Heart of Stone (Rock Star Fairy Tales #1)

Chapter 15

C h apte r 15

Playing with Fire

Afternoon, Thursday, Febr uary 19 th in Kerva Point Park in Ke rva, Armav

“T his feels so weird,” Margot said, stepping down from the bus onto the grassy space in the park. They were near the top of the mountain in a secluded spot away from prying eyes. Ash cocked his head, taking in the backless shirt she wore as she twisted a little. Margot frowned. “Please don’t tell me I put this on wrong.”

Ash shook his head. “No, it’s right. I just haven’t seen anyone wear those in a very lo ng time.”

Margot glanced around. They were alone. Tobin would find them soon enough, Ash had assured her, but not yet. “How long?” she pressed. “Since before you came to Maddie’s?”

Ash shrugged one shoulder but said nothing. He had left his hat and glasses inside her bus, disguise forgotten now that they were in no danger of spectators, and she enjoyed seeing the breeze play with his hair, tendrils sweeping this way and that.

“You weren’t there that long before I arrived, were you?” she asked quietly. She recalled the night she had arrived. The boys hadn’t been there—Maddie said they were at a friend’s house. She had snuck out of her new room and was sitting in the bar, not drinking, but trying to imagine how her mom would have looked in the space. She had always known she had an aunt who owned a bar over in Ardon, but sitting in that bar after her mom’s death had been surreal, everything somehow warped with her grief and disconnected. She heard the boys before they came in, drunken giggles and high-pitched whispering, and she had quickly ducked behind the bar, not wanting to be seen with tears streaking her face. Nik came first, her cousin bleary-eyed and stumbling as he made his way to the back stairway. She’d seen old pictures of him, so she recognized his face. The other two boys were strangers, though Maddie had told her to expect them—distant cousins who had come to stay with her. The one on the right was dark-haired and serious, though he too swayed a bit as he held up his companion. Crouched behind the bar, barely peeking over the top to see, Margot would never forget her first sight of Ashton Stonewall, his messy brown hair, his tan skin, his long limbs, and perfect voice as he too whispered nonsense to hi s friend.

That one, she had decided, something inside of her bursting alive and scorching her s oul. Him .

Of course, her beautiful soulmate had turned to the side and vomited, hitting Timothy with most of it, and the two had squealed and scuffled their way back outside to find the hose, Nik grumbling after them that they were making too mu ch noise.

Margot came out of the memory as if waking from a dream to find a much older and more serious Ash staring at her. He studied her face, seeking something Margot thought he may ne ver find.

“No,” he said finally. “I came to live with the Hodges about six months before you did.”

“Why them?” she asked, deciding to take her openings where she found them. “Did your family k now them?”

He nodded. “I’m not sure exactly, but Maddie welcomed me. Us. Timothy came with me from my father ’s house.”

“Was Marcus still alive then?” she asked, recalling the photos of Maddie’s husband and Nik’s father in the hallway of the o ld house.

“No,” Ash said. “He’d died about a year before. I think maybe that’s why we went there. Maddie and Nik were all alone.” He paused, then added, “It used to be a tavern, back in the day. You knew that, right? That’s why there’s so much living space above the bar. I think they used to rent out the rooms before Nik was born.”

Margot nodded, recalling fumbling moments in the dark rooms above the bar, Ben’s awkward kisses, their teenage bodies doing things her mother would not have approved. Margot was lucky no one had ever caught them, though Nik always seemed to know the next day. “But Maddie was fae, like my mom. So Marcus was hu man then?”

Ash nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry I never got to meet him. From what Nik has told me, he sounds pretty amazing. A really g reat dad.”

Margot nodded. No doubt Ash was comparing Nik’s wonderful, loving dad to his own—a man who had lost one son and hidden another. She knew Nik’s dad had died in a car accident. Nik had told her once, after hearing her talk about how happy her own mother had been, that his mom used to be like that before the accident. The Maddie Margot had known, warm, loving, soothing, no-nonsense Aunt Maddie, was not the same woman who had raised Nik. In a way, he had mourned both of his parents after the accident. And two years ago, Maddie had also died—another car accident. It was a miracle Nik even agreed to touring on the road l ike this.

“But Nik—” she began, wanting to discover more about her cousin’s odd not-human/not-fae status, but the wind blew, cold and biting, pushing Margot’s hair off her bare back, and she shivered. Ash moved immediately, hands already glowing with some kind of magic, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Warmth spilled over her, and she sighed into him, allowing herself a moment to appreciate the strength of his arm as she glanced over at the hand on her bicep. A slight red haze shimmered above it, and Margot felt something deep inside her respond to the power, like a minor chord in one of Stone Dragons’ ballads.

I will keep you warm, my love… with the fire that burns de ep inside…

The words to “Dragonfire” drifted through her mind. “How do you do that?” she murmured, tilting her head to look up at him. His face was very close to her, and she bit her lip, not wanting to do anything stupid. He always smelled so good, like cinnamon and woodsmoke. He watched her for a moment too long, then a corner of his mouth turned up, and he moved his hand so she could see it, still holding her close to his heat.

“It’s fire,” he explained, flipping his hand palm up, and a small flame exploded in his palm, fierce and glowing. The fire spread out to his fingers, then rushed back to the center of his hand before going out. Margot gasped, then grabbed his hand, inspecting it fo r damage.

His palm was smooth and unblemished, though she could feel the calloused tips of his fingers, a guitarist’s hand. “How?” she blurted, still holding him. She felt him shrug behind her. “Can I do that?”

“Maybe,” he said, the word brushing against the back of her ear, and she shivered again, unable to stop herself.

“Can you teach me?” she asked, letting herself lean back into him a hint more, wanting to feel his breath on her skin, her bare back pressed against his sw eatshirt.

“Yes,” he said, the word a promise and more.

She turned around in the circle of his arm, very aware that he did not let her go—his hand remaining on her upper arm and the other snaking around her hip and keeping their bodies pressed close together. “Ash,” she whispered, not used to being so close to him, to feeling the full power of his seductive gaze. Sure, sometimes he looked at her like he wanted nothing more in the world than to devour her, but he always seemed to remember something, pulling himself back from some invisible ledge. He would be distant, a stranger, the Ash she glimpsed vanishing y et again.

He’s with you now, a quiet voice said. Just enjoy th e moment.

No, a stronger voice replied. I will not settle for moments. If I can’t have all of him, then I don’t want an y of him.

Keep telling yours elf that.

Margot steeled herself, very aware that his eyes had moved from her own to glance at her lips. No , she decided. Not like this. She reached up, and Ash leaned closer, clearly thinking she meant to cup his chin, his face, as their lips met, but instead, she put both hands flat on his chest and gently pushed him away.

“I’m fine now,” she said, stepping away as Ash’s expression cycled through shock at her refusal, then embarrassment, and finally settled into guilt as he released her. The cold wind seared her back, and Margot closed her eyes.

Wings, please come out now , she thought, seeing that starburst of light through her eyelids, and then she was stumbling, the wind catching a wing and tugging her backward.

“Whoa!” Ash said, grabbing her forearm with steely fingers and holding her steady. He glanced around. “Maybe we’re up too high. It’s t oo windy.”

“It’s fine here,” another voice said, and Margot whirled away from Ash to see Tobin floating down to where they stood. He was bare-chested, wings fully engaged, and she had another moment where she was floored by his otherworldly beauty. She swallowed it down, trying to see how he was flying. His wings barely moved in the breeze, seeming to catch the current and use it to lower himself. “I’ll teach you to use the wind,” he promised, nodding at where Ash still held her forearm. “Assuming he lets you go, o f course.”