Page 29 of Monster's Mistake

A furious blush reaches my cheeks. “That’s the emergency.” I clear my throat. “He’s sort of made of stone right now.”

“Ah. Well, at least that tells me why I’m needed.” He heads over to the storeroom and goes straight for a specific book, flicking through the pages.

“Do you think he knows the right potion?” I ask Anja.

She shrugs. “Better than either of us does.”

“You’d think they’d teach gorgons to do it,” I mutter, rubbing a hand over my face. “Eurgh, what a mess.”

She leans back against the nearest desk. “Want to talk about it?”

“I just need the potion...”

“It’ll take a while,” she reminds me.

“I turned my fated mate into stone. It’s got to be the worst first kiss in the history of first kisses.” Saying it out loud doesn’tdo anything to make me feel better. If anything, it has the opposite effect.

“Okay, that’s a lot to unpack,” Anja says, looking past me to where Cethin is preparing the potion. I don’t know if it’s because she just wants to look at him, or if she’s purposefully not meeting my gaze.

“Yeah,” I murmur.

She turns her attention back to me and doesn’t seem to have any issue looking directly at me, which I suspect means she really does just want to watch her boyfriend working. It would be cute if it wasn’t so nauseating. “What do you want to start with?” she asks.

“What am I supposed to do when he’s no longer stone?” I ask.

“Talk to him,” she responds, the matter-of-fact tone almost soothing. “It’s not like he doesn’t understand how unpredictable magic can be, and he’s well aware that you’re a gorgon.”

“You don’t think he’ll be mad?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know him well enough to be sure, but I think it’s more likely that he’ll make a joke about you making him rock hard.”

I manage a weak smile. “I can only hope he does that.”

She gives me an odd look. “I thought you hated it when he made those jokes?”

“It’s complicated. But if he makes a joke now, then it’ll mean he isn’t so angry at me that he never wants to see me again.” I’ll take a million bad gorgon jokes if that can be the case.

“So he’s turned to stone, but you don’t seem very worried about turning me into stone right now. Are banshees immune or something?” Anja asks.

“You haven’t been bitten by one of her snakes,” Cethin says from where he’s starting on the potion.

I stare at him in shock. “You know?”

He nods. “And I’m going to need some venom from the offending snake.”

“Right.”

Anja looks between the two of us. “So that’s how gorgon magic works?”

“Yes.” I make my way over to one of the beaker drawers and pull out one of about the right size, covering it with a piece of muslin to make this easier. “All right, Frank, time to earn your penance.” I hold up the jar.

He retreats amongst the other snakes and I let out a frustrated sigh.

“Anything I can do to help?” Anja asks.

I shake my head. “I’d rather only have one person turned into stone.” I reach into my hair and pull on Frank gently, knowing I won’t hurt him.

He hisses in response.

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