Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

MORGAN

" H e's been gone a long time."

I glance toward the window, watching the snow drift down in big flurries. The sky is still overcast and seems intent on dumping out the largest amount of snow possible. It's dark, even though it's early afternoon, and I'm beginning to worry about Emmerich. He left more than an hour ago, and we haven't heard from him since.

Klaus looks up from the paper star he's been painstakingly cutting from cardboard. He's been making Christmas ornaments with me for most of the time since Emmerich's departure and hasn't complained once, even though this can't be his favorite way of passing the time.

"I'm sure he's all right," he says, his voice a soothing rumble. "He is a gargoyle. We're used to harsh weather."

I return to cutting out a large cardboard heart. Firelight flickers over our table setup. I don't think Emmerich and Klaus would keep the tower room this warm if it was just them in residence, but ever since Klaus saw me wrapping myself in a blanket to fight off the chill, he's kept the fire burning bright. I try to focus on my task—we've only cut out enough ornaments for a very small tree—but something's still bothering me.

"How long does it take to find a tree in a forest?" I burst out, setting down my scissors and cardboard. "He should have been back by now. I have a bad feeling about this, Klaus. What if something happened to him? Just because I sent him out for a stupid Christmas tree…"

Klaus slowly cuts the last arm of his star, then puts it on the stack of ornaments in the middle of the table. Only then does he look up, his eyebrows furrowed. "That's a good point. I could go out to search for him, but he could be anywhere on our property now, and visibility is very poor. And I'd be leaving you alone here at the tower, which Emmerich would never forgive me for."

I jump to my feet and hurry over to the window, anxiously peering outside. "We could go together. You can carry me. Then you won't have to?—"

"Absolutely not," Klaus snaps. He stands, his hands on his hips. "This is not weather meant for humans."

I get his point, but he's being unreasonable. "I have my snow gear," I remind him. "It's dry, and I can spend hours outside if I wrap up well."

He stills, watching me intently.

"If we're going to have an equal relationship, you're going to have to let me do dangerous things sometimes." I keep my voice low and calm. This is something we have to agree on, or we'll never work. "And you'll have to trust me that I know my limits better than you do. You might think I'm weak because I'm smaller and softer than you, but humans are pretty resilient."

His throat bobs, and he lowers his wings, a sure sign he's calming down. Then he walks closer to me and takes my shoulders, squeezing lightly. "Forgive me. I don't think you're weak—and I trust you implicitly. But we only just found you, and I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to you."

"I get that," I agree. "Which is exactly why I'm worried about Emmerich and want to go with you."

Klaus lets out a long sigh. "All right. But you'll put on all your clothes, and I'll wrap you in blankets before we leave. If I think you're staying out there just to prove how tough you are, I will fly you home immediately, so you must promise to tell me if you're nearing your limits. Agreed?"

"Yes."

I offer him my hand, smiling despite my worries. He compromised, even though he could have easily overpowered me and exerted his will.

Klaus reaches for my hand and shakes it, his expression solemn. "Get ready, then. We'd better start soon, or we'll lose all the light."

I throw myself toward the door, where my snow gear is hanging on a hook, put there by Emmerich this morning. He'd tidied it up, thinking I wouldn't need it for days, maybe, but now I do—and I don't like this one bit. What could have happened to a gargoyle to keep him away from his roost for so long?

My mind flashes to the weather first as I drag on my thermal layer and socks. Maybe he got blown off course by the wild winds and crashed somewhere? Or a tree fell on him, burying him under the snow?

With shaking hands, I button up my snow pants, then sit to lace up my boots, but I'm too anxious to do it right, so I have to do it again, and it all serves to ratchet up my worries even higher.

Because what if it's not nature he's battling against? What if he was seen ? By a human? By a hunter who would have mistaken him for a demon, perhaps, and shot him on sight? Or maybe…

"Morgan?" Klaus crouches in front of me, his forehead creased with concern. "What is it? You smell so nervous."

I look up, my eyes welling with tears. "I'm just worried , Klaus."

He squeezes my shoulder. "Come on. We'll find him. There's no need to worry yet."

A thud has us both jerking to attention, our gazes flying to the door.

"Wait here," Klaus barks, already striding for the door.

I don't even bother disagreeing with him—I run after him, my still-untied shoelaces trailing behind me. In the stairway, a cold draft blows down from the roof, meaning the door upstairs must be open.

"Emmerich?" I call, climbing the stairs behind Klaus. "Is that you?"

Another thump , and my belly swoops with fear—if he's not answering, he could be hurt! What if he only made it to the tower, then collapsed…

Klaus bursts through the half-open door onto the roof. A stream of muffled German follows before I push the door open, too, and find myself on the frozen rooftop landing space, knee-deep in snow.

And there is Emmerich—or a dark-haired man I assume is him, wearing a glamour—kneeling and clearly unwell, his hair and clothes crusted with ice and snow, his body shuddering from exertion.I've never seen this version of him before, but I know him, my soul recognizing him as the gargoyle I've come to?—

"Oh my God!" I rush forward and fling my arms around his neck. "What happened? Are you hurt?"

He reacts slowly and puts his arms around me. " Hallo, Liebchen. Mir geht es gut ."

"English, please," I murmur against his chest, though I think I understand what he's saying. "But you can tell me downstairs. Come on, we have to get you out of this cold."

He groans and stumbles to his feet, and Klaus swoops in to support him. My relief at his return is short-lived, because Emmerich stumbles, pitching forward, and when I rush in to help him, his wings, still invisible, are ice-cold to the touch. What if he got frostbite flying in this weather?

I hurry forward and hold the door open for Klaus, who half carries Emmerich down the stairs.

"Wait," Emmerich croaks. "Don't forget the things!"

I'm trying to get past them to open the door to the living room, but there's not enough room in the stairwell. "What things?"

Emmerich lifts his head, a smirk lifting the corners of his lips. "I brought Christmas."

I exchange a look with Klaus over Emmerich's shoulder. He brought Christmas?

"Okay." I keep my voice calm despite my growing worry. "Let's get you warm first, and then we can see about your things."

He lets Klaus drag him to the armchair by the fire, and I set to brushing the snow and melting ice off his wings and shoulders, working by touch alone. When he leans back against the armchair, a strange pendant slips from under the collar of his shirt.

Klaus reaches in and snatches the amulet from Emmerich's neck, tearing the string. "Why wear a glamour? Did you fly all the way to town?"

The real Emmerich appears in all his monstrous glory, gray-skinned, winged, and a little sheepish.

"What?" I tug at Emmerich's horn. "But that's at least ten miles away! What on earth were you thinking?"

He takes my waist and pulls me closer, until I'm standing between his knees. "I wanted to give you a Christmas to remember. With all the good food and presents."

Klaus drags a palm over his face. " Meine G?tter, Emmerich, was hast du dir dabei gedacht? "

I can't be sure, but from the exasperation in his voice, I think he's asking him what the hell he'd been thinking.

Emmerich juts out his chin, his expression stubborn. "Morgan deserves a good holiday."

"But it is good," I cry. "I didn't want you to hurt yourself over this."

He pulls me even closer, and I end up sitting on his knee, my hands pressed to his chest. He's damp and cold all over, but I don't care—I'm just glad he's okay.

He brushes a slow kiss over my lips, then touches his forehead to mine. "I'm sorry I worried you. I should have told you where I was going."

"Yes, you should have," I grumble. Then I shove at the sodden jacket he must have put on to pass as human. "Take this off. You need to get dry and then we'll warm you up in the nest."

Klaus steps closer. He takes Emmerich's face between his hands and tips it up, then kisses him fiercely. "I will get your things from the roof. You must do exactly as Morgan says."

Emmerich's smile turns wicked. "I won't say no to that."

I groan. "How can you be thinking about sex when you nearly froze to death?" I peel the jacket off him and hang it on a chair to dry. "You know what? Never mind. There will be no sex until your temperature is back to normal. You're cold as marble. That can't be good, even for a gargoyle."

He meekly allows me to remove his shirt as well, then gives me a sly look. "So you are saying that there will be sex once I'm warm again?"

I smack his shoulder with the back of my hand, instantly regretting it when my knuckles bounce off his stone-hard muscles. "Ow! I still haven't forgiven you for scaring us." I point at my snow pants. "We were getting ready to fly out after you. Klaus didn't want to leave me here alone, so he agreed to carry me while we went searching."

Emmerich sobers immediately and catches my hand, then presses a kiss to my aching fingers. "I'm sorry, Liebchen . Will you believe me if I promise you I'll never do that again?" He shudders, then shakes out his wings, sending droplets of water flying all over the stone floor. "I hope you will like your present."

I melt at his concern. "I'll like it no matter what. But you didn't have to get me anything."

Taking the towel I used that morning, I scrub it gently over his wings. He shivers and twitches as I dry them, one joint and membrane at a time. His breathing turns ragged as I close in on the biggest joint at his shoulder blades, so I linger there, pressing down to test his reaction.

"Morgan…"

His low growl has heat pooling in my belly—it seems my body has forgiven him, even if I'm still holding out the judgment.

The door behind us opens, and I whirl around to find Klaus there, his arms laden with bags—several of them. I have no clue where Emmerich got all that on Christmas Day, and in a full snowmaggedon situation. They must have been buried under the snow when we ran up to the roof, because they're damp and dripping water everywhere, and so is Klaus, who must have spent some time searching for them all.

All that pales in comparison to what he's dragging behind him.

"Oh my God, you got us a tree?" I drop the towel on the armchair next to Emmerich and rush forward. "And, uh, you brought the whole thing, roots and all?"

The tree—a small fir, judging by its needles—is covered with snow, its branches frozen and stiff, but it's already shedding bits of branches and bark all over the floor. It's larger than any tree we ever had at home with my parents, and certainly bigger than my fake Christmas tree I set up a couple of weeks ago in my living room.

But Emmerich brought it for me, so it's the best damn Christmas tree I've ever seen, even though it's unconventional and has a root system still attached.

Klaus lifts one eyebrow as if to say, "You asked for this, you deal with it."

I grab the tree trunk and drag the whole thing into the middle of the living room. My palms scrape on the rough bark, but I don't complain because Klaus is right—this was my idea, and I need to figure it out. But there's an issue I haven't thought of, and it might just ruin everything.

"Morgan?" Emmerich calls from the armchair. He's leaning forward, his elbows on his knees as he holds his wings out to dry by the fire. "You don't like it?"

"No, it's great," I say, then pause and nibble on my lower lip, wondering how to explain what's wrong. "I forgot that we need a tree stand."

"A tree stand?" Emmerich asks, slowly straightening.

I motion at the tree. "Yeah, you know, to put the tree up. It-it can't stand on its own." I glance around the room, searching for a solution. "We could just lean it against that wall, I guess…"

Emmerich's wings droop dramatically. "So we won't have a nice tree after all?"

I rush toward him and settle right back in his arms to comfort him. "No, it'll still look lovely, I swear. We just have to chop off the roots and let it thaw out, and then we'll figure it out."

Klaus, who has been watching us all this time with his hands at his hips, lets out a sigh. "Wait here."

Then he stomps out of the room and disappears from sight.

"He's not flying out, is he?" I ask, worry swamping me again. "Because we've had enough frozen gargoyles for one day."

"No, I can hear him moving around downstairs," Emmerich says.

Then the door opens again, and Klaus stands there, a ball of string in one hand. "Let's see what we can do to fix this."