Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
“Here.” Austin set a second cup of coffee on the railing, glancing down at the Ivy House crew. Ulric had scooted farther away from Mr. Tom and Edgar. “Drink up. It sounds like you’ll need it.”
I couldn’t help chuckling. Grabbing his apron to keep him put, I leaned into him for a moment, and we shared in the joke that was Mr. Tom and Edgar. You just had to be incredibly patient to get to the punch line.
“Breakfast in fifteen,” he said gruffly when I let him go. “Don’t invite the others.”
I laughed harder.
Mr. Tom and Edgar ignored Austin, immersed in an argument about doilies and how appropriate it was to use them as the equivalent of clay pigeons.
“Did you need something?” I asked Ulric.
His eyes were tight. He hooked a thumb at Edgar. “Just so we’re clear, I have nothing to do with…whatever is going on here. I’m not with them. I didn’t notice the gnomes when I was walking out this morning.”
“They are quite wily, I assure you,” Edgar said, quickly changing gears. It left Mr. Tom arguing with himself. “They are good at hiding in the garden. But when you least expect it—bam! Gnome attack.”
“No,” I said in a long release of breath. “Tell me they aren’t like the dolls.”
“Yes, miss.” Mr. Tom slid Edgar a narrow-eyed look. “I am afraid they are. Ivy House likes to pit them against the dolls when she’s feeling particularly…cantankerous. I do not mean to call into question your decision-making, but hiding away here, leaving behind your duties as the Ivy House heir, has created some…turbulence in the house.”
“I know about the house’s mood, Mr. Tom,” I said dryly before finishing the first cup of coffee and starting on the second.
“Um…if I may.” Ulric took another step away from Mr. Tom and Edgar. “Miss, you know how you said I had a green light to tell my mother she could gossip about my place with you? That she could feed the chatter about a female gargoyle so word would get out more quickly to prominent cairns, since she’s a world-class networker?”
“Yes?”
“Well, most of the gargoyle community, with my mom’s help, is in a fervor. You’re getting connection requests from all over the world. My mom has never seen gossip spread this quickly.”
“I assume—”
“Hmm, now that smells good, Miss Jessie,” Edgar interrupted me. “You are really going to enjoy today’s breakfast.”
Everyone paused to look at him. He was clearly no longer following the conversation.
Mr. Tom pursed his lips, taking up the conversational baton. “Usually, the larger, more prestigious cairns would send an invitation, wanting any new cairn to attend to them as a way of showing their status. The lower-status cairns would send a connection request. That is their way of saying they realize your status is above theirs and, if you should want to meet them, they would come to you.”
“And so far I’ve only received connection requests from the smaller cairns?” I surmised. “How long do the larger cairns usually take to send an invite?”
Ulric grinned and shook his head, his pink-and-blue-dyed hair ruffling in the breeze. “The larger cairns haven’t been sending invites. Most of them, anyway. They’ve been sending connection requests. They’re already declaring you of high status in the gargoyle community.”
“Well, of course they are.” Mr. Tom puffed up his chest. “She is the Ivy House heir. She is of the highest status.”
“It’s sounding like they will bend over backward to gain the favor of the only living female gargoyle in the world,” Ulric said. “Those who believe, anyway, and most of them seem to. I don’t think we’ve heard from the cairns with the highest status, but my mom thinks that’s because they want to make a show of their connection requests. They want to stand out.”
“Well…that’s good news, right?” I asked, my mood lifting.
Austin was working on getting his shifter pack organized so we’d be ready to help Kingsley stand against Momar. The basajaun was off visiting his family, trying to arrange a meeting between them and my crew. If they chose to support us in the coming battle, I would have to do them a favor in return.
My piece was getting the gargoyles united and into a sort of army of my own, something Ulric and Sebastian had said was the duty of a female gargoyle. To be the commander. The leader. Ulric had thought his mother would be our best bet for alerting the masses. So far, so good.
“Very good news,” Ulric said, although I could feel through the bond that his pride was tempered by discomfort. “There’s only one thing.”
I lifted my eyebrows for him to go on.
He grimaced. “She’s convinced you are going to need someone knowledgeable in gargoyle politics to help navigate the…fragile egos, she called them. Cairn leaders can be prickly, but more than that, they act a lot like shifters in that they force you to show dominance. If you don’t, they won’t respect you.”