Page 168 of Halfblood Deceived

And despite Kamilla and Diana assuring Aella that it had nothing at all to do with her, she felt guilty.

Not because she believed her sister and friend were lying about it not being her fault, but because she couldn’t be there to help them.

Aella could fight, but she was not a match for highly trained gargoyles. She had two massive scars on her stomach to remind her of it. Not to mention that she was sure she’d freeze at some point during a fight and become a liability to her sister and friends.

She felt useless.

And enraged.

Why couldn’t the gargoyles just mind their own damn business? Why did they feel the right to impose their repugnant beliefs on the entire world?

Aella’s stomach had been knotted for hours as she imagined the gargoyles invading Darkwood and killing innocent people. Recently, she’d met a family that lived a few houses down the street—a vampire female, a half-fey male, and their baby. If Aella was no match for a trained gargoyle with her genetic combat memory and superior strength, they sure weren’t. The half-fey male was a carpenter.

Gods, even Evan and Andreas had gotten hurt. Andreas who was huge and scary and probably slept with his sword under his pillow.

Aella was sure to have nightmares about Mac, Lupita, Jessa, Becca, and Trinity being chased by gargoyles as well.

She hadn’t been able to smile all night and had gotten a few orders wrong as well.

Mac intercepted her when she finished delivering the, fortunately, right order to a frazzled group of young women. “Take your break,” the blonde said.

Aella shook her head. “We’re too full tonight—”

“And you aren’t helping by making mistakes, Aella,” Mac said. Aella cringed. Mac gave her arm a squeeze. “I’ve been where you are, alright? I know something’s up and you don’t have to tell me what, but you need to go take a long break. Go scream to the sky, or drink a soda, or whatever calms you.”

Aella sighed. “Okay. Sorry.”

“No worries,” Mac said, letting Aella go to take care of her least favorite kind of table—college boys who thought they were cute.

Aella took Mac’s advice and weaved her way to the back exit.

The chilly wind was a welcome respite despite the shiver it evoked.

She closed the door behind her and walked to her favorite spot, one she had discovered was a blind spot for Kam’s cameras.

She pondered screaming as Mac had said, but felt too drained even for that. Her head was pounding.

“In through the nose, hold it for five seconds, and then let go,” Aella heard a familiar voice instruct in her head. Two beloved faces mixed in her mind’s eye. She obeyed the memorized command and took deep breaths, counting them. By the thirtieth, she was feeling marginally calmer.

Kamilla had assured Aella that she, Kerian, Sebastian, Zeydan, and even Aroth were going to make sure the gargoyles stayed far away from Darkwood. And since Aella hadn’t met a more lethal combination of people, she tried to take comfort in that.

It was hard because these were people she cared about, and she feared something bad would happen to them. She couldn’t imagine them getting hurt—

In through the nose.

It was inevitable, Aella knew this.

Kamilla and Kerian, Sebastian, Aylana, and Zeydan, too—were the undeclared but obvious guardians of Darkwood.

Aella just wished there was a way to keep the gargoyles out forever, or to put a stop to them completely.

She laughed ruefully, covering her face with her hands.

The person she was mere months ago would be appalled by the new her. But since the person she used to be was a prejudiced, brainwashed, abused, ignorant fool, Aella could absolutely live with that.

A flash of stinging energy ran down her spine.

She dropped her hands, straightening and turning her head to the left to find a man walking toward her.

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