Sorceress Hunting (A Gargoyle and Sorceress Tale Book 3) (17 page)

“That was an epic waste of time and money,” Lillian
mumbled as she stood in front of the vanity and looked down at the pregnancy
test in her hand. Like the other two varieties she’d used, this one just showed
a purple blob instead of the marks it was supposed to.

Well, what had she expected? She wasn’t human. She
shoved the useless test in the garbage, tossed some crumpled facial tissue on
top and made a mental note to find a better way to dispose of the used tests.
As she washed her hands, she remembered the one military tail had seen in her
basket at the drugstore and had raised an eyebrow at her purchases.

Yep, she’d best burn them all in a bonfire later
tonight. That way there was no chance of them falling into the hands of some
scientist.

Lillian exited the bathroom, her eyes going to the bed
where Gregory was still asleep. Her fingers reached to touch the brand around
her neck. At least the bed and bathroom were close enough together the tattoos
didn’t flare painful warnings.

However, she was hungry.

But if Gregory was still asleep, than he needed his
rest. Sighing, she went to her side of the bed and carefully sat down so as not
to wake him. She brushed his thick mane from his face, his gargoyle features
somehow less harsh, softened by sleep. Or she was just so used to seeing him in
gargoyle form now, she saw the beauty in him?

With him asleep, she could fulfill his need for
intimacy without jeopardizing her secret. She curled up next to him and he
shifted in his sleep, making room for her. A moment later his strong arms
encircled her and she rested with an ear pressed against his chest. The steady
thump of his heart reassured her, but still silent tears flowed down her
cheeks.

He stirred then and she felt warm breath in her hair a
moment before his deep voice rumbled in her ear.

“What is wrong, beloved?”

Lillian swallowed hard, snuggling closer to his
warmth, and told him the truth. “I am afraid for our future.”

“Ah,” he rumbled softly and she felt him press a kiss
to the top of her head and then he shifted again. Fingers came to rest under
her chin as he gently guided her head up so he could look her in the eyes. “I
do not know the future, that has never been one of our gifts, but know whatever
comes, I will stand with you always.”

He enfolded her in his wings and held her close, but
she didn’t sleep, instead she looked over the curve of his shoulder to watch
the east-facing window. Somewhere between when the sky lightened to a pale grey
and then pinked with dawn, Gregory drifted back to sleep.

Lillian continued to watch the sun rise.

*****

A pounding on her bedroom door jerked Lillian from
sleep. She swung her legs out of bed and pulled on a robe while Gregory was
still shifting a wing so he could look over his shoulder and scowl at the door.

“What now? Are we under attack?” Lillian asked as she
tied the robe’s knot.

Gregory huffed. “No.”

The pounding came again, sharper this time.

“One moment,” he shouted at the door, and then more
quietly to her, “I promised your mother she could start your training this
morning.” Gregory rolled out of bed, dropped to all fours, where he stretched
every muscle twice and then made his way over to the door.

“Why wasn't I told about this?”

His tail twitched. “She only asked last night. You were
in the bathroom. As I recall, after your bath we became distracted. The last
thing on my mind was your mother.”

Lillian felt her cheeks flame red. “Okay, fine. You’re
forgiven.” Turning her back on him, she went over to her closet and grabbed
some workout clothes. “How many of these mother-daughter workout sessions did
you agree to?”

“We didn’t discuss an exact number. However, the
training sessions will be every morning before breakfast.”

“Oh god, that early? In case you didn’t notice, she
and I don’t exactly know how to relate to each other on a good day. That’s
asking a lot before my first cup of coffee. Maybe even second or third cup.”

Gregory made another of his huffing sounds of
displeasure, and then she felt him touch his thoughts to hers.
“I wish to
study your mother.”

She looked up sharply.
“So I’m not the only one who
doesn’t trust her?”

“No. Although, there might be hope for her
yet. It won’t be easy, and may take years, but I think she might be
redeemable.”

Lillian wasn’t so sure.

*****

Lillian inched closer to the wall as she eyed the
dimensions of the newly discovered training room adjacent to the wine cellar.
It wasn’t as large as the massive weapons storage room where Gregory and the
Fae metalsmiths had been storing all the newly forged weapons, but it was large
enough to serve as a practice area for normal opponents.

She hadn’t known the massive forty by sixty foot
storage room existed until just recently, so she supposed this new room
shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.

But it did.

Gregory apparently knew about it.

She’d lived here for twelve years.

She bloody well should have known what was under her
feet.

“Are you sure this space is big enough?” Lillian asked
her mother. Two fully grown gargoyles didn’t qualify as normal opponents, and
the room seemed a little small.

“It is fine,” she said without taking her eyes off the
weapons rack situated along the north wall of the room. Lillian inched back
farther until her shoulders bumped the wall, and she still didn’t feel far
enough away from where the two gargoyles circled each other with swords drawn.

At least the branded tattoos were happy with the close
quarters.

Darkness gave his two swords an experimental flick.
Testing the balance?

Gregory did the same and continued for another half
circle. By some mutually agreed upon signal Lillian didn’t witness, both
gargoyles attacked in the same heartbeat.

This was no half-hearted test strike to gauge each
other’s skill. They were just blurs of darkness and bright silver flashes where
light reflected along deadly blade edges.

“Someone is going to lose a wing, or maybe a head.”

The two combatants continued their lethal dance while
Lillian held her breath.

“Don’t be silly,” River said in a long-suffering tone.
“Gregory is the Lord Protector. He has had lifetimes to perfect the sword. And
Darkness was a skilled warrior long before he was captured by the Lady of
Battles. Once he was under her power, I took over his training, and I took him
from admirable skill to a higher form of mastery.”

Lillian’s gaze left the gargoyles to land squarely on
her mother. Of course. What her mother said made sense. She was the confidant,
and perhaps protégé, of the Battle Goddess. River had demonstrated her skills
with the blade when she first arrived and went about the business of
eradicating Riven with lethal ease.

“And I will expect to see that same level of skill in
my daughter one day.” She lifted a medium-sized sword from the rack. Giving it
a flick, she spun it in her hand before holding it out hilt first to Lillian.

She took the offered sword and gave it a couple test
slashes. It felt well balanced in her hand. She didn’t know the name of the
sword for it was of sidhe design, but it looked similar to a Japanese katana,
but one with a wider blade and more ornate hilt.

Gran had only put human swords out on display. She had
learned later Gran’s collection was much more robust than she’d been aware.

“Vivian told me she trained you in some basic sword
skills—something by the name of fencing? Yes?” River tilted her head and eyed
Lillian up and down.

Lillian relaxed her stance and spread her feet a
little wider. “The opponents wear protective equipment so no one gets run
through.” She paused and gave her sword another test slash. “Gran said it was
time I graduated up to a sabre, but even so, fencing is more about knowledge,
skill, and daring. This sword is for slashing, gutting, and killing.”

“That is a sword’s true purpose.” River made a gesture
at the sword. “This one greatly increases the odds your opponent will not get
back up to continue the fight even if you don’t deliver a killing blow.”

“It’s heavier than I’m used to.”

River made a delicate sniff of disdain. “You will
build core strength and muscle memory for your new weapon of choice. You will
master both it and yourself.”

Lillian had a feeling there wasn’t going to be much
choice. “It will take time.”

“Most certainly. That little metal stick Vivian showed
me and called a sword would be most useless in battle. I own deadlier hair
ornaments.”

“I think a few historians might disagree.”

“They would swiftly change their minds once one of our
swords shattered their inferior mortal blades into useless shards.”

“Prejudiced much?”

River’s expression took on a hint of doubt or perhaps
that was confusion over Lillian’s meaning, but it cleared a moment later as her
expression smoothed out. “How can it be prejudice when I have spoken only
truth?”

Lillian winced. “Okay. We can agree to disagree.”

“Very well.”

She knew dealing with her mother’s quirks was going to
be painful and slow going, but Gregory may be correct. There still might be
hope for River. It would be a long journey, full of much frustration but when
it was over, her mother might morph into a strong force for the Light.

“Come, let’s see what other bad habits that mortal
woman has managed to teach you.”

Or not.

Either way, the coming hours were bound to be painful.

Shuffling into the kitchen, Lillian followed Gregory’s
larger form and blinked against the bright light.

Even after getting showered, she still only felt half
alive. Missing most of a night’s sleep and then having an evil dryad mother
demand to begin sadistic sword fighting lessons at the butt crack of dawn will
do that. She sighed and made her way to the coffee pot.

Only Gran and Greenborrow were in the kitchen at the
moment, and they were deep in conversation, discussing what they should do
next.

Secretly, Lillian was glad. She wouldn’t have to talk
or think for a few minutes yet.

She waved at them as she crossed the kitchen, coffee pot
firmly in her crosshairs. She was almost at her target when she saw a narrow,
surprisingly familiar box sitting in front of the coffee maker.

A pregnancy test. Sitting on the kitchen counter. Her
stomach plummeted, and her heart lurched like she’d been kicked in the chest.
It quivered and fluttered and then broke into a full panicked gallop.

Unable to move, Lillian stood frozen, staring at the
relatively tiny box.

There was writing on it.

Her eyes narrowed.

Someone had taken a sharpie and written something on
the side of the box. She took a step closer and then picked it up to study the
cryptic message for a moment and still couldn’t figure out what ‘P=P’ stood
for.

What the hell did that mean?

Obviously someone knew more than she wanted them to.
Who, and more importantly—did Gregory know? Had they told him? Were they going
to tell him?

A glance over her shoulder showed Gregory going
through the fridge. He was pulling out milk, yogurt, and cream.

He hadn’t seen what sat in front of the coffee maker.
If he was aware, he wouldn’t be half so mellow. She closed her eyes, refusing
to think about how Gregory would take the news of what he’d done.

Turning the box over in her hand, she spotted another
handwritten note on the other side of the box. This done in a different hand.

She read it once. Her mind refusing to understand. She
read it a second time.

Purple equals pregnant.

Her breath froze, her mind slowed. Her heart might
even have stopped for a beat or two. The buzz of white noise filled her head,
and her vision greyed at the edges.

“Oh my, someone catch her,” Gran said as she came to
her feet.

Gregory’s strong arms closed around her, holding her
up when her knees wanted to buckle. She didn’t know if she would actually have
passed out or not. Lungs demanding oxygen, she took several deep breaths and
her vision cleared. Her heart, however, was still pounding in sympathy with her
mental panic.

“Lillian, what is wrong?” Gregory asked. With them
touching, she could feel his thoughts brush hers, his worry and confusion
coming clear across their mental link. She forced her eyes away from the box in
her hand and tried to focus her mind on other things. Finally, she got herself
under control and said, “Sorry. It must be the stress and lack of sleep. I’m
fine, really.”

“Do not lie to me.”

Something in his tone scared her. He didn’t sound
angry or hurt, only intense—a predator on the hunt for the truth.

“I,” she started, “I’m sorry. This doesn’t concern
you. This is my fault.”

“Lillian,” Gregory reached down and gently pried the
package from her. He turned it this way and that as he took in what it was and
the message penned upon the outside.

“And was it purple?” he asked, voice devoid of
emotions.

But he couldn’t fool her, she sensed the barely
controlled riot of emotions swirling beyond his surface thoughts. He was
nowhere near as calm as he pretended to be.

He deserved an answer, but it kept sticking in her
throat. She couldn’t look him in the eyes either.

“Beloved,” he prompted gently a second time.

“Yes. Three of them turned purple. I know they can’t
possibly be accurate, they’re designed to detect a human hormone. I’m not
human. I was just using them as a baseline test out of desperation. Nothing
would show that fast even if they actually worked. It was only the one time!”

Lillian was babbling, but now that she was talking,
she couldn’t seem to stop.

“On a genetic level,” Gran explained, “sidhe, dryads
and a few of the other Fae are more closely related to humans than you might
expect. We speculate the same evolutionary branch. Though the pregnancy tests
are just a quirk dryads discovered a few years ago.” Gran chuckled, “but I
digress.”

She took one of Lillian’s hands in her own. “A dryad’s
body knows within hours if a mating was successful, and fertilization is different
than in a human woman. A dryad’s cycle is seasonal, and her egg seed lays
dormant in the womb until fertilization occurs and then it takes root within
minutes.” Gran smiled. “I was only told to keep you ignorant of your heritage,
not that I needed to be ignorant too. The other dryads shared a great deal of
information with me when they learned a gargoyle had entrusted me to raise one
of the sisterhood. In those early days, I had a dryad at my side almost
constantly. At the time, I didn’t think I would need such information, but now
I’m glad I had it.”

Lillian snapped her teeth closed as a large hand
settled over her stomach. She chanced a glance at Gregory. He’d been silent and
now that she could see his wild-eyed expression she knew why. So there was something
capable of bewildering her gargoyle.

After another long minute, he gave himself a shake. “I
can’t believe I was unaware.”

He turned her in his arms and dropped to his knees
before her. A soft exhalation of breath against her belly was the only warning
before her shirt was jerked up so he could run his sensitive nose along her
abdomen. He inhaled a few more times and then pressed his ear against her
stomach.

Lillian held her breath and waited for Gregory to
confirm or deny what the test had claimed.

After several agonizing long moments, Gregory
straightened and placed a finger under her chin. His dark eyes reflected some
emotion she couldn’t label.

Slowly his arms encircled her again, and his chin came
to rest on her head.

“I smell the barest hint of new life upon your skin.”
His voice rumbled over her head. “It’s so slight, I wouldn’t have noticed it
for another day or two had I not been looking for it. There is no heartbeat,
not yet…” his voice choked off, thick with emotion.

Lillian drew in a shaky breath. “I’ve doomed us all.
We’re not supposed to….this is all my fault.”

Gran barked out a short humorous laugh. “No baby is
ever ‘all’ the woman’s fault. Fifty percent can be firmly placed on the man’s
shoulders. Gregory has big, broad shoulders. I’m sure he can handle the added
responsibility.”

As if in response to Gran’s words, Gregory tightened
his hold. “Lillian, beloved, I will be a good mate. We will get through this
together.”

“But I broke one of the most forbidden taboos. What if
I birth a monster? This is exactly what the Battle Goddess wanted.”

Gregory chuckled—there was a strong hint of relief in
his tone. “No. Actually, the Lady of Battles will be quite put out, I imagine.
She wanted a child born of the Sorceress and the Gargoyle Protector. This child
is not that. As your hamadryad is presently the Sorceress, we were saved from
that fate.”

“But I am still linked to my tree. How can we know for
sure until after it is born? And won’t I still have to give the baby to the
tree to gestate? What happens then?”

Gregory continued to caress her belly, as if in awe,
but his voice echoed in her ears again. “We are still here. Had we come
together as the Avatars without divine will driving us, we would have been
hunted down by Lord Death within moments.”

“But I thought he was imprisoned.”

“Ah. He would not need to leave his temple. But for
such a violation of the divine law, he would be forced to act. He would
dispatch every gargoyle under his command to bring us to him. Then we would be
sent back to the Spirit Realm for judgment.” He leaned down and nuzzled her
neck. “That you are alive to worry about the baby and trying to hide it from
me, tells me the Divine Ones are not…concerned enough to have us returned to
them immediately.”

Lillian shuddered. Returned, he meant killed. “So just
like that—we are free and clear. No consequences.”

“Consequences?” his voice took on a darker tone.
“There will be those aplenty. We may still have to face the Lord of the
Underworld. He may demand our child into his service. All gargoyles are his to
command—even me to some extent since I always choose to be born as a gargoyle.
Also, one day we will rejoin in the Spirit Realm, and there will be a lengthy
confession before our creators.”

“I’ll take the blame. It was my decision that got us
into this mess.”

Gregory nipped her playfully on the shoulder. “We will
be one. There will be no you or I at that point.”

Lillian turned in his arms and rested her head against
his chest. “You’re taking this well.”

“Hmmm, this life is a test, I’m sure of it,” he
acknowledged, “One thing I’ve learned is fighting that which cannot be undone
only leads to more bruises.”

A tremor of unease slid through Lillian. “Would you
undo this if it was within your power?”

He sighed deeply and then placed a talon under her
chin and guided her gaze back to his. “Never.” A smile touched his expression.
“Long have we wanted a way to express our love that didn’t destroy ourselves or
our vows to the Divine Ones. This is not the first time either of us has been a
parent, but it is the first time we begot the young together. I have no words
to explain the emotions inside me. The thought of watching our child grow
inside you, a child I put there, pleases me more than it should. All children
are a blessing, regardless of who sires them. But I cannot be unhappy with a
child created solely between us.”

“I’m glad.” For the first time, Lillian felt hope
bloom in her chest. She was with child, Gregory’s child, but their world wasn’t
about to end. It was going to grow bigger.

“There is one thing I must know.” A thread of worry
had crept into his voice. “Why don’t I remember it happening? You made me
forget for some reason. To protect me?” he sighed. “I need to know the truth.
We can have no more secrets between us.”

Lillian’s heart sank to her toes. Why did he have to
ask that? Why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone?

“I know it had to have happened the night Tethys
enchanted me with her song,” he prompted.

Lillian remained silent.

How could she tell him without making him hate himself
or her?

“If you will not tell me than show me.” His fingers
caressed her arms, and he nuzzled the side of her neck again.

Still, she remained silent and refused to think
anything that would give it away as she stared at the kitchen tiles.

“You’re blocking me,” he said, sounding surprised and
unhappy. “Out all of you.”

Lillian turned to see their audience had grown beyond
Gran and Greenborrow. Her little brother had appeared at some point, and her
parents were just entering the kitchen. Darkness was still on the threshold. He
took one look a Gregory’s expression, bowed deeply, grabbed River around the
waist and dragged the startled dryad backward out of the room.

Gran patted Lillian and then jerked her chin at
Greenborrow and Shadowlight as she left.

Greenborrow cleared his throat. “Come on kid. Grab as
much food as you can carry and let’s get out of here. I’ll explain what an
uncle is on our way outside.”

Shadowlight looked confused but took the items
Greenborrow handed him and allowed himself to be hurried outside.

“Lillian,” Gregory’s clipped tone sounded more
exasperated than angry. With a sigh, she stepped back into him. As one of his
wings tucked her close, her jaws finally unlocked and allowed her to speak.

“Promise me you won’t run off and do something
stupid.”

He touched the brand on her neck. “I won’t, but not
because of these. Nothing you say or do will ever drive me away. We are one
being. I will keep telling you that as often as you need to hear it.” He rubbed
his cheek against hers. “As for doing something stupid, that I cannot promise.
We both seem to excel at that in this lifetime. Maybe this realm just disagrees
with us.”

Lillian didn’t know how he could find humor at this
time, but it gave her the courage to lower her defenses and allow Gregory into
her mind. He preceded slowly and gently. She knew he could simply seek out what
he wanted in seconds, but he allowed her to set the pace of the memory sharing.

Outwardly he was still as if he’d turned to stone, but
she still heard his heartbeat change as she soaked in his warmth and scent.

He rumbled something once in the gargoyle language.
She wasn’t sure of the meaning, but it sounded like profanity. He was silent
after that. Shifting away enough so he could press their foreheads together, he
closed his eyes and just breathed in her scent.