Page 147 of Married to the Devil

Momentum keeps me moving past every sharp wave of yearning that makes it hard to breath when I notice his absence.

Everything reminds me of him and what’s happened. I want to wail and trap myself away, but I refuse to disappoint Stoneheart’s last wish.

Instead, we move forward.

“There’s no reason to believe he won’t eventually wake up. Gargoyles do turn to stone to heal,” Silas tries to reason. We all sit around the library table. No one dares to sit in Stoneheart’s place, and the presence of the empty seat is a shadow on the proceedings.

Silas, Francesca, and Fiona wait to present the state of the territory.

They’d given me as much time as they could to clean up and calm myself. The sky outside is black, and the city lights glitter despite the yawning ache in my chest.

“One of the paid muscle captured said that the spell they had on hand for the gargoyle is a fae concoction,” Fiona says. She has a black eye, and a burn covered with a bandage on her arm.Her voice lacks any of her usual playfulness. “He’s not meant to wake up.”

Silas looks like he wants to send her away to rest, but she’s not going to be kept out of territory business. Not when we’re shorthanded.

Connors is expected to live, but Caleb, Andrew’s twin brother, got him good with a poison dagger. Andrew has been detained until he can be cleared of wrongdoing.

“Then we summon that scholar to look at it. There will be someone who can break the spell,” Silas says.

Francesca nods. “I’ll manage the other territory in the meantime. What do we tell everyone?”

They look to me.

I expected Remy to continue on if I fell. I never asked whether I could do the same, but I can’t stop. If not for the baby, for the people relying on me.

“We tell them he’s healing,” I say. It’s not a lie.

Silas nods in agreement. “We’ve retrieved Frank’s body. By the looks of it, and mind you, no one is saying they saw a thing, he was dragged from the compound after Fiona took out the mercenaries and killed by a group of people.” He blows out a breath. “That group of people then ripped apart the Leonid compound brick by brick.”

The people of the territory have spoken. The remaining Leonids had to be involved to get to him if he’d been hiding out in the compound.

Nothing feels right at the moment, but Frank’s end feels like justice.

“That’s one less thing to worry about.” My voice sounds even, but the room regards me with caution. “I’ll contact Rowan to look at the curse inflicting Stoneheart. He’ll be more receptive to my request.”

“This is nasty stuff,”Rowan says, his hands hovering over Stoneheart. The moon is bright tonight and leaves a stronger cast shadow than the illumination of the pool some distance away. The rest of the roof is a world rock and patio stones, the minimal plants up here having gone dormant for the season.

I shiver in my sweater but lift my chin to the fae when he turns. Silas stands by my side, taking notes.

Rowan sighs. “I have some ideas, but the ingredients for a curse like this run toward the unsavory side.”

I mouth the word while he’s lost in thought.Unsavory.

He hesitates. “The counter spell may need to make use of the same ingredients.” His gaze beseeches mine, and it takes a moment to understand. “It’s nothing I’ve ever worked with before and?—”

“We can’t use them,” I interject. Rowan’s shoulders drop in relief as the hope that his presence provided flickers. My throat hurts. “We won’t use black market body parts.”

Silas also looks sickened, and for the life of me, I don’t know if it’s the fact that the magic makes use of such thing or if he’s disappointed at the line I’ve drawn. I trust it’s the first, but my guilt threatens to choke me.

Shouldn’t I be willing to do and pay anything to have Stoneheart back?

But it can’t cost this.

“He wouldn’t want that,” I say, and it’s the truth even though it’s poor comfort. “It would ruin our credibility. We are here to protect people, and that is what we’ll do.”

Silas nods in support.

I hope I’m always strong enough to stick to this conviction, but in this moment, I’m going to do what I know Remy would want.

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