Heart of Stone (Rock Star Fairy Tales #1)

Chapter 4

C h apte r 4

Fae Awakenings

“B ecause many fae have wings?” Tobin replied, though the words were more like a question.

Margot pushed away from him, not liking the sound of the word “fae”—like the stories her mother had told as Margot grew up—but Tobin held her firm, not letting her slide off his lap.

“Careful,” he ordered. “You’ll hurt yourself.”

“Let me go!” she squealed, fear streaking through her as she took in more of the thin material hovering over both shoulders. “What did you do to me?” She tried to scramble back, but something caught on her new wings, and she stopped at the painful tugging in the center of her back.

“I told you,” he said, his voice way too calm for the situation. “You’ve been Awakened.” He canted his head. “Surely they have told you of suc h things?”

“I’m wide awake,” she insisted, moving more slowly to untangle herself from him. This time the bottom of her other wing caught on the top of her boot, and she shrieked at the jolt, arms pinwheeling as she fell forward again—right into Tobin’s wait ing arms.

“Easy,” he said. “The first time is always painful.”

“This is not my first time,” Margot gritted, words pouring out at the suggestion of her virtue, not wanting to think about what he really meant. She looked up at him, meeting that bright gaze, and something sparked deep inside—a connection she didn’t want to explore. “I don’t understand,” she murmured, fear fading as a sense of rightness filled her body. Feeling calmer, she narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean by Awakened?”

“How do you feel?” Tobin purred, leaning close, his eye s darker.

Biting her lip, Margot tried to sense her body. She felt … light. Filled with air and satisfaction. The new wings were silk against her bare skin, and she realized that her dress must have ripped when they came out of her body. “I liked this dress,” she manage d to say.

“I like you better without it,” Tobin whispered, mouth closing the distance between them. Margot allowed herself to be kissed, shivering as his hands slid along the new wings, her body a riot of sensation. It was easier to lose herself than face the situatio n anyway.

Kissing Tobin made everything better, and she surrendered to the feelings—both physical and emotional—that rushed over her. She could ignore the rest, though there was a quiet litany of confusion and shock in the back of her mind, just waiting for the moment to burst free. Margot pushed it down, twining her fingers into Tobin’s hair and devouring h is mouth.

Familiar. Comforti ng. Safe.

“Take your hands off of her right now,” a cold voice snarled, “and I might let you walk out of t his room.”

Margot’s head snapped up, breaking the kiss, and she twisted to see who had entered the back room with them. She recognized the voice, sort of, but she didn’t believe the words had come from Ash Stonewall until she saw the expression on his face. His eyes were wide, his jaw set, his mouth turned down in a frown. Margot barely recognized the man she knew.

“Ash?” she asked, very aware of how she was sprawled on Tobin’s lap, his arms still around her body. Ash may not ever want her, but she didn’t want him to see her atop another man. She pulled her fingers out of Tob in’s hair.

Just in case.

“Let. Her. Go,” Ash repeated.

Tobin did not release her, his gaze sliding back to study Margot’s face. “I don’t hear her complaining,” Tobin said finally. “Do you want to go , Margot?”

“I…” Margot tried, but words failed her. What could she say to Ash, the man she had longed for since she started wanting anyone? He was looking at her like she had betrayed him. Tobin’s words sank in, and she jerked her head down to look at him instead. His smirk was all male, clearly thinking he had won some kind of com petition.

“Seriously?” she said, glaring at him, then tried to stand up, tripping in her haste. Tobin released her immediately, hands moving to help her, but Ash was faster, stepping across the space between them. He put his hands beneath her armpits and lifted her easily to her feet, but paused when he set her down, not letting her go until she found her new balance with t he wings.

Margot frowned, reaching back to touch the new part of her body. Her wings were soft, silky diaphanous swaths of many colors: brown where she could see over her shoulder, brightening to white and blue at the bottom that brushed the back of her knees. Deciding she could stare at the new wings when she stood before a proper mirror, she settled into her new center of gravity and stood firm, gaze flicking from the man still sitting on the floor to the man standing nex t to her.

“So,” she said, her voice sturdier than she expected, “who is going to tell me what is going on?” Her heart rate was steady, likely a result of the alcohol slowing her r eactions.

“You’ve been Awakened,” another voice said, and Margot looked up to see Timothy had entered the room and was standing near the doorway.

“So I hear,” she retorted. “Want to tell me what th at means?”

“You’re fae,” Ash whispered. “Your powers have Manifested.” He looked at her, and Margot wished she could read his expression, his blank face perfectly neutral, the rage from earlier vanished. He sounded both wistful and excited at the same time.

Margot scoffed. “Like a fairy in a story?” Both Ash and Tobin nodded, though Tobin’s grin suggested he was far more thrilled about her new status than Ash or Timothy. “Wait,” she said, glaring at all three men as suspicion snaked through her. “How do you know this? Are you fae or whatever?”

Tobin hopped to his feet and tugged his shirt over his head. Margot was almost too distracted by the sudden sight of his bare chest, abs she had been feeling as they pressed close, but then there was a quick flash of light, and a pair of black and silver wings like her own appeared from his back. Margot’s mouth opened to say something, but no sound came out, and she simply took in the glory that w as Tobin.

Tobin smiled, blew her a kiss, then cut his gaze to Ash, the gestu re clear.

Y our turn.

Margot turned to Ash. “Do you have freaki ng wings?”

Ash shook his head. “No. I have … othe r gifts.”

Margot’s eyes widened. The insanity of the situation was too much, so she focused on the nearest thing. “So what makes you … fae? Like, how can peo ple tell?”

Ash gave Tobin a dark glare. “They can’t.” He shook his head. “Put those away, vassal. Someone might see, and we are among mixed comp any here.”

“Vassal?” Margot echoed, thinking of knights a nd armor.

“You know who I am?” Tobin asked, a challenge in the question. A flash of light pulsed and then his wings were gone, though his glorious bare chest remained. Margot tried not to stare at him, remembering her hands on his body.

“I know you,” Ash confirmed, then with a look at Margot, he added, “and clearly you know wh o we are.”

“Why don’t you show her?” Tobin prompted, shirt held loosely in one hand. “She’d love to see you in all your glory. We all would, my Lord.”

“I am no Lord,” Ash snapped, putting a hand to his forehead the way he did when he was contemplating a difficult problem. Margot had seen that motion often back when he helped her rebuild the battered TW bus that her mother had left behind, the two of them carefully working together to make it livable again. Hand falling to his side, he glanced at Margot, whose wings were still out for al l to see.

“Go,” he said, and for a moment, she thought he was dismissing her, but it was just her name. “Close your eyes and concentrate on willing the wings away. You c an do it.”

Nodding, Margot closed her eyes, glad that the distraction of Tobin was hidden, and thought about her wings, glad to have something specif ic to do.

Go away please, she thought clearly, and to her surprise, she could feel a pulse of heat along her back, a burst of light against her closed eyelids, and then her balance shifted again. She could feel the air on her bare back through the holes in her dress. “Oh,” she said, wonder infusing her voice. “That was easy.”

Ash nodded. “We … have much to discuss.”

“You’re telling me,” she agreed, then remembered Timothy by the door. “Are you one of th em, too?”

Timothy bent into a courtly bow, a faint smile on his lips. “At your service, Lad y Margot.”

“Don’t,” Ash barked, but Timothy ignored him, already reaching out to gently take Margo t’s hand.

“Allow me to be the first to congratulate you on your Awakening,” Timothy continued, placing a delicate kiss on the back of her hand before relea sing her.

“She hasn’t Awakened,” Ash insisted, continuing despite the two men giving him incredulous looks. “She just has wings. That’s minor. It does n’t mean—”

“Apparently, it means that you have forgotten your manners entirely,” Timothy interrupted. He gave the lead singer a hard look, and shame flooded Ash’s face. “Margot is fae, only just revealed. She deserves your respect.”

Ash frowned, then sighed heavily. He took a step toward her, taking her hand formally and leaning down to kiss it. Margot snatched her hand back, not wanting Ash to go through the motions of civility when he clearly didn’t want to. Jamming her hands into her dress pockets, which remained mostly intact despite the destruction of the back of her clothing, she glared at Ash. “Someone please tell me what the hell is going on.”

Ash’s eyes were wide as he stared at her hidden hands, realizing she had rejected h is touch.

Tobin was the first to speak, stepping quickly in front of Ash, and putting himself close to her. “Ask me anything, Margot. I will tell you ev erything.”

Timothy’s head moved quickly, shock flitting across his features at Tobin’s declaration, but then the look was gone. Ash tried to step between them, but Tobin only moved closer, gently touching Margot to keep her nex t to him.

“Well,” she began, “how about A wakening?”