Stone Destiny (Stone Passion #3) (44 page)

“Why didn’t you reveal her sooner?” Ferris asked as she simply watched Armand
, loving him so much it was almost painful.

It hadn’t been the time
, he said on a sigh and Ferris felt a little guilty for keeping him from his slumber but she wanted to know.
Now, the two of you are bound no matter what. Even imps cannot keep you apart
.

Ferris’s breath caught in her throat
. She hadn’t even considered the imps who had been instrumental in almost keeping her aunt from a lifetime with her gargoyle mate. In Ferris’s time, the imps were her friends, or rather, they weren’t her enemies, and Ajreis was her best friend. Here, now in the past, Ajreis didn’t even know who she was. Clearing her throat, she murmured, “Thank you, Fray.”

She felt his smile inside.
Zilahr is my equal in every way, Dragon-Mate, she will serve your beloved well
.

The man she loved finally opened his eyes and gazed down at her with the most beautiful, serene smile and she felt all warm and fluffy inside. His green eyes darkened and his smile
faltered as his gaze roamed over her naked body. With a wicked grin, he crushed her beneath him and claimed her lips in a fiery kiss.

“We should have stayed in London,” Ferris fretted as they made their way through the crowds at the amusement park in Florida nearly three weeks later. Armand was like a child in a candy store, excited to see the world with his no longer jaded eyes and Ferris loved it, even when she worried about interfering too much with the past. She could justify flying over the Atlantic Ocean with their dragon wings because they both had enough power to mask themselves. She could almost rationalize their decision to spend some time in the states, visiting attractions that attracted lots of people and yet provided anonymity.

She just didn’t understand Armand’s need to visit the Faerie Tale Land, a theme park that was modeled on classic faerie tales from around the world, from the Three Little Pigs and Little Red Riding Hood to Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty to the mythology of various cultures. Ferris worried that too many of the supernatural creatures would see them and word of their adventures would reach the wrong ears, though she couldn’t say whose ears those would be. But no one in the supernatural world would expect to see a gargoyle walking as a man beneath the sun so even if they recognized Armand they wouldn’t connect him to the gargoyle that sat on the roof of a castle in Saint Paul.

Armand looked at her with his wicked grin, bringing their joined hands up to his lips and kissing her fingers, “I’ve always wanted to visit this place but I was a gargoyle during the day. I may not have another chance.”

“Why didn’t you bring me here before?” she asked, watching his face light up with pleasure and happiness. He was so happy now, all of the time, and her heart hurt with the love she felt for him. She hadn’t thought it was possible to love him even more than she had when she was sixteen, when she was twenty-one, but she did. She loved him so much it sometimes frightened her.

The look he gave her was heated with promise, “I only had a month with you, love
. I wasn’t going to share you with anyone.”

She felt the loopy grin appear, the one she always seemed to wear around Armand, especially
when he was being so sweet and seductive. He was wearing a ridiculously tight tank top, showcasing his broad shoulders and muscled arms. Zilahr was wrapped around his left arm looking like an elaborate black and gray tattoo while Fray was wrapped around Ferris’s right arm in all of his golden glory. When they held hands, the two dragons touched

There were very few full sleeve tattoos so the two of them garnered a lot of attention, mostly positive but a few sneers. That is, until they looked up and saw the beautiful man attached to the tattooed arm. Then the sneers turned to sighs of longing, something Ferris could certainly sympathize with but didn’t worry about. Armand only had eyes for her
and he never even looked at another woman. It was as if they didn’t exist. And when he kissed her, when he brushed his lips against the sensitive skin of her neck, the world ceased to exist. He kissed her breathless every chance he got.

“How do you feel about some cotton candy?” he purred, his lips tickling the shell of her ear.

“In general, I am for cotton candy,” she breathed, letting her eyes drift shut as he sent tingles of pleasure through her bloodstream with his heated breath. “I mean, what’s not to like about pure sugar that is colored and spun out to resemble giant, puffy clouds?”

She felt his smile against her neck, “Then how about some cotton candy?”

Grinning, she nodded her head and managed to open her eyes, “Sounds delicious.”

Leaning against him, grinning like a lunatic, she happened to look up and see a dark haired little girl standing all alone. She was dressed in a purple and pink fairy dress, complete with little fairy wings and
she was absolutely adorable. As Ferris watched, large tears welled up in the girl’s big, blue eyes and Ferris’s heart went out to the little moppet. Tugging Armand’s hand, she led him over to the crying child. Squatting down, she offered a smile to the child who couldn’t be more than five or six years old. “Hey, there, sweetheart. Are you lost?”

The little girl nodded, her piggy tails boun
cing and her fairy wings flapping. As she wiped her running nose with the back of her arm, she spoke, “I wasn’t supposed to wander off but I wanted to get my sister something because she’s sick and couldn’t come on the trip with our grandparents but then they weren’t where I left them and I don’t know where I am.”

“Oh, sweetie,” Ferris murmured, tears welling in her own eyes in the face of the child’s misery. Wrapping her arms around the little girl, she hugged the child, “How about I stay with you while my husband goes in search of your grandparents?”

When the little moppet nodded, Ferris looked up at Armand with pleading eyes. She should have known he would have been just as affected by the lost little girl. With a quick nod, he moved through the crowd, in search of frantic grandparents. It shouldn’t take him too long because he had those gargoyle ways.

Returning her attention to the little girl, feeling strangely connected to the child, she grinned, “Want to know a secret?”

The girl’s eyes widened and she silently nodded her head.

Leaning closer, she whispered, “Faeries are real.”

“I know,” the child breathed earnestly, her blue eyes even larger than before. “Sometimes I think I can see them out of the corner of my eye but when I look they aren’t there.”

Putting her head against the girl’s so they were cheek to cheek and facing the same direction, Ferris scanned the crowd until she found what she was looking for. Pointing out the lavender skinned sprite, she murmured, “They like to hide in plain sight.”

“I see him,” the child whispered in awe. “He’s not alone, is he?”

“He’s not,” Ferris confirmed, watching the small group of sprites dancing in the Irish garden display. “If you look, you can see so much more.”

Silently, the two of them looked around the park, pointing out the various creatures that danced beneath the sun, invisible to most of the humans surrounding them. As they waited for Armand to return, they talked softly and giggled about the little pixies who were now putting on a show for the little human who could see them.

“They’re amazing,” the child breathed.

Ferris kissed the smooth, plump cheek and sighed, “I hope you never lose the ability to see the magic in the world.”

“Never,” the child agreed with solemnity.

“Melanie!” a frantic voice cried out and a moment later the dark haired moppet was swept up into a pair of loving arms.

Ferris’s jaw dropped open as she slowly came to her feet, looking at the familiar image of her great-grandparents whom she had seen in pictures. Glancing down, she saw her uncle as a small boy, his blue eyes just as large in his face as he stared at her arm, at Fray. It took her a moment to realize that Armand was standing with them. It wasn’t until he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side that she even knew he was there.

She blamed her obliviousness on the shock of her discovery. Slowly, she turned her head and saw the recognition in his eyes. He wisely stayed behind her, trying to use her to shield himself even though he towered over her by at least six inches.

“Thank you so much,” Melanie’s grandmother cried, hugging the little girl for all she was worth. “You have no idea how worried we were until your very nice husband found us and told us you had found this little trouble maker. Is there anything we can
do to repay you?”

Ferris frantically shook her head no, taking a step backwards and bumping into Armand. With his arms around her waist, he took a step back and pulled her with him. She could feel his chest rumble with silent laughter. “It was my pleasure, truly. Um, we’ve got to go.”

Turning and once again bumping into Armand’s solid chest, she anxiously made her escape before she did any damage. Armand’s laughter filled the air and she couldn’t help but smile even as her heart was pounding madly in her chest. She should have recognized her aunt but she hadn't. Maybe there was a part of her that hadn't wanted to know until after she kissed the little girl and gave Melanie the gift of vision.

“I’m going to miss this place but I’m glad to be going back. I’ve missed Gavin and Gwen and everyone,” Ferris sighed as she leaned into Armand’s embrace as they took one last look at the paradise that had been their home for just over a year. As excited as she was about going home, she was also incredibly nervous. How was life going to be once they returned to the real world? She had absolute faith in Armand and the love they shared but how were the others going to react? Not that she cared, at least not too much, but she didn’t want there to be any acrimony between the brothers. She and Armand had already gone through so much
and they were truly one but no one knew about it.

Kissing the top of her head, he nodded, “Being here has brought me peace, Ferris. Well, being here with
you
has brought me peace.”

She smiled, stroking her hand up and down his chest, feeling the steady
tha-thump of his heart, taking comfort in his absolute calm. Zilahr was curved around his shoulders, hidden beneath his soft, linen shirt and Fray was wrapped around her ribs. The two dragons were as inseparable as her and Armand, often taking their corporeal forms to fly off and have some alone time. If Ferris wasn’t mistaken, Zilahr was getting a little bigger around the middle but she wasn’t going to say anything in case she was just seeing things that weren't there. They would know one way or the other soon enough.

Licking her lips, she asked, “Do you think I will have the… power to keep you human during the day like mom and Rhys?”

“It doesn’t matter either way, love,” he assured her with absolute sincerity. “I have you and that is all that I need.” He chuckled, “Maybe you will turn into a gargoyle during the day and we can see if it’s possible for gargoyles to make love.”

“Knowing you, I’m sure it’s possible,” she grinned, feeling her heart lighten, knowing it was going to be okay.
They had to return a couple of months early in order to make their way home undetected because they were more well-known in this time and hence had more people to avoid.

Their plan was to step out of the bubble as soon as the sun set and find a hotel room for the night. They were going to try a little experiment: they would make love while the sun was rising and if Armand remained a man, they would be able to fly home. If he turned into a gargoyle, they were going to have to hire a private boat to sail home. Naturally, it was going to have to be a company run by faeries or mermaids because the trip across the ocean was going to last several weeks and Armand was going to spend half of his time in his stone form.