Page 135 of Stone Seduction
I was jelly in her arms, nothing more than a broken shell. Useless, defeated, totally wrecked.
How did this happen? How did things get so messed up?
I must be dreaming. Yeah, trapped in a nightmare. None of this was real. I never fell in love with the wrong man. Lukewasthe right man, the one to change my life. Helping me move on from Billy, clearing the cobwebs.
Denial is a bitch.
“Almost there, Cookie,” Eden said, a severe tremble in her tone.
A mighty crack forced her to stop. The tower listed under the battering of the water, its pounding relentless.
My sister hovered, beating her wings. “Oh?—”
A second crack sounded, the top half of the tower swaying. Gargoyle knights dove from the balconies, carrying weavers and human servants.
The green sky flickered, the dome fading away.
By the gods.
The wave seemed to strengthen. Brinecrest sloped upward to an observatory and library at the summit, but even those were lost.
With one final, sickening crack, the tower collapsed, its top half crashing into the water, the rest of it quickly swallowed from sight.
THIRTY-SIX
Luke
Iwish I’d stayed asleep to miss this stroll in the dark.
Unfortunately, I’d come to upon arrival in Billy’s arms with no clue of my location. I was freezing my arse off, my stomach roiling, the rest of me reeling from what’d gone down.
Those people. The town. Gone because of me. Friends, fellow humans and gargoyles—and what about Finn. Did the terror house split open, releasing Finn and the others to run wild?
Oh, God. This gut-wrenching self-loathing was nothing more than self-pity, but I couldn’t do anything but let it consume me.
Murderer. Nothing more than a killer.
Seth and Luna led the way down some path surrounded by mountains. At least, I thought so from the glimpses in the dark.
They carried torches, gravel crunching under their boots.
Luna’s bracelets were back on my wrists, a collar chaffing my neck. The potion slithered in my veins again like cold, juicy slugs.
Dammit. Damn him.
Every limb hurt while being afflicted with pins and needles at the same time. Let them hurt, let this be the beginning of a million lifetimes of penance.
You’ll never redeem yourself from this.
Seth turned to smile at me, a joint in his right hand. “Not too far now. Sorry we have to go by foot, but we’re under strict orders not to use flight around here.”
Why? And orders from who?
Ugh. I didn’t have the wherewithal to ask.
“Sorry about the disk,” Luna grumbled.
“We’ll soon be in a nice hotel with a glass of wine,” he added.
