Page 73 of Cherished By the Gargoyle
The strange smell of iron and something syrupy-sweet hangs thick in the air. Candlelight flickers along the wall, shadows stretching toward me, bending unnaturally.
Each step feels heavier than the last, my body sluggish, my limbs slow to obey. I should stop. IknowI should. But when I see Thalric’s shadow in the hallway, my heart moves before my mind can stop it.
A faint whisper floats down the hallway, soft and coaxing.Come closer.It slides into my thoughts like silk.
“Thalric…” My voice trembles. “Please, don’t leave me again.”
I’m mesmerized as his eyes stare deep into mine, his outline glowing faintly as if carved from moonlight itself as he holds his hand out to me.
Without hesitation, I reach for him.
I gasp as sharp pain stings the tip of my finger. His hand dissolves into shadow as the illusion shatters, revealing a spinning wheel, its spindle glinting wickedly in the light.
Fear grips me in an iron vise as I stumble back, my heart hammering. “No!”
White-hot pain flares through me, slicing through the dreamlike haze. It sears through my hand, down my arm, and into my chest.
The world tilts violently as shadows surge forward like living creatures. Panic surges through my veins as thick tendrils of darkness wrap around my form.
A voice slides through the air, cold and victorious. “You cannot outrun destiny, Princess.”
Malvara.
Her laughter curls around me like smoke. “Even your Gargoyle’s lies could not save you from me.”
“No!” A deafening roar that could only be Thalric’s echoes in the distance.
Cold spreads through my veins as darkness closes in around the edges of my vision.
“Thalric,” I barely manage to call out as I’m pulled into a terrifying abyss, leaving only the lingering, broken echo of his name in my heart.
CHAPTER 49
THALRIC
Something is wrong with Aurora.
Protective instincts surge through me as I spread my wings and take flight. The cold air feels heavy with warning as I race to the castle.
I drop from the sky, landing hard on the balcony outside her room. My claws scrape the stone as I lunge toward the doors.
My nostrils flare as I catch her scent hits of honeysuckle and lavender, but it’s threaded with something else. Something wrong. A faint metallic tang that makes my heart seize.
My gaze sweeps the room. The bed is empty. The fire is cold.
Panic claws through my chest. I can sense she is somewhere nearby. Her presence feels faint, flickering, like a candle guttering in the wind.
The corridor reeks of wrongness—magic thick as rot, humming against my skin.
And then I see her.
Aurora drifts down the hall toward the northern tower, hair unbound, silk nightrobe whispering across the stones. Moonlight glides over her, turning her skin pale as glass.
My heart stops. Her eyes are open but vacant, her face serene, emptied of thought.
“Aurora!”
My talons gouge the floor as I lunge forward, wings flaring wide. “Stop! Wait!”
