Page 24 of The Stones for It
My arms shook as I tried to raise myself off his deliciously firm abs. He’d taken enough pain for me without crushing him, too.
The feel of him against me made something within my rib cage strain, like it wanted more of his touch.
My mind rebelled at the thought.
I slid aside, landing on his outstretched wing. It immediately curled around me, and I knew I should have felt trapped by the powerful fae. Instead, I felt safe. Protected.
If that lamia reappeared, he’d draw a blade from the shadows and run her through. If the fire raged towards us, he’d pick me up and carry me to safety. If a bitter human threw a blade at me, he’d step in front of it.
I just couldn’t figure outwhy.
“Vrath? Are you ok?” I panted, scanning him as I tried to free myself from his wing too.
His delicate flight membranes must have taken a beating in the fall, and I winced at the thought.
He groaned and pushed to sitting, leaving his wing across my lap. “I’m fine.” He coughed.
I swore I could hear his ribs creak.
Worry nipped at me, but he was a fully grown gargoyle. Theking, at that. He knew his strength better than I did.
The vicious, tree-hugging lamia was nowhere to be seen, at least. A glowing orb drifted towards us, bobbing lazily in the air to illuminate the rainforest. Not that it was needed with the glow thrown off from the tropical flowers and reaching ferns.
Long furrows raked the ground beside us, showing exactly where we’d hit and slid. Vrath’s spine points had gouged a path through the dirt.
“You saved me,” I whispered, frowning at the brooding male. “Why?”
It went against everything I’d heard about the Gargoyle King. He was one of the most ruthless of the royal fae, his caste known for brute strength and bloodshed.
A single gargoyle warrior would decimate an entire human regiment in the war. And Vrath himself had reportedly cut down hundreds of my kind on the battlefield.
Out of all the royals, he was topping the list of our enemies.
Bitterness warred with my gratitude in an unsettling mix.
How could such a notorious mortal killer have leapt from a tree to take the impact of a lethal fall for a human?
One he’d just met, and clearly didn’t like.
He finally lifted his gaze to meet mine, the intense scarlet glowing around the dark slits of his pupils.
“I was charged with your protection.” His low voice rumbled through me, a shock in the silence that had stretched between us. “I do not fail in my duties.”
“Like massacring thousands,Your Highness?” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
His upper lip hooked up on one side to bare a sharp fang. “I did not start your war.”
“But you finished it, right?”
“You think I relished the bloodshed? Lives were thrown away on both sides, and all because ofyourkind.” He looked away, jaw clenched.
His words needled at me.
I could have easily been one of those lost to the war if I’d been a few years older, able to join during the bulk of the action. That my kind had started the conflict wasn’t lost on me, though.
Butthey’dbeen the ones to burst into our world. Stronger, faster and brimming with magical powers. How could we not have responded defensively?
“Besides, even a king has to answer to someone,” he murmured, so low I almost missed it.
