Chapter 21

After the meal, Sax carried me back to the tower, my arms wrapped tightly around his neck as we launched into the night air.

I don't care if this is all in my head, I have never felt so free with the warm summer night breeze on my skin and my feet literally swept off the ground. As we hide away in the tower, exploring one another's bodies waiting for the sun to rise, learning more about each other until we're piled into the bed, spent and sweaty, I decide that if this is all just a dream, I don't want to wake up.

If only it worked like that.

The sound of crunching gravel cuts through the early hours, and the drifting nap I'd been enjoying.

"What was that?" I ask, my voice quivering as I untangle myself from Sax's embrace, a jolt of fear shooting up my spine. Silence hangs heavy in the air, and I know.

Like a sudden gust of wind extinguishing a flickering flame, a wave of realisation crashes over me. They don't need to say anything.

I know.

The room feels suffocatingly still as my three gargoyles exchange a glance, their stony features betraying no hint of emotion.

A sinking feeling settles deep within the pit of my stomach, twisting and churning with a sickening certainty.

I know that look – the silent communication between my guardians. It's a language all its own, one that speaks volumes. I can no longer deny the inevitable.

"It was a car." The words tremble on my lips, each syllable heavy with the weight of what it means. "Wasn't it?"

I climb out of the sheets and sit at the end of the bed, my head in my hands as I try to calm my breathing.

Forcing out my next words is an act of sheer will, each syllable a painful admission of the terror that starts to soak into my skin like a bone deep chill. But as I say them aloud, I know that there can be no denying the truth we're all avoiding any longer.

"He's back."

The heaviness in the room keeps growing, expanding like a living thing as I continue to stare at my three…what are they? Lovers? Monsters? I guess they're the closest thing I have to friends right now.

Sax's movements are deliberate, as he climbs out of the bed and kneels at my feet. The faint light filters through the one remaining stained glass window, casting shadows across his weathered features, accentuating the lines of sorrow etched into his stony visage.

"The Lord of the Manor has returned," his voice is barely audible, yet it reverberates through the room with the weight of inevitability.

Jas and Mal exchange a glance, something passing between them like a fleeting gust of wind. Their expressions betray a myriad of emotions – guilt, concern, perhaps even a hint of resignation.

Their gazes shift to me, and my skin itches with their unspoken words as they cover me like a wire wool cloak.

My voice wavers, "What are we going to do?"

I can almost feel the tension crackling around us, a palpable energy born of uncertainty.

Show me I'm not alone, I silently beg. Show me this is real, that I didn't conjure you while he was gone. Tell me that I can rely on you to stand with me. Don't leave me alone with him.

And then, like a beacon cutting through the impending darkness of my panic, Sax's voice pierces the silence with unwavering resolve. "Do what you've always done. Don't give him an excuse to hurt you. We'll keep watch over you."

Jas and Mal nod in solemn agreement, their expressions mirroring the gravity of the situation. It's a silent vow, a promise to stand together, to stand with me, no matter the cost.

"We won't let him hurt you," Mal growls. I look between my three silent guardians, their stony forms a stark contrast to the fear pulsing through my veins.

Carver's return changes everything.

Sax's stoic demeanour cracks, his sorrowful eyes speaking volumes without uttering a word as he places his large hands on my knees.

Jas and Mal, usually so resolute, are gentle with their comforting touches as they take up positions on either side of me. Their solidarity is a balm to my frayed nerves, but it does little to quell the rising panic clawing at my chest.

The room that only hours ago had been a safe space, filled with desire and desperate touches becomes a suffocating cocoon. Each breath feels like a struggle with the anticipation of what's to come.

With a heavy heart, I know what I must do. The safety of the gargoyle tower offers little solace now. I can't hide away here forever, its stone walls are no match for my step-father.

Standing, I cross to the open window – the one they flew me through earlier – and gaze out. Headlights cut through the darkness like twin beacons of dread, shining across the sprawling lawns. Carver's car finally pulls into sight and parks outside the front of the house.

Hands wrap around my waist and a chin rests on my shoulder as Jas kisses my neck sweetly. Together, we watch Carver stepping out, his silhouette a menacing presence against the moonlit night.

He rounds the car to open the passenger door, and my breath catches.

Carver never brings anyone home. We never have visitors. I haven't seen anyone besides my doctor and the groundskeeper in months. He says I'm too sick, it makes me a liability.

So why is there a blonde lady climbing out of the car to stand beside him? A bitter taste lingers in my mouth. From here, in the dark, she almost resembles my mother except her hair is more of a buttery, bottle blonde.

My stomach clenches as I watch them approach the front door, appearing to be laughing and joking with one another. The woman places a hand on Carver's arm and throws her head back with a throaty laugh.

I turn away from the window and face my guardians. We all know that when the sun rises, they will be cursed to stand in silent vigil over me, trapped in their stone forms.

And one of the first things Carver will do as the morning breaks, is come looking for me like he always does.

"I have to go back," I sigh, rebraiding my hair. The sky has begun to fade into shades of orange and red as a mist from the sea rolls in across the gardens. If I don't leave soon, I'll be trapped in the tower and Carver will tear it down trying to get to me. This room has quickly become important to me, I don't want Carver anywhere near it.

"Ari…" Jas whispers, but I shrug off his touch. It hurts too much right now to let them comfort me. I need to build up my walls, take a step back. If I don't, it will only devastate me more when my mind finally catches up to the hallucinations.

"Reality has come calling." The sharp laugh that bubbles up my throat is like acid, burning me and filling my ears with a horrible noise. I wanted them to stay with me, to be by my side…but I should have known better.

Sax scoops me into his arms, letting me bury my face in his neck. "You're not alone, little love. You never were."

That's where he's wrong.

I'm always alone.

I was alone when my mother died.

Alone when Carver brought me here.

Alone inside my own head for so long.

These three monstrous lovers of mine are just figments created to keep the loneliness at bay. Except a storm is coming, and the barricades won't hold.

It's bullshit. The whole thing is fucking stupid.

Ari is ours. She belongs with us, where she feels safe and loved. Seeing her retreat into herself made my chest ache in a way I hadn't felt in centuries. It was like she was closing a door between us, leaving my brothers and I outside in the cold, forcing us to listen to her sobbing through the door.

Sax had flown her back to her room, the Lord of the Manor and his guest nowhere to be seen. Once we settled her into her own bed, we nestled in around her, lavishing her with gentle kisses and soft touches until she fell asleep.

Our family is wherever she is, and if that means one beautiful woman, a gargoyle and two grotesques curled into a small bed in silence, so be it. We will do whatever it takes for her to realise that we're real and we're unequivocally hers. Nothing will ever tear me away from her – no matter how much she likes to punish me, no matter how much my little hellion challenges me. She's ours.

"It's almost time," Jas says mournfully.

"Come," Sax gets to his feet gracefully, holding his hand out for Jas. He pulls the smaller grotesque into a tight embrace, before stroking a strand of hair off Arianwen"s face. "We need to ensure he cannot touch her."

"And how do we do that?" I scoff. "Kill him?"

"If we have to."

"Sax…" Jas's eyes are wide as he pulls me into their hug.

We have never been without a Lord of the Manor. The Clifton line has never had a break in the chain, and so the house and all the creatures that lurk in the shadows remain through the generations. If that line does stop and the bloodline ends…what will happen to us? Will we cease to exist?

That's the conclusion we had reached over the years, that if the Lord of the Manor died, so did the magic binding us. Without the magic, we are simply stone carvings crumbling into dust with each passing sunrise.

That threat of fading into the ether is what has always kept us from intervening, even though we know about the evil that lingers inside the walls of the manor. Sick, twisted memories haunt the hallways, blood paints the walls behind closed doors – that has always been the legacy of Clifton Manor. Lord after Lord has tainted the bloodline. And my brothers and I have always stayed on the outside, keeping our distance. Until now.

"She's worth it, is she not?" Sax's slate eyes burn into mine. Jas will follow his lead dutifully but I'm the unstable one, the unpredictable force in our little group. The wildcard.

Wordlessly, I nod.

Sax leads us out into the corridor, "We need to tread carefully. As long as Ari is safe, there's no need to act rashly."

We all look at her, curled up in her sheets in a room that's not ours. It may have only been a few days for her, but we have yearned for her for so long. She belongs with us, in our tower where we can keep her safe and love her. A small crease appears between her brows as if she knows, even in the depths of her slumber, that we're no longer alongside her.

Jas slips his hand into mine and gives me a gentle squeeze. Whatever is coming, we're in it together.

A few hours later, I watch from my pedestal as Carver enters Ari's room alone. There's no woman in sight, but that doesn't surprise me.

It pains me to watch my little hellion retreat inside herself as he steps in, like he's sucking all the life out of her with his presence alone.

I'm desperate to throw myself between them, but the magic keeps me pinned in place. Helpless. Useless.

There's no escaping Carver, so she swallows her pills dutifully while I rage, thrashing against my bonds, but they just pulse and tighten.

I cannot lose her.