33. Geo
In the meantime, I guest-starred on Wren’s stream. She’d wanted me to deliver the message in stone form, where my grinding tones and deadly serious expression would lend us credibility with the remaining survivors in Cerris City.
I looked into the camera and said, “We have discovered an exit to the pocket dimension that Myuna and her forces don’t know about. All survivors and noncombatants will be evacuated through this secret exit in one week’s time.”
I listed the four new rendezvous points that Ashbough Protective Services was opening up now that we knew that Myuna had consumed her poorly shaped monster creatures. The seers had balanced out all possible futures for the evacuation and decided that one week would allow us to gather as many of the dwindling population of survivors as possible while the twisted goddess would still be mastering how to puppet her newly empowered servant and the fine control needed for the unfamiliar magic of her torchbearers.
According to our changeling, there didn’t seem to be any movement coming from Myuna’s throne. She was deep in meditation alongside a handful of the most powerful supernaturals she’d managed to bring under her sway. We were still outnumbered three-to-one by her torchbearers, and that number could still grow before we moved a large group toward the operating ocean gate.
Hell, if we messed this up, her forces would grow because of us. I made it my new, temporary duty to help locate survivors and bring them to safety. For the rest of the day, I flew loops around the furthest reaches of the city as a scout and guard for anyone I came across.
It was my pleasure to serve. Cress would be happy I’d used my time wisely, and it helped me feel productive. I had no doubts that Phaeron and Ben were, quite literally, fulfilling my primary duty, and…I came to terms with it on my long scouting flights. Logically, I knew I could not be with her all the time. There was work only I could do here and wouldn’t if I had to choose between it and protecting Cress.
I glowed with the pride of a job well done the next morning, having personally saved a dozen survivors and left a single stray torchbearer in quartz cuffs and a medically induced sleep in one of the hospital’s rooms. I stood in the foyer, waiting in human form, a few minutes before the big meeting when they arrived in a swoop of shadows.
Phaeron had transported them with his hands on Cress and Ben’s shoulders. Her face lit up when she saw me. “Geo! I have something for you,” she announced.
I found her joy to be infectious, cracking the first smile out of my recent stint in gargoyle form. “Oh?” I asked.
She took the back of my hand and placed a cool plastic box in my palm. “Your very own phone. Brand new.” She beamed as I looked from it to her and released a single, grinding laugh.
“Now I will never break yours again,” I said.
“Look, he’s smiling. That’s practically bursting with joy,” Ben laughed, reminding me that he and Phaeron were still there. The dimensional hung back a step, wearing an expression that could only be described as besotted as he watched Cress.
I nodded in approval and bent to kiss her. “Thank you,” I said.
She lingered close, palms on my chest. “Of course. Ben’s going to get us all signed up on a plan together, and then you can watch cat videos to your heart’s content.”
“Soon.” I had a pang of regret to end this moment, but the meeting was about to start without us. I pocketed the new phone for the moment. “There is a lot that still needs to be done. Some decisions were made in your absence yesterday, and other things need an expert’s opinion.” My gaze flashed more deliberately toward Phaeron.
“I enjoyed my respite quite thoroughly,” he replied. And judging by the lack of dark hollows under his eyes, it seemed he had finally rested. Good. He’d be ready for the tough challenges ahead. “After the meeting, perhaps I could trouble you for a moment alone, Geo?”
“No problem. I want to show you to a torchbearer that needs your attention anyway,” I said.
He dipped his head and led the way to the meeting, which started up the moment we settled. Madigan stood over a spread of maps pulled down from the wall. Today, we were joined by the usual group of decision makers: the two Crown Coven members, Hana Graygazer, Auric et Vess, Madigan’s husbands, plus Roe and Grant.
Auric greeted Phaeron in Soiluirian, who replied in kind, taking a seat next to him. I glanced over at Cress, who shrugged. Without Braza, we had no hope of knowing what they were actually saying, but Auric’s guffaw and hearty slap on Phaeron’s back seemed fairly universal.
“Fashionably later than me. Nice,” Roe said, fist bumping Cress.
“Hello, you all. Welcome,” Madigan said at the same time. “We are gathered to plan our methods of attack. We’ve just set the hourglass over and have less than a week to evacuate civilians and noncombatants before it’s too late.”
“What do you already know of Myuna’s recent actions?” Phaeron asked.
She mentioned the consumption of most of her unnaturals and the way the torchbearers were seeming to wake and use their magic at her direction. He nodded, speaking up at the end of her narrative. “I’ve come to understand that Myuna is not the only monster of her kind. She intended to create another being of entropy in my brother and planted a seed of corruption in his soul. It was why the Hungering Darkness was so exceptionally awful while also being like her.
“It is more than likely, with its death, she has chosen to ascend another, who is helping her control her torchbearers. Such an expenditure of magic would be quite difficult for her in her current state without a sacrifice.” His yellow gaze cut to Grant. “Do you know who she ascended?”
“No. I just know she’s sitting around with five of her strongest minions right now. It could be any one of them,” he answered.
The others nodded. At some point, he must’ve shown his changeling nature to everyone else in this room. Soon it wouldn’t be much of a secret at all, if we survived the coming fights.
“If we can kill the ascended torchbearer, Myuna will be at her weakest. She will be so distracted by her hunger that we could bait her into a trap. Auric will manipulate the Void to send her back to rot away on the remnants of Soiluire,” Phaeron said.
Hana’s grave voice cut through his confident tones. “We will still need someone to stand toe-to-toe with her while he works.”
He frowned, shaking his head. “Even weakened, she is still akin to a goddess…”
“A point we can come back to,” Madigan interjected. “We have exchanged a few messages with the Coral King. He’s willing to send his myrmidons to help us defend the ocean gate as long as Willow Frost is among the evacuees.”
Cress shifted uncomfortably. “Has Willow agreed to this?”
Roe turned to her with a guilty little look. “Most of our people are leaving with her. She’s going to be okay.”
“Who is going to stay, then?” she pressed.
“Well, you, Ben, and me. Wren wants to stream the battle, but we want to avoid that. We’re going to be using deadly force against the torchbearers. It’s the only way we’ll survive,” the redhead replied.
Cress paled, while Phaeron nodded in grim understanding. With him as the only one capable of unbinding the souls twisted to Myuna’s service, he could not physically save them all. With no further protests aired, Madigan finished outlining the rough sketch of our battle plan.
We would lure Myuna’s torchbearers and chosen ascended to the lake where the ocean gate dwelled and fight to the bitter end to evacuate nearly everyone. Then, Auric would take the remaining fighters through the Void to Myuna’s chamber directly.
“The smaller the group that remains, the less likely I lose someone along the way,” he added.
“Comforting,” our leader said dryly.
“He speaks in jest,” Phaeron said, rolling his eyes. “His control of the Void is masterful.”
“Why joke at a time like this?” I asked. Everyone but me seemed to turn to humor when up against such serious events.
“What better time?” Auric countered. “The hour of Myuna’s death approaches, as foretold long ago, by a Vess as dear to me as a sister. She gave her life to tell the dread goddess that she would be defeated by the duo of Phaeron’s mate and daughter.” His one good eye fixed across the table at her, glowing teal. “And now we have Cressida et Sudaira and her tether to the powercore, who, in life, was Phaeron’s adopted daughter. She is only missing one thing. Have you figured out what you need to do next yet?”
Color touched Cress’s cheeks as most everyone turned their attention her way. “It slipped my mind,” she admitted.
“I believe the wording was…” he drifted off with a glance at Hana. “Pool your resources, and you will find the key to our victory. Right?”
She nodded. Phaeron seemed unsurprised, saying, “I remember now. I saw the conversation in Cress’s memories and your heavy-handed hint as well. You believe a mating circle will truly be a solution here?”
Ben sucked in a gasp, while I felt as blank as Cress looked. I went ahead and asked the question for both of us. “What is a mating circle?”
For once, this room filled with all these big personalities was pin-drop silent. “It’s like marriage, but for a group.” Ben was the one to break the silence, albeit with a nervous shake to his voice. “Sealed with cupid magic.”
Cress’s eyes widened. “Marriage?” she echoed.
I drew breath to reassure her. The saying was that one could be married to their duty, after all. I wouldn’t have minded binding myself to her forever at that moment.
“It is crazy enough to work.” Phaeron disappeared in a whirl of shadows, taking form again behind Cress’s chair. He rubbed her shoulders and bent to whisper something into her ear.
“It’s a lot to ask of you all. We can find another way,” Roe blurted.
“I would appreciate an opportunity to discuss this with my mate and her potential circle,” Phaeron said, a steely edge to his voice. “Without such an expectant audience.”
It was Prince Orthus who responded first by pushing back his chair and standing. “For such a lofty request, it is the least we can do,” he said, gesturing to the room at large. Madigan nodded and turned, going with him to be first out the door. Soon, we were alone, and Cress was pacing the room.
“Why is us all getting married such a big deal?” she asked.
I stood too, wanting to hold and comfort her while she balanced herself on the edge of panic. Ben did the same. “There’s more to it than the marriage part, babe.”
“Allow me to explain,” Phaeron cut in, shooting him a warning look. “The point of a mating circle is empowerment. The more mates one person can bind into the circle, the more powerful they become. With us bound to you, Cress, you will be able to take from a pool of our magic, attributes, and resources. Imagine having my shadows and skill with a sword, Geo’s impenetrable stone skin, and Ben’s channeling ability. Plus Braza’s empowerment.”
I imagined it, and judging by the way her steps faltered, so did Cress. “She would be unstoppable,” I said with wonder.
“No wonder we’re the plan,” Ben said, running a hand through his overlong hair.
Cress shook her head slowly. “Is all that possible?”
Phaeron walked into the path of her pacing, cupping her face. “Yes, it would be possible,” he said, stroking his thumbs over her cheeks. “And it would allow me to share my immortality with you, Geo, and Ben. It is the next step for our relationship anyway…merely so early as to scare you.”
“I’m not scared,” she said slowly. When he raised a brow, she blew out a breath. “Okay, maybe a little bit.”
“Until this meeting, I was not sure how you and Braza would accomplish such a feat,” Phaeron admitted. “But perhaps the four of us, plus the might of a full ancient powercore, can match a starving goddess. Before we decide anything, there is one huge downside I will remind you all of.”
“It’s permanent?” she guessed.
“Surprisingly, no. You could disband the circle once you have slain Myuna,” he said. “It ties our fates together as one. If any of us die, so do the others.”
“Victory or death,” I said.
He grunted in agreement. “As it always has been. If we go this route, we will be the ones to distract Myuna while Auric weaves the Void to trap her and drag her back to Soiluire. I would not put you in such danger if there was any other way, bright soul.” There was a distinct but to his tone.
There probably wasn’t another way. None of us could fight Myuna alone without being consumed.
“Are you willing to do this?” she asked Phaeron.
Without hesitation, he said, “In time, I would have begged for the opportunity to share eternity with you. So what if it is a little early? I love you dearly enough to share you.”
“I love you too,” she murmured. She drew up to the tips of her toes to share a kiss with him before turning to me next. She took my hands, craning her head to look up at me. “What about you, Geo?” she asked.
“Now that I know it’s possible, I want it more than anything. You can always use my magic to keep yourself safe,” I said. After a couple moments, I thought to add something, and she waited with a knowing look until I did. “I already recognize you as my only love, my duty and devotion. This is merely a formality.”
She started to blush again. “Even if you have to share me?” she asked in an undertone.
“At first, I found the others unworthy of your attention,” I said honestly. “In time, they have become tolerable.”
Ben, who waited a few steps away for his turn, scoffed. “Tolerable. C’mon, Geo. You can say we’re friends at this point.”
“We’ll be family yet,” Phaeron added.
“Even…more than tolerable at times, yes,” I ground out. “I have bent for you, Cress, made myself flexible to change.” For a gargoyle, it was akin to admitting the impossible, yet I was more than that now. I was a man because of her.
She reached up to kiss me next. “Thank you, Geo. I know it couldn’t have been easy.”
“Yes.” An understatement. I released her, reluctant to see her turn away, but she needed to talk to Ben.
She met his eye, and he smirked. “Why’d I have to be last? Now I have to follow up what they said,” he snarked.
Cress looped her arms around his shoulders, pressing closer to him and dropping her voice. “Because I think you’re the only one as scared as I am over how big a step it is,” she murmured.
As they put their heads together, Phaeron caught my eye and angled one horn toward the door. “Now is a good a time as any to give them time,” he said to me. “Call to me when you have a decision, bright soul.”
“Okay,” she answered over her shoulder.
I led him out, heading for the room where the torchbearer I’d captured yesterday was resting. “I have a large request,” Phaeron said once we were alone in the elevator.
I felt a sudden, oily surge of trepidation. “What is it?” I asked.
“I want to give my daughter a new life, and one of the only ways to accomplish that safely is through making her a gargoyle.” He clasped his hands together. “Will you assist me?”
We arrived on the correct floor as I answered, “That is highly illegal.”
He didn’t say anything else until we entered the torchbearer’s room. She lay on the bed, arms cuffed over her chest by my quartz, ankles tied to the bedposts. Though I was assured she’d be kept asleep until Phaeron could see to her soul, her eyes were open, unblinking, and glowing white from within.
Sitting by her bedside was none other than Lucas, who withdrew his hands from her arm when we came in. “I was just—”
The torchbearer lifted her head from its pillow at the sound of the door latching closed behind us. An overwide smile split her face. “Phaeron et Sudair.” It wasn’t a normal human’s voice, but the screaming echoes of dozens of wailing souls all speaking in chorus.
That had to be Myuna speaking through her. But Phaeron didn’t reply immediately, instead taking a ragged breath and stopping short with his eyes narrowing to tiny slits.
“You took something from me, Phaeron et Sudair. I felt you kill my beloved Endaeron,” she continued. Lucas clapped his hands over his ears when she laughed, and that awful sound seemed to jolt Phaeron back to himself. He reached out with lash of shadowy magic, lassoing it around the general shape of the torchbearer and pulling.
Myuna’s laugh faded, and the woman’s eyelids began to fall. “So I took…” Myuna rasped. “…something from…you.”
She went silent. He took a rigid breath from between his teeth and noticed Lucas’s attention, moving his hands slowly to untie what Myuna had done to this victim’s soul. Coming to her bedside, he reached down and returned it to her with a hand on her chest.
Then, in a tone laden with agony, he said, “I know who she ascended in my brother’s place.” Pressing his palms into his eyelids, he made a sound of anger low in his throat. “I should have been more like you, Geo, dedicated to duty over pleasure. I should have rescued her before…”
“Who are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Carly,” he gritted out. “She picked her out of spite. Who has had time to impress Myuna otherwise?”
Tentatively, I laid a hand on his shoulder. “You can’t be so sure.”
“Myuna has little left to harm me with. And she meant harm, even with that threat.” He dropped his hands, looking over at me with eyes that gleamed internally like yellow gemstones. His slitted pupils dilated with his surprise when there was a gasp from the bed behind us.
The former torchbearer was trying to sit up, looking around in a panic and thrashing against her restraints. “Where am I? Who the fuck are all of you?” she demanded.
We both turned to Lucas, who looked embarrassed. “Sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to wake you,” he said.
“What did you do?” I demanded.
“Her soul is…” Phaeron scrubbed his eyes. “Young man, I think you need to come with me. All of you, in fact.”
Despite how he said her soul was miraculously stable, Phaeron still placed the woman in a stasis room and asked Lucas for an explanation. Ben’s brother was less sickly today but still needed to sit down shortly after arriving in the library from the sudden jerk of the dimensional’s shadows.
“I dunno, I saw that there were a lot of cracks in her soul. It felt like my magic could do something for her, and the next thing I know, she’s awake and…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m dizzy.”
I walked away and returned with an armful of Cress’s beloved junk food and soda. Lucas looked like he could’ve wept when he saw what I was offering him. “Finally. Flavor,” he murmured.
As he tore into a pack of chips, Phaeron drew me a few paces away. “He healed her soul. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he whispered.
“His new affinity is powerful,” I stated.
“Potentially the miracle we need, with all the torchbearers we have saved,” he said. “However, a week is not long to master a unique power. Especially considering…” He gestured over at Lucas, who’d passed out with his hand in the chip bag.
He went to return him to the hospital, taking the junk food with him with a promise to hide it from the nurses. I waited with the patience of my stone form for him to return, knowing he would want to speak in more depth about what he’d revealed in the elevator.
I considered what I knew of Braza. A considerable amount, considering she was the powercore to my home library and tethered to Cress. She’d told me as much as she remembered of Braza’s life after experiencing it close to firsthand. But did she deserve a gargoyle form and a second chance?
Did anyone? I was here, after all, an echo of an honored witch I was nothing like.
When the shadows writhed in front of me, I was already saying, “I do not know the secrets to my own making.”
He answered as he took form. “The secrets are within you. I understand I am asking the world of you, but you are my only hope to make a gargoyle form for her possible. I need to study your heart and the magic that animates you.”
I stiffened. He’d taken my heart out before to say his goodbyes to Morgana, but this was something entirely different.
“I understand that she means a lot to you,” I said. By the shift in his expression, that was an understatement. “You realize that she will not be the same person, yes? If you wish to pass her off as a gargoyle that has existed since creating one was legal…she will need the body of a man. There are no female gargoyles.”
He blew out a breath, nostrils flaring. “I cannot make changes to the spells unless I see them first. Perhaps it is folly, but I need to see for myself if it is possible.”
I considered whether it would be wise to aid him in veering so far from the right side of supernatural law. What shifted my opinion was knowing that Cress would approve. She did have a deep connection with the powercore and expressed her regrets that Braza’s life had been cut short so traumatically.
Phaeron waited for me to come to some semblance of a decision. With a sigh, I said, “She could pass as a half-gargoyle if her body is formed with it in mind. One of my friends has a daughter, and she inherited some of his features and a temporary version of his stone form.”
A smile started to tug at his lips, showing the edges of his fangs. “You would help me?”
“After we join Cress’s mating circle, yes,” I said.
He breathed out with relief and stepped forward, reaching out. “You will be as close as family on that day, if not sooner. Come, clasp arms with me, brother.”
Now that was a change in tone from the hostile way we’d met. Cress had led me down this path, though, where I suspected he and Ben would both become my closest friends in time. Because of her, I had a future where I had friends.
We gripped one another’s forearms with a new sense of kinship.