Page 31 of The Gargoyle's Glade
“Oh! That’s terrible. I hope everything’s alright.”
“He’s fine.” He nodded, but his jaw flexed. I could feel that wasn’t all, but he wasn’t talking, and I didn’t know the best wayto push. His voice was startling in its softness when he added, “Please be careful, Merry.”
His dark eyes met mine and there was deep sorrow there that hit like a blow. “I will. I am.” I dipped my head and added. “If it helps, I’m rarely alone. Never, actually, if you count the animals.” This seemed to satisfy him, at least for now.
Coltor helped me finish cleaning up, and then I followed him out to my little porch. He’d spent all the words he had for the evening, it seemed.
As expected, the animals were all gathered around, doing their best to settle in for the night. There were even some species I hadn’t seen anywhere outside the mountains back home. I made eye contact with several of the new ones, sharing a quick greeting.
Hello! Pledge bond? Help. Hear? Speak. Friend.
There was no sense of danger from any of them, just expectant attention, like they were trying to communicate something I clearly couldn’t understand. By the time I got my eyes safely back on the dirt, my headache was back like it had never eased at all.
“I’d best get ready for my patrol,” he said.
“Thank you for the carvings. And the apology.” All my anger had gone, replaced by a deep want to comfort him, if only for a moment. He gave a single nod, and I raised myself on my toes, intending to kiss his cheek. Coltor startled, and the movement brought my mouth to his. Committed, I put my hand on his jaw to hold him in place. To my surprise, his massive palm came over mine, and his lips softened. The kiss was brief, but clearly rocked us both to the core.
When I pulled away, heart racing, Coltor blinked several times, then stepped down off the porch. He took a few steps, then turned back twice before managing to speak. “Pleasant evening to you, Merry,” he said finally, striding off at a hastypace down the path. His heavy steps caused several clusters of critters to startle.
“And to you,” I muttered to myself with a smile, touching my tingling lips with my fingers. He was odd but not without his charms. I stayed on the porch, only turning to go inside once I couldn’t see him anymore.
Chapter 14
Coltor
Iavoided Merry for the next few days, though I did leave some new carvings on her porch. The truth was, where she was concerned, I kept swinging between being stunned and ashamed. The opportunity to be honest with her about my vision had been right in front of me, and I’d been unable to force the words out despite her readily offering forgiveness for my other affronts. Then she’d kissed me and everything I knew had shifted, and the world had made sense for a moment.
The urge to continue checking in on her only intensified, my nerves extra frayed after finding her by the pools like I had. I felt like I might lose my sanity over the next several days as I tried to keep up with a change in her routine.
Seir started stopping by her cabin every morning. They’d say their greetings, and he’d take a crate full of paperwork and proceed to the portal. Merry had started staying behind. She’d drink a cup of tea while watering all her seedlings, then she’d vanish inside, new carving in hand.
This part pleased me far more than I wanted to admit.
In the evenings, as I prepared to set off for my rounds, I’d find her out with her watering can and often a few new visitors in the glow of the setting sun.
No matter the time of day, the sun caught her hair, sending off sparks. A halo of flames. She flitted around her gardens, always busy, constantly glowing. I couldn’t shake the image of her as a firebird, especially when she put her arms out a certain way and a trick of the light would give her flaming wings.
It would have been foolish and an outright lie at this point to deny that I was taken by the stunning woman.
Still, I was braced for the worst, and my thoughts remained focused on her both asleep and awake. I didn’t understand what it meant that my visions about Merry and Ophelia had manifested differently than I’d foreseen. While my vision about Ophelia had been wrong, she was still in stone sleep, which for all intents and purposes wasn’t all that different than dead. I wasn’t sure there were any of my kin who could pull her from it if that’s what it came down to. I couldn’t help but expect something else where Merry was concerned too.
On my way back from patrol near the end of the week, I found her on the path near the portal. The sun was high in the morning sky, hours past her normal plant-watering time. I’d stayed out longer than I normally did, some unusual activity in the doorways having kept me occupied past sunrise. It turned out to be nothing of concern, just a disturbance in the magic of the portal itself, but it had thrown my schedule off by several hours.
I approached her from the front, ensuring she could see me land and change from my slightly shifted stone kin body with wings to my human form.
She blinked. “That’s quite a fascinating process.” Her voice was low and breathy. The way she said it, the slow track of her eyes over my body lit my blood on fire.
“On your way to the crossroads? Don’t you usually go with Seir?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m allergic to the dust or something there, so they’ve been bringing my work to my cabin instead.”
“Oh. Revalia then? To the market? Or to see your horse? I could accompany you, if you like.” I blushed as the offer tumbled off my lips. I’d made a visit of my own just the day before, but if she needed me to, I’d go back.
Greta had accepted the challenge of trying to craft an elixir that could limit the damage sustained by an injury, and Rylan, fascinated by the request, was also working on a similar charm that could be embedded into a stone or other trinket. Jacks had seemed unusually irritable as he paced the fence in the paddock, but I was not a horseman, and the groom had been caring for him.
Merry’s eyes jerked to my face from where they’d been lingering around my shoulders and her cheeks turned pink. “Yes. No. I see Jacks in the afternoon usually. I’m going to Ophelia’s. I’d be happy for your company if you’d like to come with me.”
“You can’t,” I said, and Merry frowned. Her eyes were tired, glossy. Her hand idly rubbed at the muscles in her neck.
