Page 49 of Hearts of Stone

“Trevor?” Seneca said. “This is the name of the man who has shown himself to be completely unworthy of you.” He looked at the others. “We will find this man and tear his flesh from his bones.”

“How do you know he was unworthy of me?” I asked in a flat voice, but the other two were looking at Seneca with deep scowls. “How do you know? Is it some kind of gargoyle Jedi mind trick or—”

“Your friend, Daniel, informed us of your former lover’s betrayal,” Carrick replied, lips thinning. “He wanted to know what our intentions were and that—”

“No.” I stumbled back, away from them, away from the mural, putting my back to it as I felt my heart begin to race, again. “No, that’s no-one’s business but mine.” I felt like I had to get out of the place. Moving was good; moving faster was better. My feet felt like they skimmed across the wooden floor as I backed away from them. And why the hell was I running?Because I didn’t want anyone else to know the ugly details of what had happened with Trevor.

I’d allowed myself one little breakdown about his betrayal, and I’d tried to make sure I didn’t share it with anyone. I was rostered on for the morning shift the day after I’d discovered Trevor hard at it in his office, so I went in early just to get it all out, something I hadn’t been able to do at the apartment. I’d worked it all out. I made sure I hadn’t done my makeup. I knew Jackie wouldn’t be in until the afternoon and that no one normally came in an hour before their shift. And so, I’d gone to work, walked straight to the manager’s office, closed the door and just… cried.

Sobbing for what I’d lost and, apparently, had never really had. It wasn’t just your relationship that died when you found out you’d been lied to. Compounding that loss was the death of the assumptions you’d made, as you realised that the man you thought you were in a relationship with hadn’t actually existed. And in his place was somebody utterly repellent. I cried and cried, as quietly as I could at first, but as the enormity of my loss had hit me, I’d let it all out, figuring no one was around. After a while, though, I found out someone else had decided to come in ahead of their shift. The door to the office had clicked open and Daniel had appeared in the doorway. He’d taken everything in, wide-eyed, his gaze flicking rapidly from me to the half-empty box of tissues on one side of me, then the rubbish bin where those sodden tissues had gone to die, and finally to how I was clutching a bottle of water like a life preserver. Without a word, he’d walked straight to me, knelt down and wrapped his arms around me.

Which had been exactly what I needed.

Just to have someone give the slightest shit about me. That’s all I’d wanted. And I’d cried into his shoulder until, finally, I was past the wailing, incoherent stage. When I pulled away andpulled myself together, Danny forced me to call in sick, and then we went back to his place, with a stop on the way at the bottle shop to get enough bottles of cheap wine for us to get messy drunk, in the process of which I let every shitty detail out. The next day, despite killer hangovers, we fuelled up on Panadol, Berocca, and bacon and egg rolls, and, still groaning, turned up for work, because we couldn’t afford to do anything else.

Like the vast majority of people were forced to do every day.

And that need to just get on with it was what was motivating me now, forcing me away from the gargoyles; away from what they were offering.

“Jade, please,” Graven said. His brow creased, and a look of real pain crossed his face. I didn’t like being the one that caused it, but I couldn’t pretend that I was OK with just going along with what they were saying. Things like this didn’t happen in the real world. He opened his mouth as if to try to form an effective argument, but whatever he’d planned to say was interrupted by a noise on the other side of the room as a door was opened.

“Ah, Graven,” Mellors said, stepping into the vast room. His heels clicked on the polished floor as he strode across the open space. “Very good. You’ve brought Jade to Whiteley House, as discussed.”

“ ‘As discussed’?” I said. “Is this yet another test?”

“I’m assuming Harry told you about the test of power,” Mellors replied, with a tight smile. “And, to answer your question: yes. But it’s one you’ve already passed. Entrance to Whiteley House is strictly warded. Only those with the power to do so can get inside, and so it is that only those who gain entry can take their place at the table of the First Families.” He stepped forward and then gestured to the closest door. “That place is one you’ve now earned. Come through, Jade, and find out the true nature of your inheritance.”

There’d been a time, when I was a kid, when all I’d wanted in the world was the chance to respond to just such a call to action. But when faced with the opportunity in real life, I found myself hesitating.

Because of them.

I could see each one of the gargoyles wanted to say something. Seneca’s brows twitched together, his mouth falling open as he sucked in a breath. Carrick watched me steadily, with a dangerous gleam in his eyes, as his tail twitched back and forth. But it was Graven whose response affected me the most, his expression becoming as severe as his name as I watched the light of hope fade from his eyes.

I didn’t like seeing that, not one bit, but given that I was all at sea about pretty much everything, I wasn’t sure I knew how to reignite it. Instead, I did what seemed manageable, easy, and turned to Mellors.

“The true nature of my inheritance?” I repeated back to him.

The lawyer nodded once, slowly, then smiled.

“Follow me, Jade. There’s a group of people in the next room who would very much like to meet you.”

Chapter 28

Graven

“The true nature of your inheritance…”

Mellors’ words rolled around in my head as my mate walked behind him through the doorway. We followed close, because where she went, so did we. Carrick and Seneca bumped into each other in their haste, then pulled back to shoot daggers at each other with their eyes before I pushed forward. They could play their little dominance games some other time, because James Mellors was not being entirely honest.

Jade was indeed the recipient of a great legacy; but was he going to tell her how much of a burden it would be, as well as a gift? I stared at both of my stone brothers, making clear my expectations, and was gratified to see them stand taller, and lose their competitive air. They needed to be able to look past their own selfishness and remember that matters were still not settled.

We were about to walk into the dragon’s den.

“Mellors!”

David Savoy, head of the powerful Savoy witch enclave, pushed himself away from where he’d been leaning against the mantelpiece above the empty fireplace, a glass of whisky in his hand. As he approached Jade, he smiled the smile that some of his sons and nephews had perfected as they had moved into politics. I couldn’t help but step closer, instinctively wanting to put my body between them, something the warlock noted. A silvery eyebrow curved upwards in question and when he met my eyes, I felt it. A push of power: his attempt to put me in my place. It was not strong enough to bring me to heel, but I couldn’t let him know that. If he knew how impervious The Eyrie gargoyles were to the First Families’ powers, he’d make moves to correct that. But instead of engaging with me any further, his focus shifted to Jade, and his crocodile smile widened.

“So the little lady made it. Looks like I owe you that bottle of twenty-year-old single malt, Adam.”

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