Three weeks later, Aldara stood beside Marc in front of her new in-laws, and the elderly soothsayer Lady Helene - the three gargoyles who made up the Council who ran the clan. She and Marc had returned from their two-week honeymoon at his island retreat, and she was settling in to her new job as a music teacher at the clan's small private school. She'd also made friends with Mari, Katie and Dana, who stood beside her, along with their husbands in the great hall of the matriarch's chateau. Apart from them was a young gargoyle woman Aldara had met in passing. Charlotte Dumont was Lady Helene's apprentice.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here," Lady Genevieve began. The diamonds of the crown she wore twinkled in the light of the chandelier.
Aldara smiled up at Marc's mother, knowi
