Page 19 of When the Weaver Met the Gargoyle (Leafshire Cove Monsters #1)

Chapter 19

Laini

T he market is thick with shoppers. At the greenhouse cart, I select a small cabbage, three tomatoes, and the last of the purple wishberries. It’s wonderful having the money to buy what I need now. Rustion sent the first payment for the tapestry last night. But I wish I was making this meal for more than just myself. A memory of Rom in his apron blinks through my mind, and I bite my lip. Stones, it is painful to think of him. My mate’s mark warms and tingles.

“Did your gargoyle suitor truly leave for good?” Delixian is eyeing some winter squash beside me.

I take a breath. “I think he’ll return, but we decided to just be friends.”

“Really? Then, when he returns, can I introduce him to my niece? I think they’d get along very well. Or is it wrong of me to even ask?”

I grip my basket of vegetables tighter like somehow it can portal me back home immediately. “Of course, you can.” Forcing a smile, I wave goodbye and hurry away.

How will I survive Rom dating someone else?

At home, I tuck my market goods away and pull a chair up to the window right as a fairly heavy rain starts up.

Watching the drops trickle down the glass, I sit with Spark in my lap. I am numb. I’ve cried every last tear I had in me, but it seems the sky has taken over the job of weeping. Rubbing at the mate’s mark, I wonder once again if I should talk to someone about it. I know very little about them. Most devoted couples end up with one if one of them is a creature and not just a human. Do they function differently depending on the creatures involved? How does my gargoyle mark’s magic vary from an orc or minotaur mark?

All magic has its limits. Tully can’t heal, but she can create many things, and she can definitely do some serious destruction. She can’t track people. I wish she could because I’d have her figuring out Rom’s whereabouts immediately. She tried when her cousin’s youngling went missing last year, but she failed. Luckily, the little female witch showed up at the candy shop. She’d been hiding in the storage room. The town healer can enhance his herbs’ ability to ease and mend, but he can’t save someone past saving.

Should I get up? I need to work on extending the tapestry that won me Rustion’s contract, but I am drained of all creativity. I don’t even feel like I know how to weave right now. I can’t stop thinking of one tiny moment in Rom’s sitting room—when he lifted his bag, the way his taloned fingers curled around the strap in the same way that hand had held mine. He’ll never hold my hand again. His breath won’t brush over my neck. His body won’t press against mine. No. Eventually, he might return, but someone will steal his heart, and he will hold their hand and kiss their mouth.

I touch my cheek, and as it turns out, I was wrong. I still have some tears to cry.

“I will always love you, Romulus,” I whisper at the rainy window. “Love has many shapes, and if you want a friend, that’s how my love will form around you. Even if it’s from afar.”

Spark whimpers and nudges my fingers until his snout is pressed into my palm. I lean over the dragonfox and inhale his charcoal and foresty scent.

A knock startles both of us. I ease Spark off my lap and onto the floor, then open the door to see Rustion. He’s soaked to the bone and looking at me with such deep pity that I actually feel bad for him.

“Come in, please. Quickly.” I usher him inside, where he shakes his feet over the entrance mat and squeezes out the ends of his cloak.

“I’m sorry for the mess, but this couldn’t wait.”

“What is it?”

“I hate to ask this, but do you have any idea where Rom is staying right now?”

My heart flutters and sags against my ribs. “No. I’m sorry.”

Rustion looks around the workshop and sitting area like he might be here, and I just didn’t notice him. He is more ruffled than I’ve ever seen him.

“What’s wrong? Let me make you some tea.”

“No time for tea, I’m afraid.”

I halt in the corridor that leads to the kitchen and turn back around. “Please, tell me. Maybe I can help in some other way.”

His tawny eyes find my face, and concern tightens the lines that stretch over his temples. “A storm is coming. A very large, intensely magical storm.”

Spark yips and leaps onto my shoulder. I stumble a little at the sudden weight, my breath catching at the thought of a big system moving through.

“Is it as bad as the five-hundred-year one?”I ask, working to keep my voice even. “Surely not. We survived that.”

Barely. Six fell into the river that burst its banks. Twenty-five homes had to be rebuilt—not a simple task when the sparkles of magic work to undo every nail, notch, and attempt at masonry. Magical storms are so much more damaging than regular ones. It’s the only drawback to living here beyond the Veil.

Rustion’s pursed lips and silence are telling.

My mate mark burns and tingles.

“What do you know about mate marks, Mayor?” My cheeks burn as I ask.

His eyebrows bunch, but then he seems to process what I’m asking. “Oh, do you? I’m sorry. Not my business. I don’t know too much. Shifter marks let the mates know when the other is in pain by giving out a fraction of that discomfort. They also let us know when our mates are within hearing distance. ”

“What do you mean by that?”

A gleam of pride flashes in his eyes. “We roar, you see. Lion shifters roar when we call for our mates.”

“I would love to hear that someday,” I say, firmly not thinking of his asinine son but of him seeking his pixie wife.

“What does it feel like when they are close enough to hear your call?”

“It tingles,” he says quietly. “Not all the time, but every once in a while, like the mark’s magic is reminding you they are there.”

“I have one,” I say. He winces, and I hold out a hand. I’m not sure what I’m doing, but I need him not to speak so I can keep on without any more ridiculous weeping. “And it’s tingling still. Maybe Rom isn’t as far away as we might think.”

“Do you feel that truth?” He touches his chest and tilts his head like maybe feel isn’t quite the right word, but he doesn’t have a better one.

“I think I do?” I swallow, feeling foolish.

“Well, we have less than an hour before this fast-moving storm hits, and we need him to try to shield us.”

“Have you been talking to Master Grumlin? ”

“Aye. He said a gargoyle with his magic can save us.”

I guess I’m leading the way here. But how would we find him? Then I remember the last place I saw Rom. All of a sudden, I know exactly what I need to do.

“Do I have your permission to climb the tower, Lord Mayor?”

“Yes. What are you planning?”

I have no time for explanations. If my guess is right, Rom is simply hiding out near Leafshire Cove. He’s just living on his own, away from everyone and everything.

I speed across the road with Spark zipping through the air beside me. I hurry up the tower stairs, winding and winding in the near dark, until we reach the lookout on the top floor. I dive for the bell’s rope and pull it with all I’ve got.

The bell tolls slowly but plenty loud for anyone even remotely near the town walls to hear. I release the rope and rush to the side.

At my feet sits the cone-shaped voice projector that the orc that used to work Rom’s job used when addressing the town. I lift it to my lips.

“Leafshire Cove!” I shout.

A few folks look up and stop to listen.

“Hear me!”

Another group assembles to see what I’m up to.

“Romulus is a good person. He worked to protect us from the first day he arrived. He is kind. Most of you know that and have seen his goodness in action. Will you give him a chance to practice controlling his power? Or will you close your minds and your hearts to his sweet spirit? Will you shut out an innocent person just because of how they were born? No! Leafshire Cove is better than that. Aren’t we?”

“We are!” several voices say.

I nod and grin, my throat dry because I have never once in my life shouted like this.

“Exactly! So welcome Rom back before the next storm hits, and he can shield us all!”

“A storm is coming then? This isn’t just your attempt to draw your lover back?” It’s one of Leo’s fellows.

I flip my middle finger at him and raise my chin. “A massive storm is headed here. We will lose lives and suffer significant damage if we don’t have Rom to help us!”

That sends the crowd into a bustling panic. Maybe I made the wrong move. I look to the right and down to see Rustion standing outside my door, his face drawn with worry .

I know what else my heart wants me to shout from this tower with all the town to hear. I don’t want Rom to deny our love because he worries I’ll be pulled into the complications of who he is and what he can do with his magic. I’m going to throw it all out there so it’s fully known that I love him, and whatever they say to him, they say to me.

“Also!” Blessed Stones, I’m so awkward. “I love Romulus Greystone with my whole heart, and I trust him too.” My face heats, and I’m shaking. “He is the kindest person in the world. Whatever you say to him, you’re saying to the one I love most of all!”

In the distance, a shape rockets into the sky and over the town walls. My knees turn to jelly, and I grasp the tower’s smooth-edged watchwindow to keep standing.

Rom is coming home.

Did he hear what I said? Will he insist on remaining just friends? My heart is beating its way into my throat as I watch his magnificent silhouette fly closer and closer.