Protect the Prince (Crown of Shards #2)(53)

I blinked in surprise. “He can talk?”

Gemma laughed. “Of course he can talk. All gargoyles can talk. Strixes too. Just not everyone can hear them.”

“But you can.”

She nodded, then beamed at me. “And you can too. That makes you really lucky.”

I didn’t know about that, but I kept my hand where it was, since Grimley was still sniffing my fingers.

“Magic killer,” he rumbled again, his nostrils quivering. “Magic master.”

Then he looked up at me, wagged his tail, and licked my hand as though we were old friends. His rough stone tongue scraped across my skin like sandpaper, but not unpleasantly so.

I wondered at his words, though. Magic killer? Magic master? Was he talking about my immunity? Or something else?

I didn’t know, but he seemed to be warming up to me, so I cautiously reached out and scratched the spot in the middle of his forehead, right between his horns.

Gemma beamed at me again. “See? He likes that. I knew the two of you would be friends, just like Grimley and I are.”

She threw her arms around the gargoyle’s neck and hugged him, while Grimley wagged his tail again. It was perhaps the strangest friendship I had ever seen, but I knew how important it was to have a friend you trusted completely, even if that friend was made of stone.

Gemma hugged Grimley’s neck again, then drew back. By this point, we were both sitting on the floor with the gargoyle. Another shadow fell over me, and I looked up and realized that Grimley wasn’t the only gargoyle here. Others were sailing through the air above the gardens, just like they had flown over the glass ceiling inside the palace earlier.

Gemma waved at them, and the creatures grumbled back to her.

“You really are friends with all the gargoyles,” I said.

“Of course,” she replied. “And some of the ones in the city too. But Grimley will always be my favorite. And he’s their leader now, even though he was born in the mountains instead of here at the palace.”

“Just like you’ll be the leader of Andvari someday.”

She shrugged. “I suppose. I just hope I can be as good a queen as you are. I’ve heard all about your adventures from Alvis.”

I held back a derisive snort. Me? A good queen? Hardly. Gemma needed to pick another hero. But I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I changed the subject.

“You and Alvis seem to be good friends.”

She nodded. “He and Xenia helped me escape from Seven Spire. The three of us spent weeks together traveling back to Glanzen. I was so happy when Alvis decided to stay at Glitnir and open his jewelry workshop.”

Alvis had a new workshop? A smile lifted my lips. It was good to know that some things would never change.

“I’m trying to get Alvis to make me his apprentice, just like you were, but he hasn’t said yes—yet.” She pouted a moment, but determination gleamed in her eyes. Alvis might not realize it yet, but he was fighting a losing battle with this girl. “And I’m so glad that Xenia came with you. I haven’t seen her in person since she went to her castle in Unger, although I’ve talked to her quite a bit since then.”

“You’ve talked to Xenia? How?”

She shrugged again. “Alvis has a Cardea mirror in his workshop. He talks to Xenia all the time. He also talks to that other woman who came with you, the one with the blond hair and the scar on her face.” Gemma shivered. “She looks like a fierce warrior.”

I thought of all the long hours, days, and weeks that Serilda had spent training me. “You have no idea.”

“I don’t understand why my father was so upset about you coming to Glitnir,” Gemma said. “I told him how you saved me during the massacre, but for some reason, he didn’t want you to come here. Neither did Rhea. I think that’s one of the reasons why she was so nasty to you earlier.”

I kept quiet, letting her talk and analyzing her words. So Prince Dominic hadn’t wanted me to journey to Glitnir. Why not? Other than blaming me for Frederich’s and Hans’s deaths like Rhea and the nobles did. Then again, that was reason enough.

“I was so happy that Uncle Lucas came with you too,” Gemma continued. “He never visits or stays long enough. Not since Helene broke his heart and he snuck off to join that gladiator troupe a couple of years ago. It was quite the scandal, him slipping out of the palace in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Grandpa Heinrich was angry, but Dahlia was downright furious. She’s been trying to get him to come home ever since.”

I remained quiet, still absorbing her words and all their implications. So everyone at Glitnir knew that Helene had broken off her engagement to Sullivan. I could understand why he had left. I wouldn’t have wanted to stick around and be reminded of my lover humiliating me either. And with him being a bastard and her eventually getting engaged to Frederich, one of the legitimate princes . . . The humiliation would have been even harder to bear then, along with everyone’s pity.

“But everything will be okay now that Uncle Lucas is here, and you too.” Gemma gave me a sly, knowing look. “I was up on the tower roof with Grimley just now. I saw you watching him and Helene.”

I grimaced. I’d been here only a few hours, but Gemma already knew how I felt about Sullivan. I wondered who else had noticed. Most likely far more people than I wanted. I would have to be careful about how I interacted with Sullivan, although it was probably already too late. No doubt the nobles were already gossiping about what might be going on between us and whether he was fucking me or not.