Page 31 of Witch Unbound
I quickly crossed the room and pulled open the curtains to let in the night. Moonlight cut across the floor, spilling over Lauris’s form on the bed.
For a moment nothing happened, and then his back arched off the bed. He sucked in a sharp breath and sat up so quickly he almost butted heads with Bramble.
“Easy.” Bramble placed her hands on his shoulders. “You’re okay.”
He devoured air in hungry gulps and shook his head. I noted the shimmer of tears in his eyes. “Fuck this. Fuck it.”
“Lauris…” Bramble stroked his cheek. “You’re back. It’s okay.”
He glared daggers at her and then tore away, clambering off the bed to haul ass to the window. He stood, arms out, bathing in the moonlight.
I saw the pained look on Bramble’s face a moment before she hid it, and anger flared in my chest.
“You don’t have to be so fucking rude, Lauris. Bramble was trying to help.”
He dropped his arms to his sides and tucked in his chin. “I’m sorry. I just…I thought this was it. I thought this time I’d be stuck like that.”
My anger evaporated. Shit. I couldn’t imagine what he was going through. Being paralyzed every fucking day. Awake, but unable to move an inch. Just waiting for night, but… “Sundown was an hour ago.”
“I know.” He turned to face us, his silver hair gleaming in the moonlight, his eyes like mirror shards in his face. “It’s been getting worse. Longer and longer before my body is free.” His hands bunched to fists. “I think one day soon I’ll be stuck like that forever.” He ran his hands over his face and focused on us both. “I don’t know what to do.”
Bramble stood, bristling with indignation. “You need to speak to Bador, that’s what. He needs to tell you about your mother.”
Lauris made a sound of disgust. “You think I haven’t tried? He won’t speak about her. He still maintains she was human.”
Wait a second. “Your motherwasn’thuman?”
“I don’t think she was. I think my father is lying to me. Gargoyles can’t procreate. They were made, and their numbers are finite, so my existence is…impossible, which makes me think my mother must have been special.”
“As a rule, humans can’t carry supernatural offspring to term,” Bramble explained. “Their bodies aren’t made to house magic.”
I could understand Lauris’s suspicions. “So, your father’s lying to you…But why?”
“I don’t know,” Lauris said. “But if he won’t tell me what I am, then I’ll find out another way.”
“How?” Bramble asked.
“Ida offered me a blood trial a long time ago, but I refused. I was still in the mindset that I could make my father love me. Make the others accept me.” He strode across the room and pulled open a drawer in his dresser. “That ship has sailed.” He plucked out a tee and shrugged it on. “They’ll never accept me, and Bador will never tell me the truth, so I’m going to take Ida up on her offer. I’m going to let her read my blood.”
“Lauris….” Bramble’s eyes were wide. “That’s forbidden for gargoyles.”
His smile was bitter. “I’m not a fucking gargoyle, Bramble. I’m an abomination.”
He had a right to know who he was and what he was. “Fine, but we’re coming with you. I need to see Ida about Jasper too.”
Lauris nodded curtly. “You think you can jump us there?”
I nodded and held out my hands to him and Bramble. “Let’s do this.”
* * *
Unlike the lasttime we’d come, Ida was at home when we knocked. She opened the door with a yawn that turned into a frown.
“Urgh, not you again.” She held the door and blocked the way inside. “At least you didn’t bring the malevolent ass with you.”
My pulse skipped. “Jasper was here? When?”
“Yeah, last night, then he went all weird like he was listening to something and vanished.”
