Page 22 of The Gargoyle's Captive

Gratitude flows through me. I’m glad she’s not pressing the issue. I might feel a kinship with this woman, but the truth is that we’re barely more than strangers. Whatever she thinks she knows about me, she doesn’t. I clear my throat. “It only brings luck if you’re down here at midnight.”

“Maybe. But from what you said, it’s a new superstition. Maybe your people just haven’t explored the full parameters of it.”

Despite myself, I smile a little. “Maybe.”

I lead her down the hall to the wine cellar—a long, deep room carved right out of the mountain. There are no windows, and the temperature drops several degrees as we step inside. Good for wine. Less so for humans sensitive to the cold. “It looks fine. Let’s go before you catch a chill.”

“Are you worried about me, Bram?” A pale flicker of orange shows her surprise. “I appreciate the concern, but a little cold won’t hurt me.” She moves deeper into the room and tilts her head back, then closes her eyes. “I see why they come here. It might be creepy as shit, but it’s a little peaceful, too. You can barely hear the wind. It feels a little like you’re the last person left in this realm.”

I move closer despite myself, drawn by the strange peace emanating from her. “Doesn’t the thought of being the last person left scare you?”

“No,” she says simply. “I’ve been alone for five years now. Long enough to get good at it. But if I’m the last person left”—she reaches out and takes my hand—“or, for the sake of argument, we’re the last two people left? It means no one needs to be saved. No one needs to be ruled. No one needs us at all. And yeah, there’s a part of me that finds that really attractive.”

Understanding curls through me. How many times has she said or done something that immediately resonates with me? She’s a stranger, and yet I feel like I know her down to her very bones. I squeeze her hand, close my eyes, and tilt my head back, mimicking her posture. “That is really attractive, isn’t it?”

Just the two of us left alone in the world.

It’s not reality, but I stand here in the dark, in silence, and share the fantasy with her. At least for a little while.

13

GRACE

Idon’t know what I’m doing. If I had half a brain in my head, I would wait for Bram to lower his guard before attempting another escape. I would stack the deck in my favor as much as possible. I would ensure I had supplies enough to last me a week at least. I would do a lot of things.

I don’t do any of it.

It feels cliché to say today changed things. It didn’t. Itcan’t. Except... I get him a little better than I did before. I see him clearer.

I want him more.

I wait for the dead of night, and then I slip out of the castle using a different door than I did before. It doesn’t matter. I’m certain I can feel his eyes on me. I don’t head toward the lake—there’s not even a hint of an exit route that direction—but to the fields in the east. It’s a garbage tactical decision when my pursuer can take to the air.

I look over my shoulder into the sky, but it’s too dark, and the cloud cover hides everything from view. He could be directly overhead and I would never know it, not until he dived down and took me. Anticipation curls through me. Unforgivable, and yet it’s the truth. I pick up my pace until I’m jogging over the uneven ground. The tree line is to my right, but I’m not prepared to go there yet. The forest is all but impossible to navigate in the dark, and I don’t relish the idea of being caught in those webs again.

This is so foolish, I can’t even put it into words.What am I doing?

My only answer is a faint whistling sound. I barely register it at first. Then my instincts catches up to my brain, and I sprint toward the trees. It’s already too late.

Between one step and the next, rough hands hook under my armpits and wrench me into the air. The ground disappears beneath my feet as Bram cuts upward. Then the motherfucker tosses me, and I’m weightless for one horrifying breath before he catches me in his arms. At first, I think he might have done it to get a better grip on me, but as he turns for the castle, he does it again. He drops me, letting me fall for several seconds, then catches me again and takes us higher. Only to repeat the process again. Through it all, I don’t scream. I can’t tell if I’m afraid or furious or, gods help me, turned on.

I still don’t have an answer when he dives through a large window toward the top of the castle. I’m shaking, and I can’t seem to stop. There’s no way my legs will hold me. They don’t have to. Bram tosses me onto his bed and plasters a massive hand on my chest when I start to sit up. “I told you the consequences of your actions.”

Yeah, he really did. Knowing that I chose this is somehow all the more humiliating. I shouldn’t have been looking forward to the moment when he caught me and dragged me back. And yet here I am, thighs pressed together, breathlessly waiting to see what he’ll do next.

Wait, what am I doing?I saw how he reacted in the bath, and I know how I felt the moment I took control. Who’s to say I can’t do that now?

He’s dressed much the same as he has been since I met him, his stony skin mostly bare except for a loincloth sort of thing wrapped around his hips. After the chance to get acquainted with his cock last night, the possibilities of those ridges made me lose sleep. In fact, he’s so hard, I can clearly see the ridges outlined against the fabric of the loincloth. First things first, though. I sit up. “The birth control pendant?”

“So eager for my cock, aren’t you?” He moves away from the bed. His wing lashes out, and the spur catches something on a nearby dresser that I hadn’t noticed before. He tosses it in my lap. It’s exactly what I imagined it would be: a pendant on a chain with some arcane writing on it that I can’t decipher. Back in my realm, there are a thousand and one magical ways to magically ensure no pregnancy occurs during sexual encounters. And they all have fewer side effects than prescription medication.

This could be a trap.

“How does it work?”

He doesn’t move. He doesn’t seem to even breathe. “You need a little of your blood to activate it and key it to you. After that, as long as you’re wearing it, you can’t conceive.”

I wait for the catch, but he doesn’t say anything else. He doesn’t have to. As I search his aura, I find not even the slightest hint of deception. That doesn’t mean it’s not there, but if Bram is a liar, he’s the best I’ve ever met. My instincts are rarely incorrect when it comes to identifying threats, and if Bram is a threat, it’s not because he’s trying to trap me.

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