Page 49 of Let Go My Gargoyle
“My dragon thinks you’re our mate,” she blurted.
His eyes flared as he became as still as a statue for long seconds. And then he touched her face, his fingers lightly brushing her skin. “I wish things were different, Sofia. I used to wish I’d never met you. Now I wish I had stayed that first night. Our lives would have been so different.”
“How so?”
“We could have been together.” He dropped his hand. “Now that I’m part of Oliver’s brethren, we can’t.” He shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”
She’d finally confessed the truth about her father, they were going to confront Darius, and when this was all over, she would have her daughter back, except then she’d have to give her over to the gargoyles to train to be a killing machine. Oh, and she’d apparently found her mate, except he was forbidden from actually becoming her mate.
“It just isn’t fair,” she muttered, turning away from him to stride down the hall toward her bedroom. She had a lot to mull over, but her priority at the moment was to get Penelope back.
It was frustrating as hell that Darius had taken the extra step to steal Penelope away after leaving a note implying that he’d kill Sofia’s mother. Or maybe his threat in the note had been to Penelope and not to her mother after all. Except their contract had always been about hurting her mother. He’d always resented her for getting knocked up and giving him a sibling he didn’t want.
It didn’t sound like he’d treated his other half-siblings in the same way, but then again, they weren’t his father’s children, so therefore not in line to become reeve.
“He still believes he’s going to become reeve someday,” she blurted as she reached for the knob on her bedroom door. Before she could grasp it, the door opened for her, and Maria stood on the other side.
“What are you doing in her bedroom?” Griffin demanded from behind her.
Maria pretended to buff her nails against her shirt. “Cleaning.”
Sofia glanced at Griffin, who narrowed his eyes. “I thought you didn’t do anything that might break a nail.”
Maria lifted one shoulder and let it drop again. Griffin suddenly reached out and grabbed her arm. “How did you know Sofia was a waitress in a bar that caters mostly to dragons?”
Sofia stared at him. “Why are you asking her that?”
He gave Maria a small shake. “Because she made that exact comment to me yesterday. I didn’t think anything of it until now. But I’m willing to bet that you and Maria here had never met until yesterday.”
Sofia shook her head. “Nope, we haven’t.”
“Which means she should not have known anything about you. And yet she knew you worked at Mitch’s.”
Something clicked in her brain, like puzzle pieces finally fitting together after frustrating hours of trying to find the right connection. “He didn’t get in the house at all. You left that note on the counter.” She stabbed her finger at Maria, who lifted her chin defiantly.
“And last night, when Darius was out in the yard—”
“Darius was in the yard?” Griffin interrupted. “You saw him?”
Sofia nodded. “I went out to the gazebo, and he was there.”
“How did he know you were here?” Griffin asked. “And how did he get past Antoinette’s guards?”
Sofia shook her head. “There weren’t any guards, at least not for a few minutes. Antoinette and Ketu and the kids had all gone to bed, and no one else was around. And Trennon and Delilah had gone out—although someone drugged them while they were out, to ensure they stayed away too.” She looked at Griffin and snapped her fingers. “Trennon can sense Darius’s presence, so Darius had to make sure he wouldn’t be in the vicinity.” She whipped back around to face Maria. “And I bet you set the whole thing up for him.”
Sofia sensed someone else coming up behind them, and then Ketu’s voice said, “You’ve been spying for him? Are you serious, Maria?”
Maria flinched and seemed to shrink into herself, as if somehow, Ketu making the accusation actually had an effect on her. And then she straightened again and looked him in the eye. “He forced me to.”
“Bullshit.” Ketu practically spat the word. “He had no control over you once Antoinette took over. You chose to make contact with him.”
Tears flooded Maria’s eyes, and she trembled like a leaf as she wrapped her arms around herself. “You don’t understand. He controlled everything I did for my entire adult life. You remember what a loser I was in high school.”
“You weren’t a loser,” Ketu said.
“I was,” Maria insisted. “And Darius changed all that. He made me beautiful, gave me confidence.”
“I’m not so sure about the confidence part,” Griffin noted.
