“But?” she pressed.
He exhaled a long, husky sigh. “Gabby, there’s more history between the Alliance and the Dispossessed than you know about yet. Things are stable now, but it wasn’t always that way.”
“You were enemies?” she asked.
“It was hundreds of years ago. The Alliance didn’t know what the gargoyles were. They thought they were demons and hunted them as if they were.” Nolan sat down on the edge of Gabby’s bed. “For a long time, we didn’t even know they shifted form. For decades—for whole generations—there were battles, all waged at night when the Alliance and the Dispossessed could move about without being seen. Then, during one of them, an Alliance healer was attacked. In a desperate attempt to defend himself, he broke a bottle of mercurite against the gargoyle’s scales. He saw what it did. From then on we knew that what healed us harmed them.”
Gabby sat down, careful to keep a decent distance from Nolan. She remembered the confessional booth and her pathetic lack of willpower.
“But then in the sixteenth century, a gargoyle and an Alliance member did something no one else had done before: they spoke. Once they did, once they knew the other’s purpose, that’s when the peace began. But it’s still tenuous, and history tends to repeat itself. You know that, Gabby. That’s why we keep mercurite weapons under lock and key. The closer we allow the Dispossessed to get, the more dangerous it is for us. We won’t allow our numbers to be obliterated, as we almost were before.”
She’d had no idea. She’d assumed, of course, that for quite a while the Alliance and the Dispossessed had been creeping toward friendlier terms, but she hadn’t imagined they had ever hunted or killed one another.
“The summit in Rome,” Gabby said, shifting toward Nolan. “The Alliance members in favor of forcing gargoyles to register and adhere to Alliance law want to use the threat of mercurite weapons, don’t they?”
Nolan closed his eyes and rubbed them.
“In short, yes. I can’t manage explaining the long answer right now.” He leaned back, eyes closed, until he was fully reclined on the pink coverlet.
“Do you get to cast your vote?” she asked. “Are you for the regulations?”
She knew Chelle was. The girl had no reservations when it came to expressing her contempt for the Dispossessed. But Vander and Nolan hadn’t let on as to where they stood.
He stared at her where he lay. “The Directorate weighs everyone’s votes. And yes, I’m for the regulations.”
It wasn’t what Gabby wanted to hear.
“But why should they adhere to your rules when they aren’t Alliance? They’re of the Angelic Order, Nolan. They’re not yours to command.”
“Not all gargoyles are like Luc,” Nolan whispered. “There are some who wouldn’t bat an eye when it came to harming a human who didn’t belong to them. They’ve committed crimes against humans in the past, Gabby. People I know—people you know—have been hurt by them. You know what they’ve done. They’re all murderers. They weren’t decent men in life, and an eternity of enforced service isn’t about to change them.”
She knew about their crimes. She also knew that they had already been judged and punished accordingly.
“It isn’t right.”
“It’s a complicated matter. Even the Directorate had to postpone the summit talks. They couldn’t reach a majority agreement.” Nolan stretched his arms back, a forearm coming down over his eyes. “How did we get onto this subject? I’m not supposed to be telling you any of this. You could be a spy, for all I know.” He peeked out from under his arm. “Lie down with me.”
Her body tensed and sent her flying to her feet.
“Not like that,” Nolan added with that maddening grin of his. “Didn’t I promise to be a gentleman? Just … lie beside me for a little while.”
Gabby glanced at his warrior-like figure, his long black coat fanned out under him like wings, glints of silver peeking out from hidden sheaths. His faded canvas trousers had been tucked into a pair of tall Hessian boots. The temptation to crawl beside him and let him hold her was almost irresistible.
But he was in favor of making gargoyles slaves to the Alliance. Disappointment was a sharp blade. Impossible to ignore.
“Not a chance. We’ll fall asleep,” she said, her voice shaking. “My maid will find you here come sunrise and I’ll be ruined.”
Nolan lugged himself up, his wicked smile even wider. “I’ve never ruined a lass before.”
He was entirely too dangerous. Gabby moved away from the bed.
“I don’t think this is going to work,” she said, and the words seemed to snuff out Nolan’s charm. He suddenly looked concerned. “The training. Here, in my room. The floors are too old and creaky. We’ll be heard.”