Page 84 of Cherished By the Gargoyle
The stone crawls up his chest, slow and relentless as his heartbeat thuds fiercely beneath my palm. He leans closer, gently dropping his forehead to mine as he whispers. “My heart is stone… unyielding… yours.” He presses his lips to my own one last time before he slowly pulls away. “It has always been yours, Auri.”
His gaze holds mine, and I watch helplessly, tears streaming down my cheeks as the light fades from his eyes, the stone claiming him entirely, capturing forever the last look of love and fierce devotion.
“No,” I sob, clutching desperately at him, his body solid and unmoving beneath my touch. “No, please… come back to me. You can’t leave me like this. Come back. Please, come back!”
My knees buckle as grief overwhelms me, and I collapse against the statue he has become.
Ryllen’s strong arms wrap around me, and I pound my fists weakly against his chest once, twice, before I collapse into him, sobs wracking through my body.
Outside the window, the sun begins to rise. Life stirs as the kingdom awakens. Startled voices rise from distant corridors, but it all sounds muffled and far away as I reach for Thalric’s face again.
My fingertips trace over his cheek, the lines of stone that will never soften. “You promised you’d never leave me,” I whisper brokenly. “Tell me you aren’t truly gone, my love. Please.”
The silence that echoes in return is deafening.
CHAPTER 56
AURORA
As I walk through the castle gardens, I think of Thalric. He saved me. He awakened the entire kingdom. He gave us all our lives back… and it cost him his own.
“It’s been a week since he freed us all from Malvara’s curse, and every day without him feels endless.”
“Aurora,” my father calls out. I turn back to find him and my mother approaching. “I thought we might find you here.”
My mother steps forward, her expression solemn and grief-stricken. “Oh, my darling, I know you’re sad, but it’s not good for you to spend so much time out here.”
I swallow against the lump in my throat as I nod. Deep down, I know she’s right. I should move on, but I can’t. They have no idea of my loss. I grew up with Thalric. He was my first friend and my greatest love, and I still find myself half expecting him to appear seemingly out of nowhere… like he always would. It didn’t matter what I was doing, he’d always seem to find me.
“We’re worried about you,” my father adds. “I know it’s hard, but—”
“I know. It’s just… I need some time.”
Mother pulls me into an embrace. “Alright, my darling,” she whispers in my ear. “We’re here if you need us.”
Eldrin approaches next. “Aurora,” he begins, voice tight with carefully restrained emotion. “My son chose you. His heart chose you, long before either of you understood the depth of what it meant.”
Swallowing hard, I blink back tears.
“He cherished you,” Eldrin says, the edges of his stoic facade cracking for a moment. “You were his world. He would want you to live, Aurora. To embrace the life his sacrifice made possible for you.”
I nod shakily, unable to speak past the tight knot in my throat.
Fiora walks up behind him, followed by Lyria and Maribel.
“We will not stop searching,” she says. “We’ll search every book, every scroll, every ancient magic until we find a way to bring Thalric back to you. But you must understand that we may find there is nothing to be done.”
“We will do all we can,” Lyria adds.
Maribel’s violet eyes shimmer as she cups my cheek. “Hold onto your love for him, and we shall hold onto hope. But in the meantime, you must live as well. Do you understand?”
I nod.
After they leave, I turn deeper into the gardens, to the place where they moved Thalric’s statue—a place of honor beneath the sprawling branches of an ancient oak.
I’m surprised to see Ryllen standing beside him, his eyes shining with sadness. “Excuse me. I was just saying goodbye to my friend. I leave tomorrow morning.”
“I know,” I reply. A faint smile crests my lips. Ryllen is a good person, and I’ll miss his company. Of everyone around me, it’sstrange that he seems to be the one who understands what I’m going through. “I’ll be sad to see you go.”
