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deformities.”
    â€œI shunned you.”
    Levet was prepared.
    â€œAh, but I am a prince.” He peeked around the corner, meeting his mother’s infuriated glare. “Those of royal blood can demand a hearing regardless of their sentence.”
    Berthe was forced to hesitate.
    Gargoyles might be savages in many ways, but the Guild was ruled by a strict code of laws.
    There was a long silence as his mother ground her teeth, smoke still curling from her nostril. Then, her eyes narrowed with a cunning satisfaction.
    â€œThe elders are not in Paris. There can be no tribunal without them.”
    Levet made a sound of disgust. How many demons had stood shoulder to shoulder to battle the Dark Lord while the gargoyles had been MIA?
    â€œYou mean the cowards are still in hiding?”
    Berthe stomped a massive foot, making the entire building shake.
    â€œThey don’t answer to you.”
    â€œ Bon .” Cautiously Levet moved from behind the chest. He didn’t want to become a charred briquette, but then again he was tired of cowering. He was now a bona fide hero. Wasn’t he? Straightening his spine, he tilted his chin to meet his mother’s glare. “Then you will stand as judge.”
    There was a low hiss as his mother snapped her wings to their full width. An impressive sight meant to intimidate.
    â€œThis is a trick.”
    â€œNo trick,” Levet denied. “You are doyenne. It is within your powers to pass judgment.”
    â€œI did,” she growled. “You were banished.”
    â€œI was banished without a fair hearing.”
    â€œBecause you fled like a spineless Guttar demon.”
    Levet waved his hands at the absurd accusation. “You were trying to kill me.”
    His mother curled back her lips to fully expose her tusks. “And now I shall finish what I began.”
    â€œ Non .”
    Without giving himself time to think, Levet held up his hands and released a blast of magic.
    It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his skill . . . non . That was not true.
    He did doubt his skill.
    For all his bluster, he could never be certain what his magic would do.
    One day it might be nothing more than an embarrassing fizzle.
    The next it would explode out of him with the force of a nuclear blast.
    Tonight, however, it did exactly what he desired.
    Shimmering strands of magic flew from the tips of his claws, slamming into his mother with enough force to pin her to the wall.
    It was . . . a miracle.
    Clearly as astonished as Levet that his spell was working, Berthe struggled against the delicate filaments that were holding her captive.
    â€œWhat have you done?” she screeched.
    Levet took a bouncing step forward, regarding the spiderweb of magic with a smile.
    â€œI tried to tell you that I have grown into a warrior with batty skills. Hmm . . . or is it mad skills?”
    The powerful gargoyle tried to breathe fire, only to discover the bonds holding her also suppressed her magic.
    Yeah. Go, Levet.
    â€œRelease me,” Berthe snarled.
    â€œNot until you’ve given me my hearing.”
    The gray eyes smoldered with the promise of death. “You will pay for this.”
    â€œReally?” Levet breathed an exaggerated sigh, feeling all cocky with his mother incapacitated. Hey, who knew how long it would last? He had to take pleasure where he could find it. “Gargoyles are tediously repetitive in their threats. You really should consider hiring a vampire to write you new material. They are the experts in terrifying their enemies.”
    â€œYou would, of course, admire your new masters,” Berthe spit out. “To think my own son has become the flunky of the leeches. It’s enough to break a mother’s heart.”
    â€œA flunky? I am servant to no demon.” Levet puffed out his chest. “Indeed, I am revered as a legend of heroic proportions.”
    â€œYour proportions are an embarrassment,” his mother mocked.