Page 27 of Let Go My Gargoyle
Ketu and Antoinette stared at each other. Griffin glanced at Sofia and shrugged. He had no idea who the witch was talking about.
After a moment, Antoinette tilted her head. “I guess it’s possible. He’s just so hard to read. Always so stoic.”
Delilah snorted.
“Anyway.” Antoinette shook it off. “It doesn’t matter. What does is that Sofia and Penelope are staying here for a while, and I need you two to promise not to tell anyone about them.”
“Who we gonna tell?” Delilah wanted to know. “The bartender at the only bar in town that hasn’t banned us? I don’t think humans care about these two and what they are hiding from.”
“Who said they were hiding?” Antoinette asked.
“Oh come on, sweetie,” Delilah said. “You need to work on your delivery. And your poker face. It’s as obvious that they are in trouble as it is that Argyle wants to bury himself inside that witch named Pacey and never let her go again.”
Antoinette pursed her lips. Sofia inched closer to Griffin. Which he didn’t mind at all. Hey, if Argyle could fall in love…
“Well, we’re off,” Delilah said, waving at the group and then grabbing Trennon’s hand and tugging him toward the driveway. “Hopefully, we won’t get kicked out of this bar. The bartenders are hot and fun to watch.”
They disappeared around the side of the house. Antoinette sighed and said, “Those are our troublemakers. I can’t kick them out because Trennon was the previous reeve and that’s an ethical no-no. Not to mention, I feel like they’d get into far more mischief if left entirely on their own. But gods, what I wouldn’t give for a household devoid of their drama.”
“I think they’re funny,” Henri announced, and then he stepped up next to Penelope and dropped his voice to a whisper. “And she sneaks me cookies when Manman says I can’t have anymore.”
Penelope giggled. Antoinette rolled her gaze to the sky.
“Does anyone else want a drink?” Antoinette asked as she headed for the house. “I could certainly use one right now.”
They stepped into a massive, wide-open area with hardwood floors and beige furniture arranged into several different seating areas, including one that crowded around a stone fireplace framed by floor-to-ceiling windows.
This room opened into a dining area with a huge table and at least twenty chairs, and the kitchen. A granite peninsula separated the food prep area from the rest of the space.
“It’s beautiful,” Sofia said, her voice breathy. Griffin liked the way it sounded. Sexy.
“Thanks,” Antoinette said, leading them to a staircase next to the kitchen. “We haven’t changed much since we moved in back in January. Ketu and I kind of made a pact that we’d redecorate once we capture Darius.”
Griffin felt a tremor run through Sofia’s body. “You’re trying to capture Darius?” she asked.
Antoinette nodded. “He took off the night we discovered that he’d been using a concoction of herbs to keep his father in a near comatose state for a decade. I don’t know if you knew this, but Darius had been running the colony, claiming to do it on his father’s behalf when really he was just waiting for the man to die so that he could take over as reeve.”
“Why didn’t he kill him and be done with it?” Griffin asked.
“If it had been discovered that he was behind the reeve’s death, the colony would never have allowed him to be the successor. As it was, with him manufacturing dragon’s blood and getting half the colony addicted, he might have been voted out even if Trennon had died of natural causes. The way Darius handled the situation was, I hate to admit, brilliant.”
Antoinette continued, “He was able to run his drug business completely unencumbered, and he was also able to essentially run the colony, and no one questioned any of it because they assumed the reeve had given his stamp of approval.”
Griffin glanced at Sofia, but she showed no reaction to Antoinette’s words. Still, she must have felt something. He longed to have a moment in private to talk to her about it, even as he knew damn well she wouldn’t. She was too afraid of Darius.
Griffin placed his hand on Sofia’s shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze, trying to tell her without words that he would protect her. It may involve giving her over to someone else’s care, but he would ensure that whatever demons she feared did not touch her.
“Would anyone care for a drink?” Antoinette asked, pausing to stand in front of a section of the counter where an assortment of liquor bottles were lined up in a row. “I can make something, or I have beer in the fridge. Oh, and wine.”
She pulled two Abitas out of the refrigerator. “I’d like one of those,” Griffin said, so she grabbed a third.
“Just water,” Sofia said. Antoinette filled a glass with ice and water from the mechanism built into the door of the fridge. She then offered juice boxes to Henri and Penelope, who both eagerly accepted their prizes.
“Have you had any luck?” Sofia asked as Antoinette led the entourage up the stairs.
“With capturing Darius?” At Sofia’s nod, Antoinette said, “No. We’ve followed up on lead after lead, and it always results in a dead end. I’m not even sure he’s still in the city at this point.”
Sofia shot Griffin a look that he assumed was meant to warn him not to say anything.
