Page 15 of The Stone Curse
I was being ridiculous. “I don’t know. What will happen to him…to his body now?”
“They’ll take him to Arcadia for proper goyle rites,” Orix said.
I had no idea what those were. “I want to be there. Ineedto be there.”
Orix put his hand on my shoulder. “Okay. I’ll take you.”
“I’m coming too,” Curi said.
“I’d like to visit Selas,” Touron said. “I’m in love with her.”
It took a moment for his words to register, and silence yawned for several seconds before Curi broke it.
“I knew it!” Curi said. “I fucking knew it.”
Touron loved Selas? He loved her, and she was hurt, but all this time he’d stayed here with me. My throat throbbed. “Touron, why didn’t you say something sooner? You should be with her. Not here with us.”
He waved off my words. “We never…we never talked about that stuff…Love. I never told her, and I don’t know…don’t know if she feels the same. I don’t even know if she’ll want me there or want…want anyone to know.” He roughly raked his fingers through his hair. “Dammit, it’s been hell the past few days. If Curi hadn’t been giving me updates, I don’t know how I would have coped. But…I need to see her. I need to tell her how I feel.”
“Don’t,” Orix said. “Don’t do it.”
“What?” Was he serious? “Why not?”
He sighed. “Because he’s not free to love her. Not the way that she needs.”
“Orix is right,” Shar said to Touron. “What happens when you find an omega?”
Touron’s jaw tensed. “I won’t.”
“You can’t say that for sure,” Palia said. “If the scent takes you and an omega chooses you, then your beastwilltake over.”
“It won’t. I won’t let it,” Touron said. “I love her too much.”
“Then you’ll keep your mouth shut,” Orix said. “Tell her how you truly feel and you’ll lose her. Trust me. I know.”
Orix and Selas? “You two were a thing?”
“For a while.” His smile was wry, his eyes clouded with memories.
“You’re still in love with her,” Ginia said.
“Ginia!” Palia admonished.
Ginia winced. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s all right,” Orix said. “I love her. I always will, but what we had is over. It had to be, although I resisted at the time. But Selas, ever practical, logical, realist Selas knew that our romance had a shelf life. She ended it before we could get too serious.”
Touron pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes with a soft growl. “So if I tell her I love her…”
“She’ll end it with you,” Orix said. “I guarantee it.”
“Youshouldend it,” Palia said. “Before you hurt her and yourself.”
Touron plopped onto the sofa. “I’m an idiot. I didn’t think…I just…”
“Fell in love,” Orix said. “It happens.”
There was rarely a happily ever after for an alpha female. Born to fight. Warriors, not nurturers, they were made for the battlefield. While the omegas made sure that the gargoyle race continued through procreation, the alpha females protected the nests—at least that was the way it had been. Now they protected humanity. I was sure they found partners, lovers, but there was always the risk that their lover would be enraptured by an omega at some stage. Always the potential of losing them, not because they wanted to be lost but because nature intended the males to pass on their seed, and as far as I was aware, alpha females couldn’t reproduce.
