You really are losing your mind,the rational voice said sympathetically.
I am. I really, really am.
But I had to keep it together long enough to save Ryker and Tempest. And I couldn’t keep carrying the finger around, not only was it morbid, but it was going to start smelling soon; there was no way I could handle the stench of Ryker’s rotting flesh emanating from my pants.
Unsure of what to do with the stone, I ignored the lure of its power as it seeped into my palms and spread throughout me again. This time, I prepared for the temptation the heart offered by steeling myself against its call.
It wasn’t mine to keep, and that’s why it would destroy me. Somewhere along my run to this place, I’d started to understand that.
The lure of the stone was so powerful that some couldn’t resist it. That’s why the town and all those amsirah were wiped out from Tempest. The stone had alotof power, and anyone, other than the gargoyles, who tried to wield it would suffer the consequences. Maybe not immediately, but they would eventually.
If I didn’t give it back, it would kill me and everyone I loved. It belonged with the gargoyles, even if they woke intending to murder all of us. It would make sense that if the stone was murderous, then they were also, but I didn’t think the stone was inherently lethal.
It had become that way after being taken from its rightful place. It had no ill intentions; it simply existed, but it existed best with the gargoyles.
When I reached the pathway winding up and along the gargoyles, I stepped onto it and climbed until I stood outside the third gargoyle. Crouched in the shadows, its partly open mouth revealed its fangs. Its clawed hand rested on the ground, and its partly spread wings looked about to take flight. It was ugly, but it might consider us hideous too.
When the gargoyles spoke to us before, this one was the more dominant of the two. I didn’t know if it was the leader, but I might as well start with it.
With no idea what I was doing, and acting on instinct alone, I brought the stone closer to it. As I did so, the pink light pulsed like it was running a marathon. I had no idea what to do with it, but I had to be onto something if the stone was getting so excited.
Did I stick it in the gargoyle’s mouth? Maybe try to push it into its chest like it was an actual heart I was molding into the stone? Was just getting it closer to them enough to make the gargoyles come alive again?
I got my answer to that last question as I held the stone before the gargoyle and… nothing happened. It was so close to its face that the stone touched the end of its truncated nose, but that touch wasn’t doing anything.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Ellery
“Okay,we’ll try something else then,” I muttered.
Talking to yourself is another sign of insanity.
Oh, fuck all the way off.
Determined to ignore my doubts, I studied the gargoyle as I tried to formulate another plan. It could be that this was the wrong statue, and I’d have to find another one for the Heart, but I’d try everything with this one before I started going through the others.
I studied its open mouth and sharp teeth as I tried to talk myself into sticking my hand in there. I’d robbed the aristocracy; I could do this.
But all I could picture were those teeth clamping down as soon as I placed my hand inside. They were sharp enough to pierce skin, break through bone, and rip my arm free.
My mother always said I had a big imagination, and right now it was in overdrive as I shifted the stone so I clasped it between my thumb and index finger. At least this way, if itchomped on me, it would only get two of my digits. They were the two I’d miss the most, but we all had to make sacrifices.
As soon as I set the stone on the gargoyle’s gray tongue, I yanked my hand away and cradled it against my chest. From within the gargoyle’s mouth, the stone gave one more, bright red pulse before going black.
If it wasn’t for my lightning, the cavern would have been plunged into darkness. As it was, my glow only illuminated me and the statue before me.
I kept waiting for something more to happen, but nothing did. Were we all wrong, including the gargoyles? Did the stonenotbring them to life?
What was I supposed to do now? Did I break it? Had I done something completely wrong and failed everyone?
I backed down the path and edged toward the middle of the cavern as my mind spun. If I’d somehow broken the stone, then we wereallfucked.
That would leave only me and whatever small army I could gather to make a stand against the duke, his massive contingent, and his towering walls. I’d die trying to free Ryker, because I would never let them take me alive. When I died, the duke would kill him.
As soon as I thought it, I knew I was wrong. He wouldn’t kill Ryker; he’d torture him for centuries before finally ending it. I’d be the one with the far better fate, and I couldn’t let it end that way.
I blinked away the tears filling my eyes as I backed into the center of the cavern and stood there, waiting. The light surrounding me didn’t spread beyond a few feet; complete darkness encompassed the rest of this place.
