AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He tsked. “I thought we were being honest. And if I win, you give me a dozen enchanted bugs.”
“They weren’t enchanted.”
“Fine, then you give me a dozen bugs that you did the exact same thing you did to your last unenchanted enchanted batch.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine, but it doesn’t matter, because I won’t like it.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the tables of students who smiled at me, but some looked confused, like they recognized me as the girl who put worms in his soup, not the one who was well-groomed with four bodyguards in her retinue.
“Let’s sing your favorite song, the one you always hum when you’re vacuuming. What is it, like this?” He played a few bars on his guitar while I stood awkwardly on the stage in front of a microphone.
“Um. Maybe I should just go get some bugs and forfeit.”
Everyone laughed, because the mic had picked up every word. Right, because I was onstage with my nemesis. Surreal.
He played an amazing intro and then the band came in while I stood there, frozen. He leaned forward and sang into the microphone the first line, before turning to look at me, three inches between our noses, just looking at me with some challenge, but mostly confidence. He had no doubts in my ability to walk into this situation and just go for it, because I was an insane idiot as far as he was concerned.
He wasn’t wrong. I took a deep breath and sang while I stared at him, pretending that I was at the sushi piano bar, and then the sound wrapped around me, the magic of Singsong City building until I was lost in the experience, my voice bound to his, and the instruments weaving together and lifting us up, until it was just pure energy, and life, and I suddenly understood why Percy did this so often. It felt really good, and at the end, when the audience cheered, I could feel their energy building up mine and didn’t have a trace of headache.
I stared at the audience in shock, because I’d definitely forgotten about them, then turned to see Percy’s victorious smile. My own high should have dimmed, because while I’d sworn never to deal with bugs again, and I’d be dealing with bugs, he looked so happy, and that kind of made me happy too. Also, I had no headache, and who wanted to go to a tea party with their dad with a raging migraine?
Chapter
Twelve
“Do you object to clothing that flatters the wearer?” my dad asked, holding a teacup and studying me like I was a puzzle to unravel. At least it wasn’t a lecherous thing. I’d brought my board, like my mom had instructed, and it was leaning against the chair, next to the stack of clothes that I’d brought to return to him on the floor of the elaborate tea parlor.
“I object to being told what to wear, who to be, and what to do. I accept the gift of free tuition, but you don’t control my life, and after the transformation process, I don’t think we’ll need to meet for these little tea parties, either.” I gestured at the untouched cup of dark sludgy tea in front of me on the delicate table.
He sipped from his cup, then set it down without the slightest sound. He’d probably been drinking sludgy tea for years. “The tea is a potion I mixed to help you with your transformation process. If you do not drink it in a certain time frame, it will lose its potency and I’ll have to prepare another batch. If you do not drink the tea, you will gradually begin the process of turning to stone, but it won’t be gargoyle flesh, just silent stone, and then you’ll die.” He smiled politely.
He could say that and smile? Something was seriously wrong with him. I glared down at the cup. “How can I trust you?”
“Percival Marigold is your betrothed. I would be very foolish to harm someone so firmly connected to that family. I will do my best to protect you and keep you from harm, but I hardly expect you to trust me at this point. You don’t know me, and I don’t know you.”
I was not as firmly connected to the Marigolds as he thought. Still, I raised the cup and threw it back. I’d expected it to be bad based on its looks, but that was nothing compared to the taste and slimy texture that coated my mouth and immediately engaged my gag reflex.
I sat there, panting with my mouth open, trying not to throw up, while he took another sip of his while watching me with that same expression, like I was a puzzle he would piece together until eventually he had the whole picture.
I almost heaved it all back up, but somehow I swallowed it back down. Once it hit my stomach, it wasn’t much better. Holy vile, revolting, awfulness! I was supposed to do this every day? I would die.
He smiled and sipped his tea. “As for the clothing, gargoyles tend to be meticulous in their presentation, stemming from their other nature’s hideousness.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “They’re ashamed of their beautiful gargoyle selves? That’s sad.”
He raised a brow. “Not a matter of shame, but of secrecy. The beauty hides the beast from prying eyes. Gargoyles have always been secretive, created to be the silent, invisible protector of innocents.”
This was the perfect opening. I fiddled with my teacup. “Ah. Speaking of gargoyles, I have a gargoyle friend that I’d like to see, but if you’re sending your bodyguards to literally hover over me while I’m climbing towers, I can’t. That’s a problem for me.”
He folded his napkin carefully on his lap. “Demons can fly, and you are not equipped to protect yourself.”
“Only some demons can fly, and this one didn’t seem to have wings. I can’t live if you’re suffocating me. I’m a grown woman, not a little child who needs to hold hands while crossing the street.” I pressed my hands on my stomach. I’d be better at holding my ground if I could be sure I could hold the contents of my stomach.
“You conflate crossing a street with climbing a tower at night while you know that you are a demon’s target. That seems to be an inappropriate simile, don’t you think?” His sharp blue eyes narrowed slightly.
“I think that you have an agenda for me, and it’s not to protect me so that I can happily go on with my life as I see fit. We could save both of us a lot of time if you were transparent about your intentions.”
He studied me for a good minute, while I had a few more close calls with vomiting, and stared back at him, trying to not look as pathetic and sweaty as I felt. Maybe it was poison, and he knew that I wasn’t actually betrothed to Percy of No Mercy.
