As soon as she stepped into view, he rushed toward her, pulling her into his arms and then pushing her away so that he could press his hand to her belly. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?”
She pushed his hand away. “Thanks a lot, Rahu. I was going to wait until later to tell everyone.”
“You’re pregnant?” Antoinette asked, and when Becca nodded, she squealed and clapped her hands. “How exciting! Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Becca said, her cheeks pinking. “We weren’t exactly planning to start a family this quickly, but…”
Rahu puffed out his chest and grinned.
“As soon as they told me, I insisted we return to New Orleans until after the birth of the babe,” the big, scary-looking gargoyle said.
“Turned out to be perfect timing,” Becca said. “We were already halfway home when Oliver reached out and informed us that we were needed to protect a young Daughter he’d just discovered.”
“Oliver called you?” Griffin asked.
Becca nodded. The big gargoyle studied Griffin. “Who are you?”
“I’m Griffin. Your newest team member. I’m guessing you’re Argyle.”
He nodded. “I am.” He glanced at Sofia. “And this is the dragon who has been raising a Daughter of Light, but no one was aware until just recently.”
“Yeah,” Sofia said. “Like, two days ago.”
“That’s pretty recent,” Rahu said.
“I have so many questions,” Griffin said.
“I’m sure we all do,” Antoinette said. She waved at a sullen Darius. “But I need to get this guy into a prison cell. And I need to figure out how to deal with Maria’s treason. The colony will need an update on Darius’s capture. We need to round up whichever dragons he convinced to join his coupe. We have—”
“We got it, baby,” Ketu interrupted. “Let’s go so we can get started on that long list.”
Antoinette nodded, jerked Darius to his feet, and marched him toward the door. A heavy hand landed on Griffin’s shoulder, and he glanced up into the clouded face of Argyle, Oliver’s most highly esteemed gargoyle.
“We should talk before we see Oliver.”
“Yeah,” Griffin said with a nod. “We really should.”
Griffin’s attitude had changed quite dramatically in the last forty-eight hours, but he could still use a bit of advice.
And Argyle was just the man to provide it.
Chapter Eighteen
Sofia was exhausted. Physically from battling with warlocks—but mostly emotionally.
First, there had been the stress of fearing for her daughter’s safety. Darius kidnapping her, the warlocks discovering her, and her ability to send herself twenty feet in the air with no way down.
And what the hell had that declaration of love been? Seriously, Griffin thought making an announcement like that was a good idea? It wasn’t even the timing—although he had been right that it sucked. It was the fact that he’d said it at all.
Because it didn’t freaking matter. So what if they had a connection? So what if he loved her? So what if she loved him back?
It. Didn’t. Matter.
Since he was a gargoyle, part of Oliver’s brethren, he couldn’t have a relationship with her.
So basically, he’d announced his love just so she could be aware. So that it was even harder to let him go.
The guy really needed some lessons on this whole happily ever after concept.
Ketu drove them back to the reeve’s house in his Escalade. Argyle sat in the front seat while Sofia, Penelope, and Griffin sat in the middle seats and Rahu, Becca, and Maria sat in the far back seat.
“Hurry,” Becca said. “This pregnancy makes me nauseous when I ride in the back seat.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Argyle demanded. “I would have let you sit up here.”
“You are way too tall to sit back here,” Becca replied. “And it’s okay so long as it’s a short trip.”
“We’re almost there,” Ketu said.
As they pulled into the carport, Argyle turned around in his seat. “Oliver does not know,” he said to Griffin.
“About what?” Sofia asked.
“That Becca is my child.”
Sofia waited for Griffin to say something, but he remained silent, so she finally asked, “Why not?”
“The obvious answer is because it is strictly forbidden for anyone from our brethren to sire children. But there are several more layers that make it even more complicated. As she is a Daughter of Light, her destiny is to seek out and defeat the warlocks. But as she is half gargoyle as well, there is a chance that if Oliver knew, he would demand she carry out her duties as a gargoyle. At the time, we believed she was the only Daughter of Light in existence, so we did not want to take that chance.”
He paused. “There is also the possibility that he would disavow me and not let me continue to do my job as part of his brethren. I have been with him for more than a century. I know nothing else. And gargoyles do not handle great shame well.”
Speaking of great shame, Sofia felt some of that washing over her.
She couldn’t hate Griffin, not after what Argyle just said. He hadn’t asked to go work for Oliver; he had been chosen because he was one of the best of the best, whether he believed it or not.
And he would, someday. One day he would realize his own worth, and then he might even push Argyle out of that “Oliver’s favorite” spot.
Sofia could not hate him for choosing Oliver’s brethren over her. Not when what he did, what he would do, was so important. Protecting those who needed and deserved it was necessary in this sometimes cruel world. Sofia knew that better than most. She sure could have used a gargoyle when she was growing up and Darius was tormenting her and convincing her that she wasn’t worthy of being Trennon Redd’s daughter.
Argyle climbed
