Heart of Stone (Rock Star Fairy Tales #1)

Chapter 11

C h apte r 11

A Question of Firsts

Early afternoon, Thursday, Febr uary 19 th outside in the back lot at the Reve l Coliseum

T obin wasn’t alone. Standing next to him at the front of her bus was Timothy, the drummer’s face serious as his eyes flicked back and forth between her a nd Tobin.

“Good morning,” Margot said, out of habit. “Or afternoon, actually.” She bit her lip, not sure what to say to either of them.

“And a lovely day to you as well, my lady,” Tobin said formally, though he winked at her. Margot couldn’t help the smile that crossed her lips. Tobin may be the reason for her current situation, but he was always so charming. She couldn’t help herself. His cheer was much more welcome than Ash’s gloomy dismissal. She wondered where Ash was, then forced hersel f to stop.

Timothy frowned at Tobin’s greeting, though Margot couldn’t tell if it was the wink or the words. “How are you, Margot?” he asked.

She began to nod automatically, then paused, changing her mind to shake it. “Okay. Ish. I mean, I figured out how to glamour this morning, so that’s somethin g, right?”

“What do you mean, how to glamour?” Timothy echoed in surprise.

Margot closed her eyes and thought of the pixie blonde hair, the high cheekbones, the bright eyes. She heard their intake of breath, and both of their eyes were wide when she looked at them. “I’m guessing this isn’t expected,” she said, reaching up to touch the messy bun of her real hair. “How does this look to you right now?” she asked, hand still touching her bun. “Are my hands just floating?” She pictured a movie with bad CGI, characters obviously interacting wit h nothing.

Tobin shook his head slightly, eyes squinting. “The magic accounts for things like that. We—” He paused, glancing over at Timothy. “I see you playing with your short blonde hair. Very interesting look, but I prefer the truth, if I’ m honest.”

Margot glared at him, not liking his casual dismissal of her alter ap pearance.

“As if you could recognize the truth,” another vo ice said.

Margot turned to see Ash had joined them, walking around the back of her bus, the lead singer casual in jeans, blue t-shirt, and unzipped hoodie. A pair of sunglasses shielded his eyes and a ballcap covered his head—what Margot called his “Blending In” look. Since Stone Dragons had hit the top 100 list two years ago, Ash had a tendency of getting swarmed in public when they hit the bigger cities. He was staring at her new face, and she couldn’t tell if he liked the look or not. The need for his approval grated on he r nerves.

Before Tobin could reply, Margot had a thought. “Wait,” she said, gesturing at Ash’s disguise. “Why do you do this if you can just change y our face?”

Ash glared at Timothy. “You taught her how to glamour?”

“I taught myself, thank you very much,” she snapped. “While you were all s leeping.”

“That … isn’t great news,” Ash said.

“Why?” she pushed. “You don’t want me to learn new a bilities?”

“It’s not that,” Ash said. “It’s just … fast. T oo fast.”

“Too fast for what?” she asked. “For you?”

“You remember what we said about power last night?” At her nod, he continued, “Gaining abilities this quickly means you may be more powerful than we thought. Someone wil l notice.”

Margot glanced around, seeing only the three men around her bus. She hugged hersel f. “Here?”

Timothy shook his head. “Not here, no. We’re in Armavian territory. Other fae are avoiding this area… until things are decided.”

Margot nodded, knowing he spoke of the civil unrest to the south of them. There was a reason Cayla had only scheduled one show in the province, and far to the north to avoid any chances of them getting caught up in anything. “I heard Jeff and Alex saying they would head to the border tonight if they could, get into Genc early, and spend their day off there.” She took a deep breath. “So fae avoid human politics?”

All three men exchanged a look, but it was Tobin who spoke. “No. We won’t interfere in wars here until it’s over one way or the other—but then the Lords will be right back to meddling.”

“Ah.” Margot nodded, trying to recall what had been said about fae Lords and why Tobin would have said “we” like he was one of them. Deciding to ask about it later and focus on the moment, she scanned the empty lot, then glanced at Timothy. “No Nik yet? He still sleeping off la st night?”

“He left this morning,” Timothy said. “He’ll be back soo n enough.”

Margot considered the city they were in. Kerva wasn’t a tiny town, but it was hardly a city where Niklaus would wake up early to explore. “Wait, he knows someone here, doesn’t he? I remember him going away for long weekends over this way when I first arrived at Maddie’s.” She searched her memory for the name of Nik’s Armavian friend. “Paul?” she guessed.

“Tomas,” Ash c orrected.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Margot agreed. “They were friends and he moved away?” She looked at Ash. “Did you know him?”

Ash smirked. “I know him, but trust me when I say he has no interest in seeing me. Especially not now.”

“Is Tomas okay, you think, with everything going on?” Margot hadn’t paid close attention, not wanting to make herself paranoid while they were in Armav, but she knew the cities in the south had started a small rebellion against the government in the capital city. What had begun as a small group of disgruntled citizens had spread far and wide, and the capitol sent troops to quell the disturbance. Margot still followed a few Armavian social accounts, but she had decided not to check them until she was safely across the border into Genc. Cayla knew that the EcoDome at Akkoy was small, only 3,000 people—nothing compared to the 20,000 they had seen at the Coliseum the night before—but she had said the band (and Margot) would need the intimate show to settle thei r nerves.

“Tom will be just fine,” Ash assured her. “He has a way of surviving a nything.”

“I wonder how he’d deal with wings bursting out of his back one night,” Margot c ommented.

“Did you practice with your wings?” Ash asked. “La st night?”

“No,” Margot insisted, not considering her slow study of her new appendages anything akin to practi ce. “Why?”

“Using abilities tends to bring o n others.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. I talked with Nik last night—nice move, by the way, sending him in with the white flag—and at some point I’m going to ask how he knew about you when I didn’t—but not right now. After he left, I went to bed. Then when I woke up and saw my reflection this morning, I had a different face.” She sniffed, then resettled her messy bun, using the motion to calm her suddenly jangled nerves. “I’m fine, by the way. Totally not completely fre aked out.”

“I said I would teach you,” Tobin said, but Ash was already shaking his head.

“You aren’t doing anything,” he ordered. “You’ve done quite enough already.”

“Don’t blame him,” Margot defended, the words out before she could s top them.

“But this is his fault!” A sh cried.

“This is my parents’ fault,” she corrected him. “And it was always going to happen. The least you could have done—especially since you promised my aunt you would look after me—the very least you could have managed would be to tell me.” As she said it, she knew she was bei ng unfair.

“How could we tell you?” Timothy spoke for the first time in a while. “What coul d we say?”

“I don’t know,” she moaned. “But something. A hint. A clue. Not just leave me to Manifest one night in a bar.”

Ash looked down, face reddening. “I did not realize that he was yo ur first—”

“Oh fuck no,” Margot interrupted him, seeing where this was going. “You are not talking about virginity, are you?” She scoffed. “I’m twenty-three years old, Ashton Stonewall. I’ve been having sex for years.” She glanced over at Tobin. “And not w ith him.”

Not yet, sh e thought.