Daryna’s rushed plea did nothing to sway Gregory’s actions, though. Lillian could feel the cold, destructive magic flowing from the Spirit Realm, building within him as he readied to unleash the battle spells he’d forged earlier.
“I understand well enough.” He released the first wave of power.
It raced across the length of the cavern to slam into a shield that encircled Daryna and Gryton. That didn’t deter Gregory in the slightest, and he launched another blast of power upon them.
Again and again, he struck, the magic swirling in wild currents around the cave. It beat at the walls, floor, and ceiling, seeking a way free. But it seemed unable to escape past Gregory’s wings where he blocked the entrance.
“Gregory, stop,” Daryna ordered. “I command you.”
“You are not my Sorceress. Shout all you want. I’ll not obey this time.” His voice dropped to a growl.
“Let me fight,” Gryton yelled at Daryna. “Or your gargoyle half is going to kill me long before he listens to you.”
Daryna shook her head stubbornly. “No! Gregory listen. Gryton is needed. He is important. With his help, we can overthrow the Battle Goddess.”
“You are delusional,” Gregory hissed.
Daryna raised her hand higher, bracing herself as Gregory tossed more power at her. “My gargoyle, don’t make me hurt you.”
Gregory snorted. “Surrender and let me deal with Gryton and then we will talk. You are either tainted, influenced by him, or your judgment is impaired because of damage to your mind and body.”
“It’s not any of those reasons. Let me explain.”
Gregory snarled. “You can explain after I’ve killed Gryton.”
Lillian’s lungs strained to draw in air as the pressure continued to build within the cavern. Knowing the danger of a collapse was a very real possibility, Lillian whispered in Gregory’s mind. ‘You’re going to bury all of us under a few tons of rock if you keep this up.’
‘At least they’d be trapped.’
‘Did you miss the ‘us’ part?’
Huffing, he tilted his head enough to meet her gaze. ‘I have reinforced our escape route; however, Daryna and Gryton will not be so lucky.’
Lillian studied Gryton and Daryna with some misgiving. Gryton wasn’t fighting. Perhaps the Mother’s Sorceress did know something Gregory didn’t. And hadn’t the original plan been to trap and milk Gryton for information, so they could use him to help free Shadowlight?
Well, Gryton was right there. Cornered, if not yet captured.
As if sensing her regard, he shifted his gaze to study her.
He raised his visor, and she met his dark, almond-shaped eyes. They were familiar. It took her a moment and then she had it. His intense brown eyes reminded her of Gregory’s when he was in his human form.
Above their heads, sharp snaps echoed from the tortured ceiling. A wide crack now stretched across the rocky surface. A second fissure opening made Lillian’s sensitive ears quiver. A moment later, half the ceiling was falling toward Daryna.
Gryton reacted faster, throwing himself over Daryna, shielding her smaller body from the pieces his power failed to vaporize in time. The cavern filled with a potent mix of dust, steam, and heat.
Even the added protections Gregory had woven around Lillian didn’t block it all.
Coughing, she backed out of the tunnel and into fresh air. Once she had her breath back, she stooped down to go back in. Before she’d made it a step, an explosive shockwave raced outward from somewhere deep in the cave.
Gregory was tossed free of the tunnel and rolled a couple of times before he sprang back to his feet. Gryton was the next out of the tunnel, Daryna close at his heels. However, the Sorceress wasn’t fast enough to catch the Commander.
“You will not harm my mother!”
The bellowed words shocked Lillian. And apparently Gregory, too. He’d been in a threatening crouch, about to launch another attack, but Gryton’s words had the big gargoyle slowly standing up.
While his magic was still raging around him, he looked beyond his opponent to meet Daryna’s eyes.
“You must not harm Gryton,” Daryna screamed, calling more of her own magic.
Gryton didn’t seem to have the same concerns for Gregory and drew his sword. Swinging it in a wide arc, he aimed for the gargoyle’s abdomen.
Gregory held out a hand, one that glowed brightly with power. Gryton’s strike was deflected, but the armor-clad warrior recovered quickly. Dancing out of the range of Gregory’s counter attack, Gryton moved to strike again.
Lillian was still struck on Gryton’s earlier cry.
Mother?
His familiar eyes.
Gregory’s eyes.
Oh, God.
It was impossible. Yet when she glanced at Daryna, she knew.
Their soul link flared to life and the other woman’s thoughts were suddenly in Lillian’s mind. Gryton is ours. The first born between us.’
Gregory was the father. Daryna was the mother. That could only mean in some past life they had broken their most sacred vows.
Here was a monster that the Avatars had birthed into the universe against Divine will.
But why didn’t Gregory remember?
Gryton came at Gregory again. The gargoyle snapped out a hand and closed his fingers around the shorter male’s throat, his talons digging in. He hoisted Gryton off the ground and then reached out with his other hand and pried Gryton’s helmet from his head. Gregory’s muzzle dipped closer and dragged in a deep lungful of air.
His expression shifting between shock and disbelief, he just stood there holding Gryton off the ground. The other male twisted and freed a knife from a sheath at his waist and lashed out, aiming for a soft target.
Gregory blocked the strike and shook the other male like he was a dusty rag. However, the gargoyle had not killed the other male yet, so clearly, he was uncertain.
Hell, Lillian was uncertain, too.
Was Gryton really their son? One raised by the Battle Goddess?
Gryton must’ve sensed Gregory’s reluctance as well, for he struck with his knife again. This time finding flesh. It was a demon blade, Lillian realized.
With a snarl of pain, Gregory jerked the blade from his bicep and called more spirit magic. The demon blade loosed a screech and then vaporized a moment later. The distraction had been enough to allow Gryton to gain his freedom.
Gregory called more power. Was that added strength intended for capturing or killing Gryton, Lillian wondered?
Daryna must have had similar doubts, for a great weaving began to form in the air directly in front of her. By the intensity of the bright coloration flickering at its core Lillian knew it was going to be big and badass. One capable of doing severe damage to its target.
“Stop.” At her shout three pairs of eyes locked on her.
Lillian squared her shoulders, drew in a deep breath, and then stalked forward until she was standing in the center of a triangle, each opponent making one of the points.
“We need to talk this out.”
When no one responded, Lillian tried a different tactic. “All the realms lose if the Avatars go to war against each other.”
That got a grunt from Gregory, and after a moment, Daryna closed her hand on her own spell.
Two down.
Lillian looked to Gryton next. He was standing slightly further away than the other two, but Lillian could still easily feel his potent magic.
She studied him unhappily. While he might be her son, he was also a mass murderer. But even so, she did not want to see him killed by Gregory. She told herself it was because she didn’t want Gregory to suffer from the knowledge that he’d killed his own son.
“Daryna, you said Gryton is our son—that’s why you stopped me from killing him back in the glade when you were still a hamadryad and I had him under my sword. I understand now why you did what you did. But it doesn’t make it right.”
Lillian turned her attention entirely upon
Gryton. Now that she was looking, she could see greater family resemblance between father and son. There was something similar in the way they carried themselves, the grace with which they moved.
“Whose side are you on?” Lillian asked.
“My own,” Gryton said with stark honesty. “I have never had anyone else to rely upon. Since it doesn’t seem like my sire will be harming my mother in the immediate future, I think I’ll pass on the other family activities you have planned.”
Faster than anyone could stop him, he darted sideways and dove into a portal spell Lillian only noticed now. Between blinks, there was a flash of magic and he was gone. Gregory growled and then charged the spot where Gryton had been, but Lillian intercepted him before he could give chase.
“Gregory, you will not go after Gryton. Later you can, but first, we need to talk to Daryna.” While she’d said ‘talk’ she actually meant interrogate.
He snarled again, but instead of following Gryton like he so clearly wanted to, he came over to Lillian.
She held out her hand and he took it. Together they walked over to face Daryna. To say Gregory was calmer would be a lie, but at least he seemed rational again. “Were you able to verify that Gryton is our son, like he and Daryna claim?”
The answer to that question would affect what they did from this point forward. She could feel the tension in his fingers that ran on up his arms. His entire body was rigid with emotions flowing through him.
At last, he was able to spit out what kept catching in his throat. “Gryton is our son.”
Chapter 32
EVEN AS THE WORDS FLOWED from him, Gregory still didn’t understand how this...this sacrilege had come into being. He had a son born of his other half. Forbidden, impossible, and yet somehow Gryton existed.
Gregory had no memory of the event or those that had led up to Gryton’s birth. His mind kept wanting to name it all some trickery devised by the Battle Goddess.
And, yet, now that he’d reached into Gryton’s mind, his essence, the facts were irrefutable.
Gryton was his son.
He collapsed to his knees. Then like it had a mind of its own, his tail coiled around his body. For the first time in his existence, the impossible had become possible. And it was more horrible than he could face.
Forsworn. He was an oath breaker. He’d betrayed his creators.
“Oh, my beloved,” Daryna said as she came to stand before him. “Please look at me.”
When he didn’t respond, she dropped to her knees in front of him. At his back, he could feel Lillian close. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder.
But nothing was real to him at that moment.
He didn’t know how long he sat there in shock, his mind working to understand his ultimate betrayal, but slowly Daryna’s words invaded the chaos of his thoughts.
“I didn’t know what Gryton was until he used my hamadryad tree to travel to this realm,” Daryna said. “Had he known that my hamadryad was, in fact, the Mother’s Sorceress at that time, I doubt Gryton would have used the tree to travel here. Whatever the case, when Gryton came, I learned what he was. Since I was a hamadryad at the time, I did not think the same way as I do now. All I knew was that Gryton was mine, my child. That’s why I didn’t let Lillian kill him when she had the chance.”
“I knew you were up to something,” Lillian said, but her tone lacked bite.
She, too, was surprised by this, Gregory realized. He tilted his head so he could brush his muzzle against her hand. Weak. He was weak to need that comfort, but he did.
“You are not weak, my gargoyle.” It was Daryna speaking again.
He finally met her eyes.
“I learned more about our son while I was still a hamadryad. But it was only after I was born to this form, that I was able to truly talk to Gryton. At first, he was rather hostile, thinking that I would try to destroy him.” Daryna sighed softly. “He has been hunted from the moment of his birth. Lord Death knew what Gryton was and sent every last gargoyle after him. The Lady of Battles also knew he was our son and she offered him shelter from her twin’s hunters.”
“Well,” Lillian said, “That explains why he’s a bloodthirsty mass murderer. That doesn’t explain why you are helping him.”
Daryna turned to Lillian. “He is our son. The life he leads was forced upon him. He had no choice.”
“He didn’t have to serve the Battle Goddess,” Lillian countered.
“And where else would he have gone if he refused the Battle Goddess’s aid?”
Gregory could hear Lillian’s teeth snap together. She was silent. He reached out to her mind to find it calmer than his, but just as uncertain. She felt responsible for Gryton’s actions. Gregory silently agreed with her assessment. A monster had been born into the universe because of the Avatars. That made Gryton and all he’d done their responsibility.
Somehow Gregory would have to make this right.
“How,” he said at last. “How did it happen and how are we still here? The Divine Ones should have destroyed us for such a violation.”
Daryna glanced down at her hands and then after a moment reached out for his.
“I don’t remember the how, either. But Gryton said he had inherited some of our memories—like a father gargoyle would pass memories to his son, or a mother dryad would pass them to her daughter. But when I asked Gryton what he knew, he said he did not understand why we acted as we did. All he knew was that our coming together was not some accident. It was a deliberate choice we made.”
Gregory snorted in shock. “What?”
That...that would mean they’d acted against the will of their creators purposely. It wasn’t just a moment of passion that had gone too far. Which would have been bad enough. But to have willfully chosen this?
Growling, Gregory shook off their hands and stood. He could not contain the growing horror inside himself. He paced between the trees for many moments before returning and halting before the Mother’s Sorceress.
“Our choice should have led to our destruction. Why are we still here?”
Lillian came to stand beside him and rested her hand on his arm. When he turned to her, she arched an eyebrow. “You make it sound like you’d rather be dead?”
Gregory sighed. “No. Of course not. But the Divine Ones should have acted to correct our...transgression.”
Daryna cleared her throat. “You think they didn’t? Neither of us remembers the life before this one.”
Slowly Gregory glanced over his shoulder at Daryna. “Life?”
“Yes. Gryton and I compared a few memories. From what we were able to put together, I’ve either misplaced an entire lifetime of memories, or the Divine Ones stripped them away. I’m pretty sure I know which it is.”
Gregory swallowed hard. “I still don’t...”
“Here,” Daryna held out her hand. “Take from my mind what I’ve learned while training Gryton to control his powers. It will be faster than having me try to explain it.”
He hesitated a moment, not really wanting to have this new reality become even more real than it already was. It was a foolish wish, no doubt, but he still didn’t want to face the truth head on.
Instead, it was Lillian who reached for Daryna’s outstretched hand, his mate doing what he wasn’t brave enough to do. After a few moments, Lillian released Daryna’s hand with a curse.
“That was...freaking strange. But, Gregory, I think Daryna is speaking the truth. Gryton, too, in his own twisted way. At some point in the past, we chose to break our vows.”
“Yes,” Daryna said as she glanced down at her hands. “Gryton is our child, and while I don’t know our reasoning at the time since Gryton hasn’t mastered all his memories, I do know that we chose to bring him into existence. And while the Divine Ones stripped our memories from that last life, they also let us continue as we have always been. We are still their Avatars, and they sent us back to fulfill some purpose in this life.”
Daryna’s voice softened, but still held a
note of conviction. “I believe we have been sent back this time to stop the Lady of Battles once and for all. I intend to free Gryton from her and lead him back to the Light. I think in our last life, we knew the Battle Goddess was growing bolder and that she would find a way to upset the balance and bring war to all the realms. While I can’t know for certain, I do believe we birthed Gryton into the universe to be her replacement...”
“Replacement,” Gregory growled and then modulated his tone. “While I would like to see the Battle Goddess forcibly returned to the Divine Ones for healing, it is not for us to go against Divine judgment. They have allowed her to remain within the Magic Realm. Thus, they must believe the Battle Goddess needs to learn the cost of her own actions.”
“You don’t believe that,” Daryna said. “Or at least something made you set aside your beliefs at some point in our last life together.”
“Even you admit that you are only going on the flawed and incomplete jumble of memories I gifted to Gryton at his conception.” He paced as he mulled over this new dilemma. “It’s more likely that the Divine Ones scrubbed our memories and then sent us back here as a chance to fix our mistake. A test. One last chance to prove our worthiness.”
Daryna shook her head. “No. Think about it. Clearly, Lord Death called back his gargoyle army. Otherwise, there would have been a war between the twins. And only once has Lord Death ever acted without a direct command from the Divine Ones.”
“Guesses.”
“Yes. For now. But think about it. While our creators might not have sanctioned Gryton’s birth, I think they have come to see some use for him. I would even hazard a guess that since their own Avatars went against their wishes, our creators might be thinking long and hard about their decision regarding the Lady of Battles.”
“You may think that if you want,” Gregory said, slowly growing calmer as new purpose filled him. He would find out what was really going on and then do whatever he must to serve the Light. But Lillian was correct. Battling his other half would not benefit anyone except the Battle Goddess. Aloud Gregory said, “But I will not come to my own conclusions without more facts. First order of business is to find Gryton and question him.”
The Complete Gargoyle and Sorceress Boxset (Books 1-9) Page 96