Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 640(@200wpm)___ 512(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
She fluffed the air beside me, getting me moving. “It seems the Goman cairn’s leader didn’t bring any guardians. I’d heard that, but it doesn’t make sense. How bizarre, right? There must be some sort of mix-up.”
“How do you know that? Didn’t they just arrive?”
I made it to the bathroom door, pausing so she’d find somewhere else to be.
“In you get. I’ll just sit here on this lovely modern bench and fill you in while you suds up.” She ushered me in, following me, and grabbed the front of my robe.
“Whoa. Hang on—”
“Don’t be bashful. I’ve seen you naked a million times. Here we go…”
“It’s diff—erent.” I gave her a stern look before stepping into the shower, pulling closed the shower curtain that I was happy I’d insisted on, and took off the robe. Then I had to cower in the corner so the cold water didn’t freeze me before it warmed up.
“He arrived at the warehouse without any guardians, I heard,” she said. “I just got a call from that lovely young woman who turns into a wolf. She’s on the warehouse protection detail. I asked her to help me keep track of things so that I could make sure you were up to date. So at dinner—dinner, mind, not in the warehouse—you’ll need to very casually ask why he made that unusual choice. It’s a character assessment.”
“Got it.”
“I’ve written it down so that you’ll remember. Now, I’ve got it on good authority that Pierce—Mr. Cashmere, the others call him—will be here a few hours before the meeting. He has a lot of swagger. He shows very well.”
“Swagger isn’t going to impress Austin.”
“Swagger is just icing. What’s important is that he gets the job done. The Dark Three may have dug up information about how he came by his position, but honestly, there were no grievances filed, so he is absolved of any wrongdoing.”
The Dark Three were what we now called Niamh, Sebastian, and Nessa. The dirty pool players, Nessa always said.
I held my head out of the water so I could hear. “They didn’t mention that. How’d he get his position?”
“Relax for this week,” Patty went on, ignoring my question. I’d need to ask the others. “These are just production cairns without any status. Any gossip they spread can be turned around, don’t you worry. I have all my girls on standby. Use this time to get to know how lesser gargoyles work, how they speak, what they do, all that. Get used to them, and then you’ll hit the ground running when the high-status cairns come through.”
I knew all this, of course. I’d been told a million times.
After all the preparation, turning the house upside down, getting new jewelry made, a new wardrobe—finally it was time to meet the first wave of gargoyles. I was both extremely curious and utterly terrified.
FOURTEEN
Jessie
We arrived at the warehouse punctually and separated ourselves as we usually did, Austin’s line clean and crisp and mine a little meandering but mostly in sync. Two shifters opened the double doors, and Austin and I went first, side by side. The others came behind and then fanned out, as we’d planned.
The two production cairns waited in the middle of the spacious warehouse on either side of the large space. Each had plenty of room and had used it fantastically differently.
On the left stood what I had gathered to be the Goman cairn, their rugs spread out in front of them with the sometimes odd designs and an array of colors. Textiles were draped on tables behind that or hung on rolling garment racks. The various gargoyles associated with the cairn stood among their products, their faces impassive and their stances patient. The whole setup seemed organized and thought out, everything placed just so.
In contrast, the Venavin cairn setup was a mess of textiles. Items were heaped onto the tables or throw blankets seemingly tossed onto the ground. I couldn’t see any rhyme or reason to the setup, and it certainly didn’t seem like they cared.
In a moment, I saw why.
One of the gargoyles clustered in the back took us in and started snickering. He elbowed the guy next to him, and that guy barked out a laugh before shaking his head in disdain. Grins sprang up on the faces of the others, and who I recognized as their leader from pictures I’d seen crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk. He didn’t plan to call them down. Worse, it seemed he agreed with their sentiments. They stood amid a mess of their product, a terrible display of their worth, and they had the audacity to laugh at me.
Both anger and support radiated through the bond, my people urging me to keep a stiff spine. Tightly coiled rage worked through me from Austin as Patty tsked and started murmuring furiously to herself.