Page 17 of When the Weaver Met the Gargoyle (Leafshire Cove Monsters #1)

Chapter 17

Laini

M y stomach lifts and drops, and I can’t breathe. Friends. Why do I feel like the tower just disappeared, and I’m falling into nothingness?

“I guess. I… We can pretend we didn’t… That I wasn’t…”

My tears threaten to drench my cheeks, but I won’t do that to him. If friendship is what he needs in this terrible situation, then that’s what I will give him. My heart be damned. I touch my chest, and that tingling feeling is rising once more.

Rom rubs my knuckles. His lips are parted like he wants to say more, but he doesn’t know the right words.

I stand, break away, and force a smile. “Of course. Yes, I’ll always be your friend, Romulus. You’re a wonder. The kindest male I’ve ever known. You are good.” My throat closes up, and I try to clear it with a cough that is nearly a sob. I’m crumbling…

I rush toward him and grasp him in a tight hug. I will not cry. I. Will. Not. He needs support in any way I can give it.

“Stay here,” I say, trying to keep from sounding like I’m begging and likely failing miserably. “I will do what I can in town. It will pass. And Rustion! He’ll help you. He’ll tell them they’re all a bunch of fools.”

He sets a hand on the back of my head and holds me close. He is too cold, like stone left out in the late fall night, and I want to warm him with the love bursting from me.

But he wants friendship. That’s it.

“Laini.” His tone makes my name sound like a prayer. “I’ll always be in your life, and you’ll be in mine. All right?”

He sounds like he might be on the verge of weeping, too, but I’m likely imagining that. Gargoyles probably never cry.

“Of course. Yes.” My words shake, but I get them out. “Always.”

He changed me. Helped me out of the dark place I had fallen into. The way I stitched his form into my tapestry with such precision. I dare anyone else in the world to love him as much as I do. There’s no way they could. Impossible. It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been so genuine, so real.

A shudder grips me, so I pull away. I don’t want him to worry about me right now.

I step back, and my body immediately grieves the loss of his touch. “But you’ll stay. You don’t need to go. Right?”

He shrugs, but then he nods and takes a deep breath, his broad shoulders shifting under his tunic.

Shouts from outside have us both going to the window.

At the base of the tower, a crowd has gathered. I fight the urge to take Rom’s hand. He is standing stock still, but his wing is extended halfway around me. I’m not sure he realizes he is protecting me. Even now.

The townsfolk have torches, and they’re shouting up at Rom. It’s no surprise that Leo is at the center of the chaos and that his foolish friends, Tam and Harton, are right there at his side.

“You aren’t wanted here, gargoyle!” Leo roars, his hands cupped at his mouth.

The group echoes differing versions of the same phrase as they shake fists and brandish pitchforks and swords. It’s no one I know very well—just Leo’s stupid cronies and those folk who don’t usually interact with the rest of us in Leafshire. Some appear to be travelers since I’ve never even seen their faces before now.

“I must go. This will quickly get out of hand. And I can’t trust myself around that male.”

Rom is moving before I can think of anything else to say. He grabs his bag, meets my gaze, and gives me a look filled with a tumult of emotions that I can’t untangle.

And then he is gone.

I rush out to the tower’s lookout, only to see him flying away with the moon as his guide.

Finally, I let my tears fall. I can’t believe this is happening in my beautiful town. Maybe I can drum up support for Rom and shut Leo, Tam, and Harton up. But how? I wipe tears from my cheeks and plod back home.

Spark is at my door when I get there. I start toward the kitchen to make tea, but I only make it to the chair at my loom. Spark jumps into my lap and curls up. Every once in a while, he leans up and licks a tear from my chin. I try to smile at him, but I just cry more. I feel like I’m drowning .

There’s a quick three knocks at the door sometime later. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting here.

“Come in, Tully.” I don’t have the energy to send her away.

She bustles in, makes me tea, and drinks it with me in silence. Then she walks me upstairs to my bedroom and helps me out of my dress and shoes. I fall into bed in my underclothes, and she tucks the covers under my chin as Spark finds a comfortable spot at my side.

Tully sits on the bed and takes my hand. “You won the tapestry contest.”

My heart shivers, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I thought being a successful weaver was all I wanted. I was so wrong.

“Oh, good,” I say lamely.

Tully clicks her tongue like a worried hen. “We are going to figure this out. And no, don’t worry. Even though I intensely, superbly wish I could zap Leo into a million tiny ugly pieces, I won’t. We will find another way to fix this. Do you know where Romulus went? I only heard that he left.”

The sound of his name cracks my heart, and I set a hand over my chest where that tingling feeling is bothering me again. “I don’t know.”

“All right. Just sleep. I’ll be back in the morning.” She smoothes my hair away from my face and pats Spark on the nose.

Before she leaves the room, I clear my throat. “Tully, thank you.”

She turns and gives me a genuine smile. “We’re friends. It’s what we do.”

As I listen to her witch boots click down the steps, I rub at the spot on my chest. I untie my bralette’s tiny ribbon, and I gasp.

Between my breasts, a gray image shows on my fair skin.

Two gargoyle wings around a stylized heart. Spark leans over and sniffs at me.

“It’s… It is a…” My voice shakes as the implications spin through my mind.

I can’t believe it. I am mate-marked.