realise why. The sun is high in the sky. I not only slept the rest of the night away, but most of the day too by the looks of it.

Disappointment at not getting to see my men before they turned lances through me, but I shake it off. It’ll only be a few hours before the sun sets and I’m back in their arms again.

Climbing from the bed, I make my way over to the open window and gaze out at the manor house. It’s badly damaged. Not quite in ruins, but not far off.

Good.

I hope the fire purged all of the evil within its walls and freed the innocent souls trapped there.

There’s still smoke coming from the embers, and the fire is still smouldering in parts, but I can’t bring myself to care. There was nothing within the house that I’m sad to lose – though the thought of that beautiful library perishing hurts a little – but so long as my monsters’ home is safe, that’s all that matters.

The breeze calls me, so I sit on the window ledge.It must be thirty feet to the ground, and without them here, I’m trapped inthe tower. A literal Rapunzel with no way down until nightfall. The only way in and out is through the window and it’s far too high and dangerous to climb.

Sighing, I pace around, unable to explain my restlessness. I grab a book from the shelf and thumb through it, but I don’t want to read. On one of the small tables, one of them has left me a glass of water and some fruit – which I suspect they may have picked rather than taken from the remains of the burned kitchen. I smile, it must have been Sax because Jas was holding me while I slept, and I take a bite out of one of the apples. When I’m finished, I return to pacing, thinking.

With Carver gone, I’m free.

What does that mean?

I could go home.

The idea doesn’t appeal as much as I thought it would.

What’s waiting for me back in my hometown? The house is probably gone. All my things too. None of my own clothes even made it to the manor, so I doubt anything else remains. Carver never planned to let me return home.

I lost contact with the few friends I had at school after my mother’s death and I guess they will have moved on to university by now. I’d also have to face all sorts of awkward questions about where I’ve been. There’s clearly no place for me back there.

But I’m not sure what my place here is either.

The house is gone.

I can hardly stay here, trapped in a tower alone by day, only to be ravaged by monsters by night. Can I?

What if something happened when they were stuck in their stone forms? How would I escape?

It’s insane that I’m even trying to figure out how a life with them would work. But my heart is resolute.

I want to stay.

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