Chapter 96

"What?" Aldara asked. Marc had completely lost her. "How could you know? And what do you mean, meet your mother?"
"You want to talk to our leader, right? That would be the matriarch - better known as Lady Genevieve Armel. The title is of French origin and not technically legal in Canada but the clan still uses it. I call her Maman."
Aldara hid face in her hands. His mother? Great. She'd finally found a man she was comfortable with and he turned out to be a prince. Still, it did seem that the Fates had guided her to where she needed to be. "She isn't liable to punish the messenger, is she?"
"Not at all. We've been searching for the missing regalia for a long time. You'll be a heroine for returning the last piece."
He told her a story that left her shaking her head in wonder. Apparently Geraint's father had stolen the crown over one hundred fifty years earlier. She'd known that. What she hadn't known was that three other magical items belonging to the gargoyle clan had vanished at the same time and with their loss the gargoyles had become a dying breed. "Things are improving greatly now that three of the four have been returned. But the crown is perhaps the most important of all. It helps strengthen the magic that holds our race together and without it, none of the others work quite as well as they should. It's also said to grant additional wisdom and magic to the wearer. In the past, our leader could weave protective spells and even the occasional illusion so we could walk in public unnoticed if we had to. Without it, life has been much more difficult for my people."
"Then I'm very glad I brought it back," she said simply. "Does it say there when and where the ship docks next? I can fly there and meet it."
"The next port is in Maine," he said. "Without your passport, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to go - and I can't if it's daylight. But we can have someone from our New York enclave go as your representative."
"That's another thing," she said, puzzled. "I don't understand why you have to change during daylight. Geraint didn't do that. He only changed when he wanted to."
"That's because he'd fathered a child," Marc replied. "It's one of the loopholes in the curse that created our race. The sorcerers who created the gargoyles wanted us to continue to reproduce. So there is an incentive. Once we've had a child, we aren't forced to change by daylight. All of our New York group, for example, are couples with grown children."
"Okay." She turned that over in her brain for a while. It made sense in an odd kind of way. "And explains why I never saw Yves during daylight. But here's a question. How does your body know you've reproduced? I mean, I understand how a woman's system can tell - pregnancy, hormones, childbirth. But the man? How does that work?"
"Good question," Marc said with a laugh. "Our biologists spent a good while working that one out. Apparently we males have receptors under our tongues. The hormonal changes happen immediately after conception. Then the chemicals are in our mates' saliva and...other bodily fluids, and when we're exposed to them, our bodies change as well. That's actually how most couples get the news. According to a friend of mine who just had a daughter, they just woke up one afternoon and there they were, no wings or tails in sight. So they knew."
"Beats peeing on a stick, I guess," she said with a laugh, remembering a girl in school who'd been terrified until the minus sign had appeared on the plastic wand. "So the men don't have to actually reproduce - just kiss a pregnant gargoyle."
That made him laugh. "If you've ever seen a male gargoyle with his mate, you'd know it isn't worth it. Kissing someone else's woman would just get you killed. We're a pretty possessive and protective bunch."
Somehow she wasn't surprised but it was time to get back to business. "So the first thing we have to do is notify the Canadian authorities that I survived and contact the cruise line to hold my belongings."
"Right. And I'll call New York to let them know and see who's available to act as your representative. Pauline is an attorney so she might be the best choice." He frowned at her, his forehead creasing. "I'm still concerned that somehow you were helped into the water. You're too graceful to have fallen overboard on your own. Could someone have known you were transporting a valuable artifact? Or is there anyone else who might have wanted to hurt you?"
Hurt her? She didn't really have many friends or any enemies since she'd kept so close to home these last few years. The only one who might have known about the crown was Yves and he couldn't have been on the ship. They'd boarded in daylight, so surely someone would have noticed a gargoyle checking in.
"So don't be surprised if I don't let you out of my sight until we reach Montreal," he warned.
"I don't mind. Are we still going shopping as soon as the sun sets? I promise I can pay you back as soon as I get my purse."
"Don't worry about it. The clan will cover your expenses, including the trip."
"But I didn't pay for the passage. In fact, I even earned a small salary for singing."
"Trust me, the elders will make sure you're well rewarded. And you'll be welcome to stay in Montreal as long as you like. Maybe you could even make your new start there instead of New York." He turned his face back down to his computer screen before she could read the expression on his face.
Had he been inviting her to stay? With him? As if a prince of the clan could really be involved with a member of another race. "According to Geraint, the gargoyles didn't associate with other races. He always said that was one of the reasons his father left the clan to start his own enclave."
"I've heard that too but either the gargoyles responsible for that way of thinking are long gone or they've come to their senses. Actually, the clan has welcomed several new members in the last year - a witch, a selkie and a half dragon. Though I think all of those have been converted to gargoyles by now."
"Really?" She studied his face, trying to read between the lines. He was holding something back but it didn't matter. She'd enjoy their interlude for as long as it lasted then she'd strike out on her own with some beautiful memories. She wondered about the last half of his statement too - that these others had been converted to gargoyles. How was that possible?
"Really." Then he smiled and she quit caring at all.