Page 16 of Fire in Stone

This man certainly was dangerous. Only in different ways than I’d thought before.

I forced my muscles to move, shifting back from him.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you guessing about that. Banging a gargoyle prince is not on my bucket list.”

“That’s a shame.” He tilted his head, searching for my eyes. “How about a kiss, then?”

“You just can’t take no for an answer, can you?”

He shrugged. “You said no to fucking. Kissing is still on the table, isn’t it?”

I snorted a laugh. Despite his insistence, the tension had eased. His wings opened a little, giving me space. He sat back on his haunches, no longer hovering over me. And his voice lifted, dropping that tempting velvet note. Now, he sounded more teasing than seductive.

I shook my head. “You’re a master negotiator.”

“Most fae are.” He grinned proudly.

“Why fae? You said you were a gargoyle.”

Did I actually believe what he’d said? The statue, the man, the gargoyle… Things he told me just didn’t happen in real life.

But the wings…

They were right there, flanking us, tangible like the most undisputed proof one could have.

Maybe I reallywasasleep, and all of this was just a dream? It sure had that crazy dream quality, beautiful and exciting, but without making much sense.

“Gargoyles are one of the several types of fae in Nerifir,” he explained. “Just like sirens, or gorgonians, or sky fae. We all have magic, that’s what unites us. And that’s what makes us different from humans.”

“Since we have no magic at all,” I added.

“Right.”

“So, how did you end up here, in our world?”

His expression darkened. “Ghata, the disgraced goddess of the werewolves from Sarnala, had herbrackskidnap me outside of the royal castle at night after I’d shifted to stone. Instead of letting me shift back in the morning, she kept me in my stone form by usingwomorasmoke. Since the smoke was gone, I was able to come fully awake at sunrise.”

Not everything that he’d said made sense to me. But the last word jolted me with alarm.

“Sunrise? Is it morning already?” I jumped off the bed and picked up my phone from the floor.

Dammit!

The buyer would be here soon, and all I had for him was a broken crate.

I tossed the phone on the cot and grabbed my jeans from my bag. Remembering sweating in them last night, I winced and shoved them back in the bag, then grabbed my denim skirt instead. I pulled it on and zipped it up with Elex’s eyes following my every move.

“You look worried,” he said evenly.

Worried?I feared the word was way too weak to describe the near-panic state that threatened to take over me.

My cell phone pinged with a message. I glanced at the screen. It was from Chris.

“The pickup is in thirty.”

“Shit.” I stared at the screen, tapping with my finger against the phone case, as if that would help me figure out what to do.

“Amber? What’s going on?” Elex sounded concerned.

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