Page 96 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

“Polite then.”

His only answer was a grunt.

I got up and followed Minerva’s path into the kitchen. The kettle was on the stove to boil and there was a teapot and four teacups set out on a tray, but she wasn’t there.

I found her standing in the sunroom off the back of the kitchen, surrounded by her potted herbs and flowers. She even had a dwarf lemon tree in one corner of the room.

Her back was to me, and her eyes seemed to be on the riot of green and color in her backyard. It was the middle of March, and her spring flowers were just beginning to bloom.

“MinMin?” I asked, coming to stand beside her.

She inhaled and looked over her shoulder at me. “You startled me.”

“What’s going on with you?” I asked.

She shrugged one shoulder. “Nothing really. I’m not sure if it was getting conked on the head by Sommerton or the healing you did on me, but I’ve been feeling a little off since yesterday.”

“Do you need to see the healer?”

Minerva shook her head, her arms still hugging her waist. “No, I think I’m fine. I just feel...strange. Like something is supposed to be happening but I don’t know what it is.”

“You still haven’t had a premonition?”

“Not a single one in days,” she admitted with a sigh. “It’s frightening me a little because I know that means I’m facing something potentially life-altering and this is fate’s way of making sure I don’t intervene.”

I put an arm around her and rested my temple on her shoulder, much as I did when I was a child. It was just now that I was a little taller than her.

“Nothing can happen to you,” I murmured. “I wouldn’t be able to stand it.”

Her palm rested on the side of my face, and she kissed the top of my head. “Sweet girl, life-altering doesn’t necessarily mean potentially dangerous. Just something that will change the trajectory of my future that must happen. I won’t be able to stop it.”

I couldn’t understand how she was so calm about all of this. Especially since she couldn’t know which she would be facing—death or her life changing completely.

The tea kettle on the stove began to whistle. Minerva gave my head another kiss and released me, walking back into the kitchen.

“I’m surprised you and Dax made it here today. I thought you would be holed up, having insane amounts of sex.”

My face heated and I knew I was blushing. “Aunt Minnie, stop it!”

I didn’t mention to her that Dax and I had already decided to pack up my duffel and fly back to his cave for a few days. It was rustic, but it was also completely private, something we both wanted.

She chuckled and went about putting cookies and chocolate truffles on a plate with the tea service as she waited for the tea to steep.

“Well, I’ll give you a couple of days before I call,” she murmured.

I walked over to her and leaned my hip against the counter, crossing my arms over my chest.

“What are you going to do with Talant?” I asked.

She shrugged a shoulder. “Try to keep him out of trouble and make sure he truly understands the modern world before I send him on his way.”

“That’s it?”

Minerva shot me a piercing look, her golden eyes shimmering with an emotion I couldn’t place. “What does that mean?”

“It’s just that…you two watch each other, but I can’t tell if it’s like two fighters circling each other before they attack or the way an enemies-to-lovers romance starts out.”

Her mouth dropped open and she gaped at me. “There will be no enemies-to-lovers romance. He’s not my enemy and I’m not going there.”

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