Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“As I said, if I’d known she couldn’t be trusted on roof le—”
“Oh, shut up.”
I took a deep breath to collect myself as Sebastian slipped into the bathroom.
“He saved her, then?” I asked, not able to catch a glimpse of Nessa. My stomach churned with the horror of what could’ve happened. With what almost did. “He dove down and rescued her?”
“Yes. She mentioned that Edgar had planned to catch her, and the basajaunak were waiting at the bottom, but she was invisible. They might have felt her general location in the air, but—”
“Yes, I know. Edgar thought he’d try to catch me once. I know how that goes. And…” I stamped my foot to keep from crying in guilt-ridden misery.
“The guardian must’ve shifted at an accelerated pace to get to her,” Ulric said. “He didn’t waste time to undress, so that helped, but still, it’s only three stories. Jesus, Jessie, he’s a monster. I’d figured he was probably the type of gargoyle whose human form grew to the size of his gargoyle form. No. His gargoyle form must be pushing nine feet. Basajaunak size. You’d think that would make him slow to bank and less agile, but somehow no. He’s…”
Ulric ran his fingers through his hair.
“He’s a monster,” he repeated. “He’s going to give us a lot of trouble when they raid. Nessa said she’s sure they will.”
“First, the house has defenses against fliers, and I will be handling those defenses. I can strip the fliers from the sky if we can’t handle them. Second, Cyra is agile and can shoot fire from a distance. Hollace is enormous and powerful and can zap moving things with lightning. Niamh could probably figure out how to ram him mid-flight with her horn. We don’t only have gargoyles here. And we have magic. Sebastian can cover the rooftop. I can cover the sky. The basajaunak won’t let anything get through on the ground. They could all be monsters and we’d handle it. I promise.”
“There’s one more thing—”
“Jessie,” Sebastian said, exiting the bathroom.
“How is she?” I asked again.
“Niamh is helping her with her hair and makeup. She’s fine. She always bounces back really quickly. But there’s an issue.”
He led me through the magical issue. Namely that this guy could see through a potion no one else had been able to. He could also feel magic and a person’s essence through a wall. He was not an average gargoyle. Whatever genes he had mixed up with the gargoyle half, it had enhanced certain abilities. Abilities we hadn’t previously come across.
“What does this mean?” I asked, stepping to the side with Sebastian.
His eyes had a far-off look. “It means I have some research to do. As does she. He mentioned some things that didn’t make sense to her. She doesn’t want to repeat them until she has more information. The last thing we need is to jump to conclusions when it comes to magic.” His gaze found mine. “But I would like to do some testing, and now you have an excuse. He touched something. Her. Doesn’t matter why. I want you to blast him with a spell you know well. See how much of it affects him, and increase your power until it is at punishable limits. I’ll need to test my magic on him, too, but I shouldn’t do it tonight.”
“You can wait for their raid.”
“Exactly, yes. That’s a great time to see what he can endure. Apparently the spell she hit him with, at her full power, barely got a reaction. A tightening of the eyes, is all. Maybe that’s just a tolerance for pain.”
“Hopefully it’s just a tolerance for pain,” I said.
He nodded with tight lips. “I don’t like this wrinkle, Jessie. I don’t like the unknown when it comes to magic. Especially not when it comes to things rendering magic ineffective.”
“Well, as I was just telling Ulric, we have a lot of different types of creatures in our arsenal. If our magic doesn’t work on him, Cyra can burn him alive.”
His smile was grim. “I know that. I was thinking more about mages finding a weakness in you.”
Shivers coated my body, and he patted my shoulder.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “If there are any, we’ll find a way to circumvent them. I have no doubt.”
Always the magical optimist.
In a moment, Nessa exited the bathroom, her makeup looking great, her hair pristine, and bruises on her throat.
“He did this to you?” I asked, rushing forward and checking her over. Anger and guilt burned through me.
“I was sneaking up on him with a knife. He caught me. It’ll go away, it’s fine.” My lower lip started to quiver, and she tilted her head at me and smiled. “Give me a break, Jessie. I’ve had much worse in battle. A recent battle, I might add. With you. But I appreciate your feeling bad. I’d thought no one had noticed my…absence.”