Incarnate (A Spellmason Chronicle) by Anton Strout Read Free Book Online Page A

dropped back to his side before turning back to Stanis.
    The
grotesque
looked around the space and took in everything Caleb had arranged up here tonight.
    “I am perhaps interrupting something,” Stanis said.
    “Ya think?” Caleb asked, already exasperated as he settled down.
    I laid my hand on Caleb’s arm, silencing him. “Did you happen to get a chance to take care of that Fort Tryon
grotesque
Rory and I had to contend with earlier?”
    “Given your agitation at the Cloisters, I came by to reassure you that Jonathan would be taken care of. He is off with Emily now. She has a natural way with the induction of her fellow initiates into their newfound lives.”
    “You sure she’s a wise choice?” I asked, bristling a bit at the mention of her. Ever since the gargoyle population had gone up a thousandfold, Emily Hoffert had been Stanis’s constant companion, not just tonight. Having once myself been the one Stanis used to watch over exclusively, I couldn’t help but hate on her a little bit. I didn’t have to like myself for realizing that fact, but there it was if I was going to try to remain honest with myself. I wasn’t simply going to discount it or sweep it under my mental rug. “It’s not like she’s much more seasoned at this
grotesque
thing than that troubled monk we found.”
    “She was the first,” Stanis said without any hesitation, “the one who came to me, seeking my counsel out after having been used by the darker forces in my family. And she was truthful at the first about her role in deceiving me. Emily has since given most of her time over to proving herself through her assistance with my efforts to unite all of my
grotesque
kind. So, yes, I trust her with the task. Emily well knows the confusion that comes from inheriting this new life. You need not concern yourself with her affairs.”
    His words stung, but surely no worse than the short ones I had slung at him earlier in the evening at the Cloisters.
    “I wish to be a better ruler than my father was,” Stanis said.
    “Hard to be a worse one,” Caleb said.
    The look I shot Caleb shut him down.
    “I wish to do it wiser,” Stanis continued. “And kinder. I
will
see to those who wish for my aid in this modern era.” He looked off across the lush green expanse of my building’s rooftop. “Again, I did not wish to intrude on your time together . . . especially in this place I believe you once said you made for me.”
    Was that an actual dig? I would have been impressed if I hadn’t already felt guilty being up here with Caleb.
    Caleb raised a hand. “Blame me, big fella,” he said. “Lexi’s little EPCOT version of Gramercy Park here was the closest thing to actually getting her out for the evening. Lexi’s been going too hard. The fatigue of it all is wearing her down.”
    “Long has it been since I have felt your human fatigue,” Stanis said, “but if I am recalling it with any clarity, your human body is not meant to be pushed to such limits.”
    “And there you have it,” I said, settling back down into my chair once more. “I now officially have it coming at me from all sides.”
    “Do not be angry with us, Alexandra,” Stanis said. “Much as I have learned in my short time as a ruler, you cannot take on all challenges at once. Even one such as I cannot do the impossible, and you, Alexandra, are not made of stone. No doubt all who know you care about the state of your well-being.
I
care.”
    Those last words still had the power to cut to my core and I allowed myself the warmth of their glow for a moment.
    Stanis made a sudden grab at my waist, and I stepped back, startled. Was he making some kind of move right here, right
now
, in front of Caleb?
    “You have something on you,” Stanis said, which relaxed me a bit. Jesus, I was high-strung. Maybe I needed to take a break more than I thought I did.
    Stanis plucked his clawed fingers gently against my side and pulled away a long, green tendril of vine that ran