Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
We searched the estate for the guardian, but it never revealed itself again.
We never found an entrance for the stone rooms it had put the guys in, and I wondered if they must be deep underground with no way in or out.
The guardian could place people there, and if they didn’t have celestial magic, they would be trapped forever.
But Sebastian did have his own form of traveling magic. He might have been able to escape on his own. Only, he hadn’t stated whether or not he could access his magic here. Crispin’s own innate magic was intact, but he couldn’t use more from the earth as he could on, well, earth.
We sat in the sun, weary from our long night, debating what to do.
To search the estate again, to venture into the gray, or to see if there was anyone else in this realm who might be able to tell us more about the guardian.
To my surprise, no one suggested just leaving Sebastian behind.
Maybe they knew already that I wouldn’t agree, or maybe they were just worried about weakening our conduit star, without which, we would stand no chance against my great grandfather.
Either way, we were staying put. My thoughts strayed for just a moment to my meeting with the angelic and her gargoyles—I even still had the card she’d given me stuffed in my bra—but it was a distant thought.
They certainly weren’t at the top of my current priority list, even if they could become potential allies.
Crispin had been slouched in the grass, but abruptly perked up, his expression turning from zoned out to thoughtful.
“What is it?” I asked, apprehensive about what type of idea he might have come up with given the circumstances.
He looked past me at the estate doors. “I was just thinking of how we might summon this guardian…” He pursed his lips.
“And?”
Mistral and Gabriel had both moved closer.
Crispin looked toward the doors again. “Well, if it was created to protect this place, perhaps the best way of summoning it would be to cause some damage.”
“Dude, it put you guys in individual stone boxes just because it thought you brought the gray here. Pissing it off seems like a bad idea.” I thought of how easily it had jumped me around. Whatever it was, it was powerful, at least in this place.
“Have you any better ideas? We can’t simply wait here forever. Not with both Marcie and your mother in peril.”
He was right, but I didn’t like it. The guardian had seemed okay with me—I was pretty sure it put me with Gabriel because I had asked where the guys were—but it was also completely fine with the guys dying horrible deaths.
“We can’t just wait around here forever.” I looked back at Lucas as he spoke. He stood with his arms crossed, looking off in the direction of the portal.
“Eva should leave the estate before we try,” Gabriel said lowly.
“Yeah right!” I sprung to my feet. I still didn’t have my boots on.
We had fetched them from inside along with more food and water, but my blisters protested anything but soft grass.
“I’m the only one this thing has been friendly to.
If anything, you all should leave the estate, while I do some damage to summon it. ”
“Eva is probably right,” Mistral said thoughtfully.
Gabriel turned on him, betrayal clear on his face.
Mistral didn’t flinch. “She reasoned with it before, and I fear our presence will make that impossible. It is more likely to fight us, and Eva risks being caught in the crossfire. She is safer without us.”
“Or we just leave that cursed devil behind,” Gabriel growled. “He is not worth the risk.”
Mistral remained calm, which was impressive as I could feel Gabriel’s anger like tiny hot pokers on my skin. “And without him, we will not have his sister to lead us to our enemy’s lair, and Eva will not have the true power available to her.”
“He’s right,” Crispin said, not meeting anyone’s eyes. “While I am already regretting voicing my idea, if we are to truly weigh Eva’s odds of survival, we need Sebastian, and she must speak with the guardian alone.”
I was honestly shocked they were both being so reasonable, but they were right. Not that I wanted to be left alone with the guardian, but I certainly didn’t want to fight it. And I really didn’t think it would hurt me, while it clearly had no problem with hurting the guys.
Although, getting stuck in a box by myself, without one of the guys to lend me power to escape, had my knees threatening to buckle.
Oblivious to my thoughts, Mistral gripped Gabriel’s shoulder. “We must trust her.” He looked at me. “That is, if she agrees with this choice.”
I made my voice steady, because I knew if I wavered, Gabriel wouldn’t go. “I agree. We need to find Sebastian, and I don’t think the guardian will hurt me.”
“This is absurd,” Gabriel huffed.
It was absurd, it really was, but if Mistral and Crispin could trust in me, then I could trust in myself. I moved closer to Gabriel, taking his hand. “We’ll just give it a few minutes.”
His hand flexed around mine. I knew he hated it a lot, but hey, I could save him too.
Mistral took my other hand as he moved in front of me, his face grim.
I frowned. “You seemed okay with this just two seconds ago. What gives?”
“Just because I can see that having Sebastian with you is your best chance of survival, doesn’t mean I like leaving you with some creature we know little about.” He lifted his free hand to my jaw, then kissed me lightly.
Though the touch was soft, it was laced with power. I gasped, inhaling the scent of ozone and vanilla. The scent of Mistral.
“If we must leave you,” he spoke against my lips, “the least we can do is make sure you have enough magic to face what is to come.”
I had been hoping I wouldn’t need any magic—that the guardian would simply tell me where Sebastian was—but the brush of power did make me feel a little more steady.
Mistral moved enough for Gabriel to kiss me next, and it was no bare brush of lips. He kissed me like he was starving, and I was his favorite dessert. His raw, earthy power soaked into me, enough that my skin held a faint sunlit glow.
Gabriel pulled away reluctantly, his hand lingering on the side of my neck, his fingers stroking down a lock of my hair as he finally released me.
Mistral chuckled, then stepped aside, gesturing for Crispin to step forward.
Crispin looked unsure. He was always so unsure. How had I never noticed it before? Maybe because the mask he usually wore was finally starting to slip.
Feeling hopped up on magic, I went to him. I braced my hands on his chest so I could stand on my toes with the grass tickling my feet. “We’re all in this together, okay?”
I watched his throat bob as he swallowed, then he nodded.
He met me halfway, kissing me slowly at first, but when I didn’t pull away his hands went to my hips, crushing me against him.
I had an image of a glittering stream in a moonlit meadow as his magic seeped into me, and the sunlit glow of my skin turned a cooler hue.
I was breathless as our lips parted, his hands feeling far too good on my hips.
I knew I should have been a little bit embarrassed, but neither of the goblins commented, just as they had never commented on what they’d walked in on in Mistral’s bedroom.
I wondered if they’d had a nice chat about it all and had come to an agreement.
Knowing Mistral and Gabriel, they probably had.
Crispin’s smile was so genuine, I would have kissed him even without the need for a magic boost. “We won’t go far,” he promised, then released me to kneel and pick up Ringo.
Ringo looked at me pleadingly from Crispin’s palm.
“You should probably go too,” I said. “Sorry.”
Gabriel kissed my cheek as he passed, and Mistral squeezed my hand.
I followed them toward the wall, keeping Mistral’s hand in mine.
Even though he had supported the idea the most, he seemed the most reluctant to let go, but he finally had to when it was his turn to climb over the wall, stepping out into the gray.
Once they were all separated from me, I started to have doubts. But I had to do this. I wasn’t just going to let Sebastian wither away in some stone box somewhere.
“Good luck,” Mistral said.
Gabriel looked like he was about to protest when I turned away. I had enough magic within me now that if I got put anywhere I didn’t want to be, I could jump out to the guys. It was fine. Everything would be fine. I just had to break some stuff.