She gave Lannes a piercing look. “It has been fifty years since I saw one of your kind. I heard rumors that you still existed, but frankly, I thought the world had become too small for gargoyles.”
“Not yet,” he muttered, but there was a note of strain in his voice that made Eddie recall his stories of imprisonment: locked in his body for years, unable to move. “Let my wife go.”
“Wife,” said the woman heavily. “You cannot possibly be married to my daughter.”
Lethe made a furious sound. “Mother.”
“Shut up,” she snapped — and the young woman’s jaw shut. Muscles worked in her throat, and she made a choked, snarling sound that was short and furious. But her mouth. . her mouth would not open. . and it was clear that she was trying.
Her mother swayed, staring at her. “How could you be so stupid? Don’t you know this is impossible? Even. . thinking about it. . God. It’s an anathema.”
The old woman standing beside Lethe stepped forward with a disapproving frown.
“Take care with your temper and insults, Morgana,” she said in crisp, quiet tones — and then, much to Eddie’s surprise, she stared directly at Lyssa. “Your power in this room is infinitely small right now.”
“Don’t lecture me, Ursula.” The woman’s pale features smoothed into a cold, hard mask — and she focused that heavy, glinting gaze on Lethe. “I understand now why you wouldn’t give me a name, why you refused to say a word. And why you were so shocked.” She took a deep breath, pale hands smoothing down her dress. “Tell me honestly. Is it really his?”
Lethe gave her a hateful look. A trickle of understanding filled Eddie, but it was so unexpected, so entirely impossible, he wasn’t sure he could be right.
“Yes,” she said, growling the word.
The old man muttered to himself. The sisters exchanged disgusted glances. The elderly woman, Ursula, only sighed — and watched Lyssa with puzzlement and sadness. Eddie’s gaze slid to Lyssa, but she was studying Lethe and didn’t seem to notice the others’ scrutiny.
“God,” said Morgana, closing her eyes with visible revulsion. “How could you? I thought, at least, your baby was human. . but this?”
Eddie’s gut clenched. Lannes sucked in his breath with shock and stared at Lethe. His wife’s eyes were filled with determination — the answer there as she stared back at him.
She was pregnant.
“Lethe,” whispered Lannes, and the reverence in his voice should have melted even a stone heart. But Morgana’s mouth twisted with disdain, and a shudder raced through her that was pure revulsion.
“Her name,” she said in a clear, granite tones, “is Alice. And she will never bear your child. Not now. Not ever. I will rip it from her myself if I have to.”
Lannes said nothing; he might as well have screamed, given the crackle of raw, pure energy that suddenly coursed through that room. He lurched forward one step, and the three sisters winced and touched their heads. He took another step, muscles straining, gaze burning with disgust and resolve.
And then Morgana made a slashing motion with her hand, and he stopped, again.
Lyssa cursed to herself, but Eddie stayed quiet, burying his heart so deep he could barely feel it. Lethe was quiet, too, but it was a deadly, simmering silence that was murderous, and cold.
Morgana said, “If you leave now, gargoyle. . I will not hurt you.”
“Keep him,” muttered the old man, tapping his cane on the floor. “In case the Cruor Venator finds us. Perhaps we can trade his life, or use him as a distraction. It might make all the difference.”
“You don’t bargain with the Cruor Venator,” murmured Lyssa, but no one seemed to hear her but Eddie.
Ursula stepped forward, golden bangles chiming. “You can’t be serious, Morgana. This is absurd.”
“It’s survival. And not a bad idea.”
“It’s disgusting. She loves him. It’s obvious he loves her. If you kill her child. .”
“No,” Lannes spat, while Lethe made a furious sound, deep in her throat. “Don’t you touch her—”
“—you might as well kill Alice,” finished the old woman. “I won’t let you do that.”
Morgana gave her an icy look. “Are you going to stop all of us? With what? A sharp word?”
Eddie listened, sickened. Were these people actually talking about his friends as though they could be imprisoned and sold? Were they really discussing whether or not to kill their child?
He tested his hands and found he could still move. Fire filled his fingertips, hot, mixed with anger. He was just about to speak, when sharp laughter filled the room.
It was Lyssa.
She stared at Morgana — at all of them — with pure, rock-hard disdain. It took Eddie by surprise because up until then he hadn’t imagined her confronting these witches, not when she’d been so hesitant to come in the first place.
Her scorn, however, was a shocking, beautiful thing.
“Look at all of you,” she said, with withering contempt. “Look at how ridiculous you are. You think a little power means something? You think it gives you the right to control another living being?”
Morgana narrowed her eyes. “Who are you?”
Ursula shook her head, looking at the other woman as though she was a fool. “Morgana, be smart. Don’t say another word.”
“Why?” She waved a bony hand at Lyssa. “She’s a little girl. Nothing but a shape-shifter. Give me a real challenge.”
A slow smile touched Lyssa’s mouth, and it was dark and chilling, and reminded Eddie too much of that cruel hardness that had transformed her face when she talked about killing Estefan’s murderers.
“A challenge?” she echoed, too softly. “You will not keep this woman against her will. And you are not touching her baby. Over my dead body.”
Everyone but Ursula shifted — sideways and forward, at the same time — though not with quite the same movements. Close enough to be eerie, though.
Morgana unfolded her arms, staring. “I can rip you apart with my mind.”
“Then why do you need six minds to hold one gargoyle and your daughter? I can feel the link among you all. Without it, you could never hold either of them.” Lyssa shook her head and stripped off her glove, exposing her right hand. “No. You can’t touch me.”
She walked toward Lethe, and Eddie fell in beside her, silent as her shadow.
She gave him a brief, startled look. He didn’t understand why, and he didn’t care. Everyone in that room was staring at them with the same surprise — though their gazes were equally torn to her hand, with its glinting golden claws and crimson scales.
Morgana stepped in their path. Again, a wash of air rippled and undulated against his skin, but the fire rose from his heart and consumed the cold — swallowing that watery sensation until it was nothing. Lyssa stepped up to his side. Both of them faced the witch.
“Ma’am,” he said. “Move aside.”
Morgana frowned. “No.”
Eddie gritted his teeth and strode toward her, fire sparking off his hands, flames licking his wrists and threading into the air. He never engaged in deliberate displays of power, but his anger was too rich.
And power, it seemed to him, was all these people understood.
Lyssa moved with him, silent and graceful — deadly in her grace. No fire, but heat throbbed off her body, shimmering around them both.
Morgana’s eyes widened, and she slid sideways, almost staggering in her haste to keep him from touching her.
“Impossible,” she murmured, staring at him — and then Lyssa. “You can’t be immune to our power. Not both of you.”