The butter began to sizzle in the pan, so Sofia poured in the egg mixture. A sound resembling a herd of elephants pounded on the stairs before Henri and Penelope appeared and hopped off the bottom step. “Morning,” they sang in unison.
“Well, aren’t you just two peas in a pod?” Delilah said, grimacing and sipping her drink.
“Are you a Daughter of Light too?” Penelope asked the older woman.
Delilah snorted. “I wish. I have a lot of magic, but not that much, unfortunately. Plus, I’d probably not use it altruistically, which is what I understand you’re supposed to do.”
“What’s alto-altru-alt…?”
“Altruistic,” Sofia said. “It means do noble things. Good things for other people. Be a helper.”
Penelope tilted her head and studied Delilah. “You don’t like to do good things?”
She rolled her eyes. “So boring.”
“Don’t be like her,” Sofia said, using the spatula to point at Delilah.
Delilah shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m pretty happy with my life.”
Antoinette entered the kitchen, and her eyes widened as she took in Delilah and Trennon’s worse-for-wear states. “Good gods, what happened to you two?”
“Long story,” Delilah muttered and did not elaborate, which Sofia found interesting. She’d been willing to tell Sofia about being drugged, but not her reeve?
“Are you just getting home?” Antoinette pressed.
Trennon, at least, looked abashed, whereas Delilah shrugged. “Yes, Mom,” she drawled.
Sofia cleared her throat. “Um, breakfast is almost ready, if someone wants to set the table.”
“Come help me, kids,” Antoinette said. “Sorry about them,” she added after Delilah and Trennon slipped around the corner and out of sight.
“You don’t have to keep apologizing.”
Antoinette handed the kids each a handful of forks and told them to place one at each setting on the table. “I just don’t want you to worry. Penelope really is safe here.”
Too bad I’m not.
***
They had just loaded the last dish into the dishwasher after breakfast when the doorbell rang and Antoinette excused herself with a muttered, “Where the hell is Maria?”
When she returned, Griffin and another gargoyle were with her. Sofia deliberately ignored Griffin and gave his companion a tight smile. The man had shaggy, light brown hair and vibrant blue eyes that made her think of a surfer.
“Sofia. You are looking well.”
It took her a long moment to figure out how this man might possibly know her name: he was the gargoyle who had accompanied Griffin to the bar the night she’d spilled all the drinks on her tray.
“Um, thank you. I don’t believe we formally met.”
He inclined his head. “We did not. I am Oliver. I run the local gargoyle brethren.”
Interesting. She hadn’t expected Griffin to come back at all. In truth, she’d assumed that he would send his replacement over with a half-ass apology she would promptly refuse to accept.
Instead, he’d returned with his boss.
“Sofia…” Griffin started, but she deliberately turned away from him, although not before she caught his wince.
“May I see the child?” Oliver asked, the epitome of politeness.
Sofia assumed he was referring to Penelope, who had gone outside with Henri. “Yes, of course.” She hurried across the room to the French doors to call out to her daughter, but she was greeted with a frantic Henri, who rushed inside and bounced off her legs like he was a racquetball knocking against the wall.
She reached out and grabbed his shoulders to keep him from falling backward. “Henri, are you okay?”
He shook his head like he was trying to dislodge something and said, “Yes, but they took Penelope!”
Chapter Fifteen
Griffin was across the room in an instant. “What did you say?” he demanded of the little boy, who ducked behind Sofia’s legs.
Sofia dropped to her knees and gave Henri a hug. “It’s okay, sweetie. He’s just worried. Griffin is one of the good guys.” Her gaze slid his way and then dropped again. “Sometimes.”
He wanted to protest, but he knew better. To her, he was most definitely not a good guy. Not only had he slept with her on three different occasions and left immediately afterward every single time, but now it sounded like he’d lost her child.
“Where is Penelope?” he asked.
Fat tears rolled down Henri’s cheeks, and he rubbed at his eyes with his fists. “They took her. Dragons. Bad dragons.”
“Dragons?” Why would dragons kidnap a Daughter of Light? Unless… “Darius,” Griffin blurted.
Sofia’s eyes went so large they took up half her face, and he didn’t need her to plead with him because he could see it there in her pupils. She was begging him not to say anymore.
But he had to. Penelope’s life was in danger, especially if, as he suspected, Darius had kidnapped her. And the only reason Griffin could imagine Darius wanted the child was because he needed something from Sofia.
“What does he want, Sofia?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do. He took her because he wants something from you. What is it?”
Antoinette, Ketu, Delilah, and Trennon had all moved closer to their exchange. Henri pushed away from Sofia and ran to his mother, who scooped him into her arms.
“They took her, Manman. The bad guys took Penelope. We have to get her back. Please get her back!” He started wailing, and Antoinette placed her hand on the back of his head and pressed his face against her shoulder as she whispered soothing words into his ear.
“We will get her back, Henri,” Griffin said with so much conviction he honestly surprised himself. “But first, we need a better understanding of why she was taken at all.” He glanced at Oliver. “I don’t think it is because she is a Daughter of Light. At least, not directly.”
“I know,” Oliver said, as calmly as if they were discussing the weather. Which was a little off-putting,
