Page 9 of Battle of Evyndral

“Cassi was cut by an Und?nthú sword when we were outnumbered. Queen Zarina healed the wound but had no time to remove the poison. Cassi thought if she shifted, it might help. She was flying overhead when she froze midair. These beings” — Yari gestured behind her — “saved her from falling to the ground. I do not know what they are, but four of the males have wings. Whatever they are, they were strong enough to keep a full-sized dragon from plummeting to the ground.”

Rhoan nodded once, then strode toward Cassi’s body. When he reached the group, he raised an eyebrow at Brenton, who had not stopped stroking Cassi’s jaw. “And him?”

Yari sighed. “He believes Cassi is his mate.”

A grumble came from Rhoan’s chest as he approached. “Step aside,” he insisted.

Brenton looked to Yari to translate. “The prince requests that you allow him to check on his sister,” she said instead.

“Come on, Brent,” a different male, one without wings, urged.

“But Dad—”

“Brent, don’t make me pull the King card,” Banyan stated.

King?

Brenton huffed but rose to his feet, remaining close. The female who resembled him gripped his hand and held it as they both kept their eyes on Rhoan. Brynna took Brenton’s other hand as Rhoan knelt beside Cassi’s head. “Come on, Cassiopa. You need to shift back.”

“What’s he saying?” Brenton asked.

“He’s encouraging Cassi to shift to her bipedal form,” Yari translated.

“Tell the creatures I am in their debt for saving the princess,” Rhoan instructed as he stroked Cassi’s red scales.

Yari did as Rhoan asked, then she asked Banyan, “May I ask what type of creatures you are?”

“We are Gargoyles. In our realm, we are a secret. If humans knew of our existence, there would be chaos.”

“Humans?”

“Humans are the people of our world. Non-paranormal creatures. They are the inhabitants of Earth, and Gargoyles, along with Gryphons and a few other types of paranormal beings, remain hidden. Well, we don’t hide from humans, only our true nature.”

“And this Earth, it is your realm?”

“Yes. What happened to the princess, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Like I said earlier, there is a battle for the royal dragon throne. The dark fae signed a treaty to live peacefully with the winged ones, but Melisandra, the dark queen, decided to break the treaty and sent her fae after the king and queen. It is the duty of the light fae to protect the dragons. Cassi and I were headed toa safe place away from Evyndral when we encountered a group of dark fae. One of them got close enough to Cassi to cut her with one of their poisoned swords. My queen, Zarina, arrived and dispatched the dark fae, healed Cassi’s arm, then sent us through a portal to your realm. She didn’t have time to completely remove the poison, but she assumed it wouldn’t spread. Cassi thought shifting to her dragon would take care of the poison, but it seems that caused it to spread. And here we are.”

“How did Prince Rhoan come to be here? Are there portals across Earth we are unaware of?” Urijah asked, seeming to have settled beneath Banyan’s hands.

“Rhoan? How did you get here?”

“We were also attacked by Und?nthú. Queen Zarina arrived with the rest of your guards shortly after she left you. She dispatched the Und?nthú, then requested that Thran and I travel here to wait with you and Cassi until it was safe to return. I demanded Thran return to Evyndral and protect my parents.”

Yari relayed Rhoan’s words to the Gargoyles. “Are all of you Gargoyles?”

“No,” Banyan responded. “Let me introduce you to my family.” Banyan went around calling out names and whether they were Gargoyle, human, or half of each.

“I don’t understand. If you and Urijah are mates, how do you have children together? Is biology different on Earth?”

“It takes a male and female to produce offspring, but a good friend of the family offered to carry our seed so that we could have biological children. Tor, Bodi, Bellamy, and Sienna are biologically ours. Nova and Levi, who are biological siblings, along with Fin and Skylar, are humans Uri and I adopted, meaning we went through proper channels to make them our family. They know what we are and understand it is imperative to keep our secret.”

“Fascinating.” Yari lowered her voice. “Brenton believes Cassi is his mate. How would he know?”

Urijah rubbed his stomach. “For Gargoyles, it’s a feeling here, and here.” He moved his hand over his heart. “If Brent says she’s his mate, then he isn’t wrong.”

Yari glanced at the young halfling. “How old is he? He seems rather young.”

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