Then I spread my wings.
The wind caught under the leathery membranes, and I launched myself from the tower into the gathering dusk. For a moment I was weightless, free, nothing but air and movement, invigorated by the sudden rush of blood flowing through my veins.
Then I angled toward the castle courtyard and the confrontation that waited below. Screams echoed from inside the castle.
Their shrieks echoed with satisfaction in my ears. Good, they should be terrified.
The monster was coming to make them pay.
CHAPTER 5
LILIA
The sound outside captured my attention. It sounded like—claws scraping on stone.
No, I had to be imagining it.
But when I looked out the window of the great hall into the courtyard, a massive shadow swooped down and landed with a thud. Mom and I shrieked.
Then I fell silent, gaping as I stared at the being in the darkness as my vision adjusted. It rose to its full height.
He was massive—larger than any human, with a broad chest carved with muscle. Enormous wings arched behind him, with a span so wide they reached toward the stone walls of the courtyard. My heart rammed against my chest as I stared in shock. His wings folded inward, retracting until they disappeared behind his back.
Two dark horns curved up from the top of his head, and dark, wavy hair reached just beyond his chin. His face had sharp angles with high cheekbones and a jaw that could have beencarved from stone. His features twisted in fury, and his eyes held me paralyzed. Silver-gray and burning with an anger so cold it stole the breath from my lungs.
A gargoyle. Not a statue but a living warrior.
And he looked ready to annihilate us.
He threw open the door from the courtyard and stepped inside, the massive muscles in his legs visible beneath the hem of his dark shorts. Barefoot, his feet ended in gray claws. The light caught his gray skin with darker, marble-like threads and pale white scars that crisscrossed his chest and arms.
“Hadrien.” Victor’s voice came from behind me. “They meant no harm?—”
“No harm?” The gargoyle’s voice was as rough as gravel grinding on stone. “I let them stay last night.” He pointed a thick, gray finger at me. “But this one. She stole from my garden.”
“For his fever,” Genevieve explained. “The boy needed those herbs.”
“I don’t care.” He moved toward me, like a predator stalking prey. He fixed a piercing gaze on me. “My wards should have prevented you from entering.” He seethed. “How did you pass?” he demanded with a low growl.
I gasped and stepped backward. “I don’t know.”
“Tell me,” he bellowed.
“I just…walked here.”
Mom stepped forward, positioning herself between him and me. “We didn’t mean to intrude. My son is sick. I needed help. I saw the castle…”
He flicked his steely gaze to her. “Did you use magic to help you pass?”
Mom and I exchanged a confused look. “No,” we both stammered.
He turned back to me with an accusatory glare. “You stole from my garden.”
“Stole?” I repeated through the shock.
“I let her go out there,” Victor defended me.
“Enough!” He raised a huge hand to silence Victor yet kept his intense fury fixed on me. “Valgarde is mine.” He sneered. “I poured magic into the grounds. You had no right to steal what’s mine.”
