Extraits

CHAPTER 1

Jasper had turned to stone. Every beat of my heart was painful, as if a boa constrictor had wrapped tight around my arteries. I stood on the stone passageway with my eyes locked on his steel gray body. The crescent moon half-hidden behind thick rolling clouds barely illuminated the skinny alley, and it felt as though the walls on either side of us were closing in like the jaws of a hungry shark.

Every single inch of him was frozen. From the tip of the finger that stretched toward the night sky to his heavy boots now anchored to the ground. And his face...it was contorted into an expression of shock and pain, those brilliant golden eyes of his now dulled into gray.

Tears slid down my cheeks, hot and painful. This was all my fault. Jasper hadn’t merely shifted. He hadn’t turned because of the disappearing magic that plagued this city either. No, this was my fault. I could feel it in my bones. We’d kissed. He’d broken his oath. Whatever bond that held us together had now forced him to turn into stone.

I clutched the shirt around my heart as sobs shook my body, and I fell to my knees. How could I have let this happen? How could I have been stupid enough to give into a kiss when I knew what it would cause? All this time, I’d been fighting so hard to stop my gargoyle guardians from becoming permanent stone, and yet I’d ended up being the one to cause it. Regardless of all the battles. Regardless of all the pain. Regardless of all those lives we’d lost along the way.

I pressed my hands against the cool stone and took deep breaths in through my nose. It was next to impossible to hear myself think over the roar of the blood in my ears. I couldn’t just stay here like this, weeping in an alley and watching my tears plop onto the dusty ground. I had to at least try to undo whatever it was I’d caused. I owed that much to Jasper, at least.

With a shaky breath, I forced myself to stand and rip my gaze away from Jasper’s stone body. In the distance, a single light flickered in the Scriptorium. Was that Marcus, waiting for me? Or Eli, wondering where Jasper was?

My heart lurched once again. I couldn’t bear to imagine what they would think of me when they found out what I’d done. Marcus had told me it didn’t matter that I’d once kissed Jasper, but he might not feel the same about this one. I couldn’t lose him, too.

And Silas...broody yet sweet Silas. No way in hell he’d take it very well either. He didn’t like anyone to know he cared, and yet he was extremely protective over everyone.

And Sebastian...well, I would never go to him for help ever again. He would most likely delight in the fact I’d accidentally turned one of them to stone.

That left Kipling and Eli. Maybe they would know what to do. Eli had taken the same vow, the same oath. He was bound to me, my protector. If anyone in the world knew how to reverse this spell or curse or whatever it was, it would be him.

With one hand curled tight into a fist, I reached out the other and pressed it to Jasper’s body. He was cold and hard and...lifeless. I swallowed hard, fighting back the new wave of tears that threatened to pour from my aching eyes. Only moments ago, he’d been flesh and bone. His eyes had been full of light. His smile had sparked a fire in my gut.

And now he was nothing but a rock.

“I’m so sorry, Jasper,” I whispered, though I had no way of knowing if he could hear me. But maybe he could. If he was somewhere inside that stone form of his, I needed him to know I’d try to save him. I would make my own vow, my own oath.

Leaning forward and up onto my toes, I pressed my forehead against his, breathing in the misty scent of him. “I’ll do everything in my power to make this right. I will go to the ends of the earth if it means I can get you back. I promise you that.”

And with that, I turned from my guardian and flew down the streets, my feet slapping hard against the stone ground. Tears poured from my eyes, but I didn’t bother to brush them aside. When I reached the Scriptorium, I was breathless. My cheeks were flushed and my hair was wild, a cascade of silver around my shoulders. But I didn’t care.