Free The Glass Gargoyle (The Lost Ancients Book 1) by Marie Andreas Page A

herself landing in my hair. I grabbed her to keep her quiet as I listened for followers. The faeries were fast and hard to see, but there were so few of them in Beccia it wouldn’t be hard for anyone who saw her to know who she was. And who she lived with.
    Satisfied that we were safe for the moment, I opened my hand. Leaf chattered something unintelligible and waved her prize: a small black feather. It was clearly taken from a guard’s ruff, the small feathered collar worn by the upper command. He might not notice it was gone, but Leaf would be crowing over it for weeks. I started to take it from her, when she frowned.
    “Mine.”
    “Leaf, I told you to stay quiet. You did well just now, but that wasn’t what I told you to do.”
    “Good I did, I keep prize.” Her tiny jaw jutted out.
    I didn’t have time for this. I had no idea how long it would be before the guards recovered enough to re-position themselves.
    With a sigh I let go of the feather. “Fine, but put it away. It’s making you noisy.”
    She cooed over the feather a few more moments, then using some magic only faeries seem to have, folded it into her tiny pocket. I’d long ago given up trying to figure out how that worked.
    With Leaf and her prize secured, I made my way into the heaviest foliage and began circling around toward my former dig. The Gapen trees were more massive here, as if this was their home and they were only now branching out to the rest of the ruins. I remembered how still the air was as soon as I hit it again. It had taken me over a week to get over the closed in feeling of this dig site when Perallan first brought me here.
    I hadn’t been there in over two months, and judging from the robust plant life, no one else had either. Diggers were usually sloppy about how they got to work, always making new trails. Clearly once I’d been forced out due to Perallan’s death, no one else had gotten a contract for the area.
    I made good speed, even with taking a few side routes to keep me off the main trail. I froze when I heard voices ahead. Leaf stuck her head out of my pocket, her golden eyes looking more than willing to fly ahead and spy. I shook my head vehemently and pinched her back into my pocket.
    Slowing my steps down to where hopefully no one would hear me, I crept up to the clearing ahead. Pausing every few steps to make sure if someone heard me they wouldn’t think someone was walking, I eventually made it. I crawled behind a large bush and waited. The ruins were only a few feet from my hiding hole, but the voices were at the far end of the clearing. I couldn’t see them, and didn’t want to take the risk of them seeing me. Listening would have to do for now.
    My wait was rewarded.
    “I tol’ you we can’t wait. Whatever it is that buyer wants, we can’t keep this closed up.” The unseen speaker’s voice graveled with the recognizable low twang from the far southern states. An older man by the sound.
    “The reasons for my actions are not of your worry, nor are they negotiable.” Another male voice, but so soft I had to lean forward to hear him. “You have been instructed as to what you need to do. You and your people will do it.”
    “Now see here, you can’t go blasting us around like peasants. My people and I have been—” His words ended in a strangle. A rattle and the sound of kicking feet followed, then silence.
    “You there,” the clearly dangerous voice said, “your master is not able to continue the task. Are you skilled enough to proceed?”
    My palms sweated at that voice, even though I wasn’t the one he was talking to.
    “Yes sir,” a much younger but better educated voice said, “I can lead the workers. We will find your items.”
    Boots crunching on gravel told me Mr.-High-and-Scary was moving toward his new victim. “What do you know of my items?”
    Hopefully the educated man was smart enough to give the right answer. Sitting here listening to a slow series of murders wasn’t a safe