Stoneheart

by Cate Corvin

  I bent low and rammed my shoulder into his gut, ignoring the stone fists pummeling my face and shoulders. Whatever hesitation he may have had before was gone and he was fighting me for all he was worth. The effects of the emitter were completely gone, and it was clear that Kreslin hadn’t done his own stunts. His strikes were wild and unfocused, landing wherever he could with no strategy.

  I’d like to thank the Academy for my combat training. Not the same academy he’d have been thinking of, but still. I’d better not forget to thank Gio in my speech, too, or he’d be highly offended.

  Kreslin let out a strangled gasp when I buried my fist in his gut, hooked my ankle behind his leg like Gio had taught me, and shoved his head back. Knocked off-balance, he went down hard, his head smacking the concrete floor with a satisfying crunch.

  I didn’t give him time to breathe, launching myself at his abdomen instead and battering every inch of him. Kreslin raised his hands to defend himself, but the fury coursing through me was stronger.

  I could’ve lost them all because of him. And they wouldn’t have survived losing me.

  I knocked one of his hands aside, gripped his wrist, and bent it backwards. With a vicious wrench and the sound of shattering stone, I tore it clean away, leaving a crumbling, glittering mess of a stump behind.

  Kreslin started screaming, furious howls that bounced off the walls of the hangar and reverberated until it sounded like an entire chorus was screeching at me. He was flailing now, trying to crawl away, but I dragged him back.

  I ripped the remaining fabric over his chest aside, exposing a perfectly-chiseled chest and abs. Too bad something so sculpted and perfect was about to be destroyed. Middle-aged women everywhere would be devastated.

  “This is for the selfish shit you’ve pulled in your insane grab for power,” I said, digging my fingers into the skin above his heart. I didn’t even feel his other hand beating at my face and shoulders. “For my gargoyles, and for what you did to those hybrids, and for all the poor people who ever had to see your smarmy ass face on a television screen. A quick death is better than you deserve, Kobalt, but my Ruby and I are finished with you.”

  Pushing all my weight into it, I dug my hand through his stone skin. Whatever the hypersonic gun had done, it was like digging my hand into wet sand, tiny glimmering crystals breaking away and coating my arm in dust.

  If I ever saw Nolan again, I was going to thank him from the bottom of my heart. Kreslin bucked under me, still screaming wordlessly, when my fingers wrapped around the pulsing stoneheart nestled in his chest.

  I gripped it, channeling the brunt of my pent-up fury, and clenched my hand around the Sapphire.

  Kreslin jolted, his body going stiff as a board as the Sapphire stoneheart cracked and shattered between my fingers. A flare of bright blue light flashed out of the crumbled stone mess of his chest, blinding me and leaving fireworks of cerulean in my vision.

  When they finally faded, sound came back to me slowly. I heard stone shattering, but my fingers were still, and there was nothing but deep blue grit between my fingers as I withdrew my hand. Kreslin’s mouth was open in a frozen scream, but all the poisonous light in his eyes had faded, leaving him in a dull death-mask.

  I stood up on wobbly legs, the rage going cold when I realized what I’d done. I’d reached inside a gargoyle and destroyed a stoneheart, one of the greatest laws against the Accords. I’d taken a life in cold blood.

  But they were in danger, and I’d do anything to protect them, no matter how many stonehearts that meant I had to crush. I raced to the middle of the hangar, only to be stopped short by a sight that filled me with so much relief, I doubled over like I’d been punched in the gut.

  Sergei was sprawled across the floor, still as the stone he’d come from. Gio’s knuckles were cracked, and Damien’s horns were chipped, but they were still very much alive. Angelique nudged the hybrid with her foot, but he didn’t move.

  “Kreslin’s dead,” I said hoarsely, all too aware that the glittering blue dust all over me spoke before I even had the chance.

  “So is this bastard,” Gio said. All three of them rushed to me, moving like they were sore. Whoever the hybrids had been before Kreslin got a hold of them, they’d put up on hell of a fight for the gargoyle who’d treated them all like disposable guinea pigs. “We need to get the hell off this island. I don’t think we can take too many more of those.”

  I nodded, but Damien cupped my face in his hands, eyes wide and searching. The tears Kreslin’s magic had forced from him were stuck to his cheeks with glittering dust. “You’re all right,” he breathed, and rested his forehead against mine. I gripped his shoulders, holding him close and reassuring myself that he was alive and whole. He’d risked everything just to bring me home, and he would have left the island with me without his vengeance on Kreslin if I’d given him the chance. There was no longer any doubt in my mind what we felt for each other, not after this.

  “We’re all okay,” I said, mostly to reassure myself, but with the damage the hybrid had done, I was still worried. I rested my hand over his chest, relieved when I felt nothing but whole, smooth skin under my palm. “Let’s not do this ever again, please.”

  The tiniest smile touched Damien’s lips. “Don’t get yourself kidnapped again and we won’t have to.” The smile fell when I wiped away the trail of tears on his cheeks. “What was that thing he had?”

  “An amplifier,” Gio supplied. I straightened up and held out my arm for him to join our hug at the sound of his voice. For once, nobody complained about their lack of masculinity to be caught hugging each other. They just surrounded me in a solid wall of protection, and I felt Gio’s voice in his chest as he spoke. “There were developmental plans left in the lab. Looks like he came up with a device that could increase the magic’s strength by almost seven times the baseline ability.”

  I’d figured that out on my own pretty quick, but I still gave a shudder. “Imagine what it would be like if that got out.” Sawyer nuzzled my neck, an apology in his blue-green eyes, but I kissed him and let him know everything was fine. He’d come back for me. I never should have doubted him, but I would make it up to him as soon as we were home.

  “It’d be terrible.” Damien’s brow creased in a grimace. “We all know it’s the gargoyles like Kreslin who’d take advantage of that sort of technology, which is why we’re calling this in to Houses Clarté and Onyarai when we get you out of here. We need to raze this place from the ground and make sure we hunt down any of Kreslin’s associates.”

  Angelique’s acerbic voice cut through my moment of warmth. “Why don’t we do that after we got off this godforsaken island and regroup?”

  We all broke apart, but three sets of hands remained touching me. Angelique stared at us and rolled her eyes. “Come on, lovebirds. We’re all a mess and someone is expecting me home.”

  “Right,” Damien muttered. “Let’s take ours, I don’t want to find out the hard way that Kobalt left some self-sabotaging tech on his helicopter.”

  We strode out through the hangar, and of course Gio’s sense of humor was back in place, pumped up by our victory. “Get to da choppa!” he said, his growly voice getting throatier when he spoke.

  “That’s the worst Austrian accent I’ve ever heard,” I said, but I started laughing, and once I started I couldn’t stop.

  Sawyer kept his arm around me as we walked. Kreslin’s mansion fell behind us, and the manicured lawns gave way to stands of trees. The island was small, and it took us only twenty minutes to make it to Damien’s personal helicopter in a distant field, which was… a really big helicopter. So the rumors were true, and they weren’t just about what was in his pants.

  I was still giggling at my own internal monologue, completely worn out from the let-down of the adrenaline rush and impending death, when Damien lifted me into the open-sided body and Sawyer climbed up after me. Gio gave Angelique a hand up and she settled herself in the corner, strapping herself in with a look of avid relief
on her pretty face.

  Damien climbed into the cockpit, and a deep rumble vibrated through the helicopter as all sound was drowned out by the roar of the rotors overhead. I finally managed to stop laughing as we lurched into the air, holding onto a strap overhead. Fucking heights. They could take the humor out of any situation real quick.

  Damien piloted the helicopter out over the open sea, and as we spun in midair, which made my stomach flip alarmingly, I caught sight of several dark shapes in the distance, just over the horizon.

  Wherever Nolan went, I hoped he and his hybrids didn’t start this shit again, but I had a feeling we wouldn’t need to go after them. Sebastian’s taciturn sadness made a lot of sense once Angelique had explained what kept them on a leash. They just wanted to be free to live their own lives, not treated like walking weapons.

  The ocean beneath us turned from green, to midnight blue, to a shade nearly black when we over the deep water of the open sea. I stared down at it, just happy to feel the salty wind in my hair and the freedom of being out of the cell, when my stoneheart pulsed in alarm.

  My head snapped around as I reached out with my magic. Sawyer was collapsed against the wall, running his hands through his wild hair, and Angelique was gazing out at the horizon in deep concentration. Gio was on the opposite side of the same open door I sat by, and he gave me a smile that faded when he saw the look on my face.

  The Ruby inside me touched something that shouldn’t be here. I focused on what Jules had taught me, peeling aside another gargoyle’s magic, and a moment later he was clear to me.

  An Onyx hybrid was perched by the door in the opposite corner, dark eyes focused on me. His black wings were spangled with tiny violet stones. An Amethyst. He’d cloaked himself so thoroughly no one else had noticed him.

  I opened my mouth to shout something over the roar of the helicopter, but he was faster. The hybrid launched himself at me as I tried to get to my feet, knocking us both free and into open sky.

  For the second time in my life, I was in freefall, spinning head over heels through the air. Fear clenched me in a vise, knowing I was going to hit those dark waves and sink endless feet, and eventually choke and die as much as any human.

  My scream was lost in the wind, and I was jerked out of the hybrid’s grasp as the waves swelled under me, eager to welcome me to a watery death with open arms.

  The hybrid hit the water, his eyes wide with fury, and he sank out of sight in a spume of bubbles. I’d stopped in midair, my clothes ripping at the seams until a pair of strong arms wrapped around me.

  “Gio!” I gasped, and then we were gliding over the hungry waves and gaining altitude. The wind whipped my hair in my face, obscuring my sight right after I caught a glimpse of Sawyer hanging out of the helicopter.

  My Onyx beat his wings, soaring upwards until he could shove me into the helicopter’s open doors and collapse onto me in a tangled pile on the floor.

  “Motherfucking hybrids,” he spat, and then they were searching me all over for injuries, even though the Amethyst-Onyx hybrid hadn’t managed to land so much as a single blow.

  I just buried myself in their arms, frantically casting my magic out and feeling for any more anomalies, but there were none. It was just us on board now.

  I cursed myself for not checking before we’d gotten on, but thanks to Gio, my mistake wouldn’t have fatal consequences. Maybe I’d even refrain from tweaking his cock as a thank you for saving my life.

  Or not. I wasn’t willing to give that up entirely, rescue mission or not.

  “I’d be happy if you never had to save my life again,” I said, shouting to be heard over the helicopter’s roar.

  Sawyer gripped my face and forced me to kiss him, the heat of it melting me inside. “Don’t worry, we’re never going to stop.”

  “How about this,” Gio said, stealing his own kiss. “If you stop getting into life and death situations, I’ll let you treat my dick like a door knocker as much as you want.”

  I was pretty sure I heard Angelique muttering something about TMI, but I didn’t care as I grinned up at Gio. “Convince Damien to let me do it to him too and I swear I’ll never put myself in harm’s way again.”

  I held out my hand to shake on it, but Gio shook his head. “Oh, Tin Woman. You’ve gotta shake my dick for this agreement to be legally binding.”

  My eyebrow popped up and I was reaching for his torn-up sweatpants before he knew what was coming. After almost a week alone in those cells, they’d be lucky if they managed to pry my hands off their bits long enough to let them rest. I had long days and lonely nights of imprisonment to make up for.

  A minute later, I’d shaken his dick on it. Legally binding, indeed. I let go before he could get hard but—oh, wait, no. Too late.

  “I should go check on Damien,” I said, brushing a kiss across Gio’s flushed cheekbone before climbing to my feet and stumbling through the helicopter to the cockpit.

  The Emerald had pulled on a pair of polarized sunglasses. He gave me a tired smile and patted the co-pilot’s seat. “Come on, pretty stoneheart. Let’s give you a crash course in piloting a helicopter.”

  I sat next to him eagerly, watching him flick one of what seemed like a thousand switches, and reached out to touch his arm.

  “As if you weren’t dangerous enough,” he said, his smile widening. “I have an idea I think you’ll like, though, something that’ll give you back your sense of purpose.”

  “Wanna tell me what it is?” I asked, leaning in for the demonstration.

  “How about we get home first so I can properly make sure you’re okay?” Damien’s tongue slid over his lower lip. “I think you need a full-body check. In-depth. Behind closed doors.”

  “Oh yes, definitely closed doors,” I agreed. “I think all three of you do, too. We should probably take our time on it. Make sure we’re extremely thorough.”

  The lights of the city appeared in the far distance, just over the horizon. As we drew closer, I picked out the vivid emerald-green light of Viridios Tower.

  I’d never been so glad to be home.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “Next time, we take my family’s helicopter, Damien. One that’s actually got some amenities on it.” Angelique glided inside the penthouse and lowered herself onto the couch with a grace that belied the fact that she was just as filthy as the rest of us.

  “I’m sorry that my tactical helicopter that allowed us to escape a dangerous situation wasn’t up to your standards of luxury, Ange.” Damien’s snippy reply was softened by his grin. He wasn’t about to let Angelique’s petty complaints get under his skin while he was still high on our victory.

  “You can also find your own way home next time.” Gio grinned at Angelique as he entered behind us, with Sawyer bringing up the rear and shutting the door.

  “Can we all just hope there isn’t a next time?” If I never got snatched off a roof by a gargoyle again, it would still be way too soon.

  “Agreed. I’m still getting the hang of my new powers, so if we could at least hold off a few months, that works for me.” Sawyer’s quip drew my attention back to his abject perfection. The handsomeness of his humanity had only been amplified by his transition. Now I really would have to fight the gargoyle ladies off of him when we went out.

  “I just want all of this to be over.” For the first time since I’d met her, Angelique actually sounded tired.

  “Kreslin is dead, he won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again.” And boy, was that a load off my fucking mind.

  “Yeah, if you believe he was the one calling the shots.”

  “And you don’t?” asked Sawyer, his brow furrowed.

  “All I know,” Angelique sighed wearily, “is that I’ll never feel safe until I know for sure. They’ve already caused my family enough heartache. After all the years trying to find out who was behind it, this feels too… easy.”

  “But why do all this in the first place?” I was going to ignore the “too easy” part, since be
ing imprisoned, getting my ass handed to me, and subsisting on gruel for the better part of a week was a million miles from easy in my book. “And why lie to Nolan for me when I claimed to be an Amethyst? Not that I don’t appreciate it, I just don’t understand. You don’t even like me.”

  “I didn’t do it for you.” I stiffened at her response, but she hurried to elaborate. “Not that I wouldn’t have, but I did it because it was right, and because I knew that if I lied, Nolan would be forced to take me to see the big boss. No matter what I’d tried in the past, they wouldn’t allow me to meet with him in person. Imagine my surprise to see America’s favorite washed-up gargoyle actor.”

  “But what was your stake in all this? You risked everything just to help Damien?” This was it. This was when she admitted that she was in love with him, always had been, and she’d done it to win him over.

  “I did it for my daughter.”

  Oh. Or that.

  “Daughter?” I sputtered, completely shocked. Though in truth, I really had no reason to be. I barely knew the woman, and what little conversation we’d had was filled with derision and mutual disdain.

  “Velynn. She’s seven, by human standards.” She drew in a shaky breath, and she visibly steeled herself for what was coming next. “The Harvesters got to her five years ago.”

  I only barely held back my gasp, but Sawyer couldn’t fight his “holy shit.”

  “If I’d walked in even a minute later…” She trailed off and shook her head, clearing away what had to be an absolutely horrifying visual. “He wasn’t expecting me, so I was able to fight him off before he could get to his hypersonic weapon. But he’d already started in on Vellie, and he… he caused some damage.

  “She healed, but her body was too small to handle what the weapon did to her matrix, so she’s vulnerable. Practically human.” For once, she didn’t say the word with disdain or derision, just a statement of fact. “I came to Damien for help and we realized that whoever was behind the Harvesters was a common enemy, so I worked with him to take them down and ensure they couldn’t come back for my child.”