Stone Destiny (Stone Passion #3) (41 page)

“What?” Apollo’s head whipped around, his eyes wide in his handsome face. “No! You have such strange notions, son. NO, just… no. She’s in a time bubble.”

Scrubbing a hand through his hair, Armand groaned, “How long has she been in the bubble?”

Apollo shrugged, “Probably a month?
Maybe two?”

Armand ground his teeth together, “And how many years is that?”

“Well, between thirty and sixty,” Apollo answered, his eyes dancing with laughter. At Armand’s glare, he laughed outright, “You don’t think I would send you back to the point she entered the bubble did you? She needed some time to process everything, to see if you are still what she wants.”

“You’re still trying to get her back,” Armand growled, his eyes narrowing to slits, forgetting for a moment that this Apollo hadn’t known Ferris…. “How well do you know her?”

Apollo’s eyes twinkled as he let the smile stretch across his face, “You’re jealous. After all of this time, you’re still jealous. Foolish gargoyle.”

“When it comes to Ferris I will always be jealous,” Armand admitted. With a small smile, he
shook his head, "She's my heart, my soul, without her I don't exist. Of course I'm jealous."

A Destined Love

Ferris was lying on the fragrant grass, staring up at the impossibly blue sky with the wispy clouds painted just so. Wearing a bikini, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her nearly bare skin, she breathed deeply of the pure, magic-enhanced air. After a few days of perfect serenity she felt almost at peace. No matter what happened when she returned to the present she would be able to handle it. Even if it meant truly letting Armand go. In the long run, it would probably hurt less than having him reject her yet again.

“Dragon-Mate?”
Fray’s deep voice interrupted her daydreams.

“Hmm?” she murmured, so bloody relaxed. She hadn’t felt this good in years: her kids were safe, Armand was no longer stuck in stone and he wasn’t here to push her away
. She had no worries, no cares, just a bubble of paradise. In another six months she was probably going to be itching to get out, to interact with people once again but for now…. For now, it was exactly what she needed.

“There is something I wish to try and I believe you are ready,” he cleared his throat, pulling himself from her body with a slight suctioning and then a little pop. Shaking his body to work the kinks out, he looked up at the sky, a glimmer of excitement in his jeweled eyes. “And I believe I am finally strong enough.”

Her lips curled into a lazy smile, “What is it, Fray?”

“I wish to fly,” he breathed with passion and longing. Stretching his wings out, he pushed off the ground and hovered a few feet in the air. Since he had been flying since forever, she simply looked at him with an odd smile. He did a few loops before he hovered right next to her face.
“With you.”

Managing to make her liquid muscles obey, she slowly sat up and frowned at Fray, “With me? How does that work?”

Without explaining, he walked behind her, stretched upwards and pressed his body against her back. His scaly belly molded itself along her spine and then his body fused with hers. At first she thought he was going to return to his tattoo state but he didn’t. Instead, he did something: he became a part of her while still remaining separate, growing in size until his body covered her entire back.

As her skin melded with Fray’s, the string of her bikini suddenly snapped, allowing her breasts to spill free. Even though she was alone with Fray in the middle of nowhere, she still crossed her arms over her chest before she scowled at her own private embarrassment. She was alone in the middle of time
and there was no one else around.

Even knowing that, it took her a moment to uncross her arms and reach up to untie the string around her neck, allowing the scrap of material to fall to the ground. It took another moment to get used to being in
her own skin, to fully appreciate the fact that she was completely alone and could be buck naked all of the time if she wanted. It was a liberating thought.

“Let the walls down, Dragon-Mate, and let your light shine,” Fray’s voice whispered provocatively in her head. “There’s no one here who can see you
so you don’t have to pretend anymore that you’re a mere human.”

Ferris smiled slightly, “I can’t let the mask slip, Fray.”

“Why?” he asked simply as he continued melding with her.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw glorious golden wings expanding outwards, reaching towards the sun. Turning her head, she gasped as she realized they were coming out of her back. Scrambling to her feet, she spun around trying to get a better look at them before she abruptly stopped, realizing she looked like a dog chasing its own tail.

Fly, Ferris
, Fray’s deep voice rumbled in her head.

Excitement bubbled through her veins and her smile was so wide it hurt her cheeks. But she hadn’t been born with wings and her new wings didn’t come with an instruction manual. Her smile faded slightly as she frowned, “Okay, how?”

Fray’s self-conscious chuckle washed through her and then she felt them inside: the wings. They became a part of her body, an extension of her shoulder blades. She could feel her blood coursing through her new, golden wings and if felt as if she had always had wings. Cautiously, she pushed the wings down and then laughed in delight as the wings obeyed. Closing her eyes, she pushed off the ground, her golden wings manipulating the air currents until she was flying.

The warm air drifted over her face, her skin, and she knew that she loved flying. Her bubble
wasn’t very large but it was enough to spread her wings and fly in circles and loops. No wonder why Armand was so cranky, to have wings and not be able to fly because someone might see. When she got back she would take him to an island and they could fly to their hearts’ content.

If he was willing to listen to her.

If not, she would go to that island with her children and fly with them. Of course, she would have to find them their own pocket dragons so they could have glorious dragon wings with which to fly but that was just a minor detail. It would take years before they would be able to fly with her but they had the time. Maybe the three terrors would like to join her.

Hell, the entire family could settle on the island and spend their days flying without worry of being discovered. Of course, now that the veil was gone it didn’t really matter if they were seen flying or not
. All of the creatures were coming out to play, who would care if a few gargoyles decided to join them?

Why do you not let go of the mask, Dragon-Mate?
Fray’s voice rumbled in her head.

“I don’t want to lose my humanity, Fray,” she
told him for the millionth time, gliding in a wide circle. “It would be too easy to let it all go but it isn’t what I want. I want my life with Armand and if not with him then my family.” She laughed irreverently, “Besides, I have been pretending for so long that I forget what I am. I still think I’m human.”

Fray’s low, rumbling laughter echoed in her head.
But you’ll always be Ferris
.

She sighed in amused resignation, “Yeah, I will be.”

Chin up, Dragon-Mate
, Fray consoled.
The sun is shining, the breeze is warm, you’re in an enchanted time bubble and soon you’ll be home with no one the wiser.

“Isn’t that the story of my life?” she chuckled, strangely melancholic that Fray was the only one who knew her completely, who lived her life with her. Even after telling her mom about spending years in the enchanted world while only a few weeks passed back home she never told Jenna about her experiences. She never talked about how difficult it had been to learn how to control her new, unwieldy powers, or how she had to beat them back into submission or how she had to learn to be human again so she didn’t freak her family out when she returned.

It saddened her that no one knew what an incredible father Marick was to their children, how devoted he had been. They never got to see his unguarded smile as Gwen and Gavin took their first steps, spoke their first words, threw their first lightning bolts. The twins had been raised in an idyllic environment befitting their demi-godhood, surrounded by magic and love.

But Armand was the only one in her heart. After the difficult pregnancy,
Marick seemed to accept the truth that her heart beat only for Armand and they became true friends once more. He knew that she was counting the minutes until she could be reunited with the other half of her soul.

She just hadn’t expected the reunion to be so damn short and painful.

At first she had struggled so hard to control her goddess, especially on days when she thought about what Armand did, how he gave up his nights to another woman, how he slept with a stranger to do it. Rage and jealousy ignited the powers that bubbled within her and Marick had been the only one who could calm her. He was the one who taught her how to master her new abilities instead of letting them master her. It would have been so easy to turn their genuine friendship into something more but that was never something she wanted.

Had she been a
different person she would have been able to give in to temptation, have sex with the gorgeous man, indulge in her most wicked fantasies. But she wasn’t someone else. She was Ferris, the destined mate of Armand. No matter how much she wanted to deny it when she was in a state of fury, it was the truth. Knowing that he was her destiny, that they were meant to be together, got her through some of the darkest moments of her life.

Knowing that she might have to let him go ate away at her soul. But she couldn’t keep chasing after him
because at some point it became pathetic and she feared that she was long past that point.

Shaking off the past, she closed her eyes and laughed with the utmost pleasure, “I could fly forever, Fray
, absolutely forever.”

Ferris idly drifted through the sky, her wings gently undulating
and keeping her afloat. After several weeks of flying it still wasn’t old, at least for Ferris. Poor Fray was exhausted from being outdoors all day long, every day and so he slept while she flew, gliding around the bubble and closing her eyes to pretend there were no barriers between her and flying off into eternity.

She was finally at peace with her decision to let Armand go. And if she occasionally had a twinge of regret or despair she ignored it because in the end all she really wanted was for Armand to be happy. Before, when she had let him go she had hunted him down and dragged
him back to her. This time he was going to have to return on his own.

A sad smile curved her lips at the thought because she doubted he would actively seek her out, not after the way they had parted, not after the finality of their last goodbye.

Maybe when she got back she could expand the number of classes she taught at the college or maybe offer a few classes at the local community center. God, she was going to be another year and a half older than her mom when she got back. It was better, she supposed, than being five hundred years older, which would have been the case without Omar… Apollo and his time bubble. Hell, if that were the case, she would be almost as old as Armand and possibly just as jaded.

No, he was jaded because the woman he though
t he loved turned her back on him. Ferris cursed. Maybe they were simply destined to spend eternity hurting one another and it had nothing to do with love.