Page 55 of Heartsong
And then reminded herself not to use that saying lightly anymore.
Through it all, she couldn’t help noticing things she’d overlooked before. It wasn’t just the type and number of statues in the museum that were unique. The collection also boasted incredibly rare codices and illuminated manuscripts. On closer examination, several had illustrated figures with wings and horns and tails. Perhaps at first glance demons or other fanciful creatures (there were also plenty of pages with knights fighting snails and cats doing farm work), but now that Annaknewabout the gargoyles, it was hard to see the figures as anything else.
In fact, everywhere she looked, even in the pottery sherds and brooch designs, were motifs that possibly spoke to the gargoyles and their ancient origins.
It was…suspicious at best.
Now it wasn’t just Frey and June in her head; she couldn’t ignore that there was something seriously strange about the museum and its collection. Which meant there had to be something up with the owners. She didn’t want to squint at Gavin or especially Carrie, who’d been so nice to her, but she couldn’t help it.
All of it made work not the safe space she’d been starting to feel it was, and that bothered her. It was a bit of a haven away from Frey and his expectations and worse, the things he made her feel. Now, though, she dreaded what other realization she might have or what else she might find out about the collection or its owners.
She didn’t want to go on unemployment and job hunt again. She didn’t want to have a gap in pay and insurance. That meant doctor and pharmacy shuffles. It meant possibly running out of her meds.
So no, work wasn’t a safe space, but it wasn’tunsafe, either. At least not enough so.
Unfortunately, home didn’t feel safe now, either—but for entirely different reasons.
Somewhere through the days, Frey had changed tactics—and his hunky househusband routine was…working. Anna always came home to dinner steaming and ready. Although they were on a budget, Captain was eating gourmet too, fresh seared tilapia and peas or chicken and squash; his coat was downright glowing. Anna was a fairly neat person and didn’t have a ton of things to clutter the apartment, but the place practically sparkled with how clean it was. Over her last faux weekend, she had time to read and do other small things she enjoyed during the days because everything was already taken care of.
At home, she was cared for. Doted on. The man rubbed her feet for an hour while she watched trashy TV! If she let him, Anna knew he’d happily carry her around and tuck her into bed, too.
Or join me.
No, bad libido. Bad.
But his chest, though.
Ah yes, that chest. Ever since getting that long, supportive hug after the detective came, Anna had been failing to keep the memory of his warm chest out of her mind. Given the chance, her brain was right back to it, thinking treacherous thoughts about how she’d fitted so…perfectlyagainst him.
He was so, so dangerous to her yet she couldn’t help indulging. When he wasn’t being a butt about her going to work or pressing the mate issue, she adored spending time with him. She even found his arrogant streak strangely endearing; he’d clearly been hot stuff back in his time, and although he was making obvious efforts to modernize and gentle himself, there were times he couldn’t hold back a preen or boast.
She couldn’t help smiling to herself whenever he caught her looking at him; he’d puff his chest and his wings would lift. Anna almost expected him to strike a bodybuilder pose. But then, she couldn’t argue that his showing off didn’t work—she definitely checked him out whenever he preened or puffed or flexed.
It didn’t help matters that the man never buttoned his shirts and his pants were always slung low to accommodate his tail. The number of times her gaze caught on that flat plane of muscle between belly button andother bits…
The sound of her own dreamy sigh startled her out of her thoughts.
God, if she wasn’t careful, she’d have it bad. If she didn’t already.
Would that be such a bad thing?
The denial wasn’t as fast as it’d once been. And that worried her.
He’d made it clear he was an all-in kind of gargoyle, and she didn’t want to play with his feelings or lead him on. Whatever more they might have could be amazing, but what if she hurt him?
What if he hurt her?
In Anna’s experience, men rarely lived up to the hype. Not that there was anything normal about Frey. He wasn’t even really aman,a human man at least. Nothing about him or the situation was normal. They couldn’t really date. They couldn’t even go out during the day. Still, whatever could happen would be serious.
And Anna…was terrified of that.
It scared her how easily a monstrous man from the sixth century had eased into her life. Sure, there had been growing pains those first days, and yeah there were moments she wanted to just be by herself in her own apartment. But those moments were far outweighed and outnumbered by the joy growing like a weed inside her each time she came home to him. To his smiles and flirting and curiosity. Even if it was just dinner and some TV before bed, her evenings feltfull.
Sometimes the weight of loneliness weren’t apparent until the burden had been eased a little.
She had Captain. She had things she enjoyed doing. But Frey drove out the worst of her loneliness. He had her looking forward to things again.
Did that all mean she could accept being someone’s soulmate? Choosing to give his promises a chance and see what came of them?
