Stone Destiny (Stone Passion #3) (27 page)

Espe
cially knowing she would accept, because he would have to be the man she believed him to be for the rest of his life.

It was twisted and he knew it was fucked up but he couldn’t be that man, that gargoyle, Ferris dreamed about. Nothing had changed in the ten years he had been stone
. He was still a gargoyle without a purpose. He had taken the coward’s way out the first time and now he was even more hopelessly lost than he had been before.

“I didn’t tell anyone that there was a possibility you were going to be waking up,” Ferris
murmured softly, her voice interrupting his dark thoughts. “We weren’t sure what was going to happen when Ajreis did the ritual.”

She looked up at him with those blue-green eyes of hers and calmness settled over his soul. His pulse thudded thickly beneath his skin and the world beyond Ferris disappeared. Her lips were moving and he forced himself to pay attention to the words she was saying. “The first time he did it on the new moon, like you guys do, but that didn’t work and we realized it was because he needed the sun and the moon in equal parts bec
ause his father was human whereas your father is Apollo.”

“How did the two of you even come up with such a plan?’ he asked, quite frankly a little stunned that an imp had enough power to break the gargoyle’s gift.

Shrugging her shoulders, she admitted, “I’m not really sure. Ajreis simply showed up one afternoon and said he knew what had to be done, that he was visited by an old friend and she had explained what needed to be done. She just hadn’t been clear on when it needed to happen.”

“What happened to Felicity?” he asked.

Ferris came to a halt and looked up at him with a queer expression on her face, “You knew her name?”

Realizing his mistake, he slowly nodded, “I met her a few years before and I had kept an eye on her ever since.” Pressing his lips together, he hesitantly admitted, “She was one of Katrina’s descendants.”

Ferris nodded her head, her adorable frown slowly melting away as she absorbed his confession. “Why didn’t you simply tell me this before?”

“I didn’t want you to hate me,” he admitted awkwardly, hearing the voices of his family coming from somewhere inside of the huge suite. Anticipation welled in his gut at the thought of seeing them again
. Apprehension also surged as he thought about the changes ten years wrought.

At that she tilted her head back and laughed, “I could never hate you. I’m a fool for you, Armand
. Don’t you know that by now?”

What could he possibly say to that statement that wouldn’t make him sound like a besotted idiot himself? Now that they might actually have a future
, he was a little overwhelmed by colossal hopes and irrational doubts. Curling his arm around her neck and ignoring the warring emotions, he kissed the top of her head.

Pausing outside of the rec room doors, she looked up at him, giving him a moment to gather his thoughts and his composure. With a smile that held more confidence then he actually felt, he nodded his head and Ferris pushed the doors open. The sight before him was pure chaos, with his brothers Vaughn and Rhys both holding onto s
mall bundles of blankets, with a pair of younglings underfoot. Jenna and Melanie sat in the middle of the crowd, laughing and looking radiant and happy.

Michael, Leo and Raphe were even there, playing a game of cutthroat on the pool table.
A fourth player was there as well and Armand realized with a start that it was young Alex all grown up. The young gargoyle was the spitting image of his father with his golden hair. He looked at the children once more, at the little girl who was a perfect blend of Melanie and Vaughn. Georgia. The other child looked like a miniature of Rhys, only with Jenna's dark hair. Armand didn't even know his name.

And then there were the two babies in his brothers' arms.

Armand’s heart lodged in his throat at the sight: life had gone on without him and so much had changed, even though it hadn’t been very long. He was tempted to turn around and find refuge in his bedroom until Raphael looked up and saw Ferris, a smile curving his lips. But the smile turned into a scowl the moment he saw Armand.

Ferris twined her fingers with his, giving him what he needed without him even asking and all he could do was stare at this amazing woman who held his heart in her hands. She smiled up at him a heartbeat before she cleared her throat to gather everyone’s attention. When the room suddenly went deathly quiet he looked up and saw the expressions of disbelief on everyone’s faces a moment before there was a cacophony of noise as his brothers rushed forwards and embraced him.

“Welcome back!” Vaughn said, switching his baby to his other arm as he embraced Armand.

“This would explain why Ferris has been spending every night on the roof,” Rhys grinned, hugging Armand as well. “We worried that she was having difficulties with the tenth anniversary coming up
, except she wasn’t miserable enough.”

“Stop,” Ferris grinned, playfully batting at Rhys’s free arm as he leaned over and placed a kiss on her rosy cheek. “I gave up pining ages ago.”

“Welcome home,” Melanie said warmly, wrapping her arms around his waist and giving him a hug. It felt natural to return the hug, as if she had been a part of the family for centuries instead of a few decades. She held out her hand and Alex strolled over, a wide grin on his handsome face. Not to be outdone, young Georgia popped up as well, grinning from ear to ear.

"My gods, you've grown like weeds!" Armand gasped, staring at the two gargoyles. Turning to Alex he shook his head in wonder, "You look just like your father."

"So they tell me," Alex grinned cheekily.

Turning to Georgia, he was amazed. The baby who had caused so much trouble looked like a young lady who was going to be a heartbreaker in a few years. "The last time I saw you
you were just a wee, little thing."

"I've grown up," she said, her smile open and affectionate. "It's good to have you back, Uncle Armand."

"And this is Orion," Melanie said, tilting the baby just enough so Armand could see the incredibly young infant. "He just turned three months old."

“It’s good to see you,” Jenna murmured, giving him a hug as well before leaning into Rhys’s arms and watching Armand with weary eyes.
Her son stood by her side, watching Armand with wide, curious brown eyes. Jenna placed a comforting hand on the young gargoyle's slender shoulders and murmured, "This is James."

Armand looked past the well-wishers to the trio of gargoyles who held back, eyeing him with something close to animosity. He felt Ferris’s soft body press up against his as she whispered in his ear, “Don’t mind the demented trio
. They’re just pissed they have to give up your room.”

Fury swept through him at the thought of the young gargoyles stepping foot in his room until he heard Ferris laugh and realized she was teasing him. A reluctant smile curved his lips as he simply nodded his head at his youngest brothers. He was sure that they would vent their spleen at another time when he wasn’t the center of attention. And if it was bad enough, they would wait until there were no children around.

Suddenly a baby was pressed into his arms and he had no choice but to take it. A pair of large, brown eyes gazed up at him from an excessively pink face. Rhys’s finger moved over one of the chubby cheeks as he beamed, “This is Sarah, our newest gargoyle. She's almost three months old.”

The air went out of the room as he stared down at the baby
he held in his arms and suddenly he wanted a child with Ferris. Glancing around the room at the children, at the pride and glowing happiness on the parents’ faces, his gut clenched and he wanted all of it. Terrified and exhilarated, he turned his head to tell Ferris something when the world froze. Two incredibly beautiful people, a male and a female, strode into the room with effortless grace, their platinum blond hair giving away their identity before he even saw their faces.

He looked down and saw the joyous smile lighting Ferris’s face as she saw the newcomers and the joy he had been feeling turned to shards of glass, ripping through his guts. Unable to speak, he could only watch as they stopped just beyond the circle surrounding him. Melanie saw them and smiled brilliantly as she looped an arm through the male’s arm and then the female’s. “Armand, you haven’t met the newest residents of the Castle, Gavin and Gwendolyn.”

His jaw tightened and he had to swallow the bile that was rising up in his throat. How could no one see whose children they were? They had Ferris’s blue-green eyes and Apollo’s hair and bone structure and subtle radiance. Betrayal tore through him as he glared down at Ferris. Ignoring the look of confusion on her face, he growled, “Did you fuck him as soon as the sun rose or did you wait until I had spent a few weeks encased in stone?”

“What are you talking about?” Rhys asked with forced laughter, extricating Ferris from Armand’s arms and pulling her towards her family as Vaughn wrapped a hand around his arm to hold him back. She looked at him with wounded and confused eyes that squeezed the last
drop of blood from his shredded heart.

“Armand, please,” she whispered fiercely, her eyes pleading with him to stop speaking but he couldn’t stop. Fury burned the pain and jealousy away and all he wanted to do was hurt her as badly as she hurt him.

Jerking away from his brother’s hold, handing the baby to someone, anyone, he stalked towards her, using his height to intimidate her and ignoring the feelings that made him weak. “Did you think I wouldn’t figure it out that it was my father that you slept with? That their father is Apollo?”

“What are you talking about?” Ferris pleaded, infuriating him with her incredible acting abilities. “I’ve never even met Apollo
. Their father is Marick.”

Armand sneered in disbelief, “Look at them, Ferris
. They have his white blond hair.”

Color stained her cheeks as her gaze darted away and he knew he was right to distrust humans, to distrust
her
. “That’s because Marick sometimes likes to pretend he's an old wizard.”

This time Melanie gasped, her eyes widening in her face as she looked between Armand, Ferris and her two offspring. Covering her mouth with her hand, she whispered, “Omari?”

“Yes,” Ferris nodded, her cheeks bright red as she avoided everyone’s gazes now. The two spawns forced their way through the crowd and wrapped their arms around Ferris, protecting her.

Jenna had tears in her eyes as she asked Ferris in a pained whisper, “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Ferris met his eyes over Jenna’s shoulder and he couldn’t be in the same space as her anymore. Turning his back, he walked away before he shattered completely. Of course his father would be the one to lure Ferris away. The bastard only cared about his own pleasure. Hadn’t Apollo nearly killed Melanie when he had given her the blood of Medusa? Hadn’t he always vowed to have a human, damn everything that stood in his way, including his own son?

Even as Ferris’s words of ignorance pricked at his conscience he couldn’t let it go. He couldn’t help but feel betrayed, especially when the product of that betrayal stared at him with Ferris’s blue-green eyes. All of those warm, fuzzy feelings that had been taunting him were gone, replaced with cold, hard reality
. Ferris slept with Apollo.

He was never going to get over it.

Regret

Ferris was
still sick to her stomach by what Armand had revealed. The look of hurt and betrayal that had filled his green eyes haunted her and she just wanted to talk to him about it, explain what happened. But how could she explain something that she hadn’t even known? The supernatural world was so different than the human world, especially when a man could live to a thousand and never age a day beyond the age of twenty-five. No one ever told her that Apollo liked to run around pretending to be a hot cowboy named Marick, who in turn like to run around pretending to be a crazy wizard named Omari. How was she supposed to have known who he was?

For so long Armand had been her destiny
and they had overcome so much to be together and still it wasn’t enough. She fucked it up because she was ignorant of one very important piece of information. A shudder worked its way through her body at the idea of sleeping with both the father and the son, of loving them both. It was wrong on so many levels she wasn’t sure there was any hope for her and Armand, and that thought curdled her insides.