Read Stone Destiny (Stone Passion #3) for Free Online

about the difficulties of being the odd man out, she in the human world and he in his own. As wonderful as Ajreis was, his solution was to ignore everyone or kick their collective asses. He wasn't very helpful even if he made her laugh.
    “Did you love the woman for whom you gave up your nights?” she asked, trying to keep her voice light and just a shade uninterested in his answer even though his answer was so important. Her belly constricted in anticipation and she tightened her hold on the charcoal until it snapped. Hoping he didn't notice, she clumsily set one of the pieces down and continued working with the other half.
    Armand was silent, thoughtful, before he answered, “I thought I loved her.”
    She arched an eyebrow at that and he smiled ruefully, “She saw me for what I was and wanted me anyway . It was a heady experience for someone young and stupid.”
    “I know you for what you are,” she reminded him. That probably wasn’t so subtle but she doubted he would recognize it in the way she meant it.
    “I know,” he acknowledged. “And I appreciate that you do not differentiate. Back then, when magic was even more taboo than it is currently, being a creature that transforms from a man to a stone beast was not something to shout about. It's still not entirely acceptable.”
    “You’re not a creature,” she said quietly, fiercely. He blinked at the passion in her voice and she had to remember to dial it back some, “I mean, you’re a gargoyle.”
    His lips quirked into a half-smile as he shook his head, “It’s the same thing, Ferris. I’m not a human and that is all that mattered at the time.”
    When it was apparent that he wasn’t going to continue, she pushed, “So, this girl… what did she look like?”
    He chuckled at her ploy, “Katrina was beautiful. She had hair of the palest blond and eyes… well, I don’t exactly recall her eye color. Rhys insists they were brown but I could have sworn they were light teal, almost the color of your eyes. It was her expression when she saw me transform that I remember most. She was enthralled.”
    Freezing her smile in place, she ignored the praise he heaped on the wretched woman’s head. She had to remind herself that had Katrina accepted his gift th en Armand wouldn’t be single now. “How did she ever get the chance to see you change? I mean, you guys are hyper-sensitive about that kind of thing.”
    He grinned, a smile that was almost boyish and completely devastating. It was a smile she hadn’t seen before, something that was light and carefree. “When we were young we were not always so careful. We also liked pissing off our older brothers and so during the night the three of us would ride our horses as far away from the estate as we could and still make it back it time; we didn’t always make it back before the sun rose.”
    She had to smile as the memories warmed his voice. Shaking his head, he continued, “When that happened, we’d have to find a place to hide. And occasionally we were seen.”
    He laughed as he reminisced and Ferris found herself listening to him instead of drawing. “We were such hellions, Rhys, Vaughn and I. We deliberately provoked our older brothers – our guardians at the time – because we could. They were so full of themselves, already bored with life and unsure how to deal with the three hell-raising gargoyles.
    “On the night I met Katrina we had spent the night carousing – drinking, gambling, whoring,” he shook his head, oblivious to the stab of jealousy that hit her at his words so easily spoken. “We wagered on how long we could stay out and still make it back to the estate before the sun rose. Vaughn was conservative with forty-five minutes, Rhys said forty and being the cocky bastard I was I said thirty.
    “Needless to say, I didn’t make it back in thirty minutes.” He smiled, the sight so beautiful she wanted to weep. “I was still miles from the estate when I changed and I ended up stuck