Stone Romance (Stone Passion #2) (41 page)

He met his mother’s eyes and shared a sad, knowing smile; he couldn’t even begin to fathom a world without his mother. But he also knew that she longed for her punishment to end and to finally be reunited with her immortal sisters. She wanted to be released from the torment of having to fuck bodies that were slowly turning to stone.

“Ah
a
!” she cried out, laughing as three small moppets surrounded her, three handsome boys smiling at the first human they had ever seen. “And speaking of my babies… I’d like to introduce you to Michael, Leo, and Raphe.”

Michael was the oldest at nine and a half with white blond hair and brilliant green eyes. Leo was next at eight. He had ash brown hair and golden eyes, a shade very similar to Vaughn’s eyes. And finally there was Raphe, the baby of the gargoyles at five almost six, the same age as Ferris. The little angelic mischief-maker had blue-black hair and nearly violet eyes; he was a heartbreaker in the making.

Jenna stared at them in a mixture of awe and affection, with a little smidgen of nervousness mixed in. With a shaky smile, she murmured, “Hello; um, I’m Jenna….”

“We know who you are,” Michael smiled perceptively for a preteen. “You’re Rhys’s mate and a human. Momma says we’re to live with you and Rhys, Armand
,
Vaughn, and
Melanie
.”

Jenna turned her head and looked at Rhys with a warm smile as she spoke quietly, “Were you ever this small?”

He laughed, “
Once upon a time, many, many years ago.”

“I can’t even imagine,” she mused. “I bet you were adorable.”

“You have no idea,” he chuckled, taking her hand and closing the short distance between the groups. As he looked as his youngest brothers a wave of melancholy threatened to engulf him: these three were going to be the last of their kind. His mother cupped his cheek and when he looked at her she was smiling up at him. Covering her hand with his, he closed his eyes and let the sadness go; there would be time to mourn later. Forcing a smile and ruffling Leo’s brown hair, he scooped little Raphe up into his arms, “These three are holy terrors; they put the imps to shame.”

“You and your brothers were just the same,” Medusa said with chuckle, wrapping her arms around Michael’s shoulders. “In fact, the three of you were worse; these three never tried to go cliff diving from the north shore.”

Jenna sucked in a breath as she stared at Rhys in horror, “Where the jagged rocks are?”

He blushed, “We were young and apparently very stupid.”

“It’s a wonder any of you made it out of your childhood in one piece,” Medusa reminisced. “The most stress these three have caused was wandering down to the tide pools and trying to capture a mermaid.
Lilaila’s
mother was not pleased when she found her daughter playing tag with three gargoyles.”

“There are mermaids?” Jenna asked, her lips parted in surprise, though why she would be surprised at this point she didn’t know; it did make Rhys chuckle though.

Bending forward, he placed a quick kiss on her opened mouth, “Yes, love; there are mermaids.”

She shook her head and made a face, “Of course there are mermaids. Of course there are.”

“Come,” Medusa said, holding her arm out. “Let us gather on the veranda for dinner. You can tell me more about your life, Jenna, and I can tell you a little bit more about mine.”

Jenna’s eyes widened in anticipation; she was eager to learn as much as she could about the gorgeous Medusa. The elegant beauty watched her boys closely, absorbing every detail as the four of them teased one another, rough housing only a little. Jenna imagined that if they were alone they would be wrestling on the ground, Rhys in the middle of all of it.

After they ate, the four boys wandered off somewhere, leaving Jenna alone with Medusa once more. “You said that most choose the other path; how many have come back?”

Medusa looked at her over the rim of her delicate tea cup, her dark eyes sparkling with laughter.
They were
so similar to Rhys’s dancing eyes that it was a sharp reminder that this woman was Rhys’s mother. Jenna still had difficulties wrapping her mind around that one simply because Medusa
appeared
so young. Except when Jenna looked into the other woman’s eyes and saw the sorrow of a thousand lifetimes staring back.
“Other than you?”

At Jenna’s nod, Medusa set her tea cup down and leaned back in her chair, stretching luxuriously until the material of her sheer gown was stretched taut over her breasts. Jenna felt the heat rise in her cheeks but she tried to act normal; if Medusa was comfortable than she would at least pretend to be. Medusa’s grin was mischievous as she finally answered, “There was one other; a man whose destiny was always to leave.”

She vaguely remembered Medusa saying that there had only been one other but at the time Jenna had been not altogether lucid. Giddy with the knowledge that she was discovering the truth behind the myth, she asked softly, “Perseus?”

“Yes,” Medusa answered with a pleased smile. Pulling her legs up beneath her bottom, she grinned, looking
heart-
achingly young. “He was a stunning boy and quite surprised when he discovered that this island was not inhabited by a fearsome creature.
At least, not during the night.”

Jenna lowered her lashes, not willing to see the self-loathing in Medusa’s eyes over her stone form. She couldn’t imagine that Medusa could be that hideous during the day, not when Rhys was so beautiful in his gargoyle form. Slender fingers touched her chin and she tilted her head back to find Medusa looking at her in bewilderment, “My form during the day is as the myths describe me: I have the torso of a woman
and
the lower body of a reptile
; s
erpents writhe on my head passing for hair
and I have
deadly claws for hands
and
my
skin
is
cover
ed in
scaly armored,
ever
ywhere but upon my breasts and
wings.

“I am a hideous beast,” she finished with a sad smile. Running her hands over her exquisite body, molding the gown to her firm breasts and flat belly, she beamed, “But at night I return to my human form and it is most pleasing, especially when I do not have to entertain my petrifying humans. At least during the day I do not burn with the need to
fuck; the gods were not that cruel.”

Jenna inhaled slowly as tears welled in her eyes. Medusa brushed her thumbs over Jenna’s cheeks and smiled softly, “Do not cry for me, child; I am at peace. Now, where was I? Ah, yes; Perseus.

“He arrived just after the sun set, a glorious man in his prime,” she sighed, looking out across the water as if she could see the boat he had arrived on. “He took one look at me and declared his undying love, promising me the world if I would run away with him.”

Turning to Jenna, her eyes dancing with laughter, she murmured, “I don’t think he was very smart; he never thought to question why I was on this accursed island all alone. He simply ignored anything that didn’t make sense to him; he ignored quite a bit.”

Jenna put her fingers over her smile, not wanting to disrupt the flow of Medusa’s tale. Heaving a voluptuous sigh, Medusa’s smile faded, “He was in love with love, with beauty and romantic ideals. We were lovers for a few weeks before he finally became curious as to why I disappeared during the day. He followed me but he wasn’t very discreet; I knew he was there but I let him see. I had hoped….”

Her words trailed off and the sadness that had abated returned, burnishing her dark eyes until they were endless pools of night. Shaking the mood away, she curved her lips upwards in a sensuous smile, “I was a fool. When he saw me, he grabbed his sword and swung, slicing one of my snakes off in the process. He grabbed the severed snake and fled and when the night came I had a chunk of hair that was much shorter than the rest.”

“How did he escape the trap?” Jenna asked softly.

“As I said,” she murmured with a smile. “It was his destiny to leave this island; he only had the one path and for a few weeks I had a lover that was neither Apollo nor a human slowly turning to stone. And from that union I had one child, neither imp nor gargoyle, simply… mine.

“Of course, the fates took him away from me and I do not know what happened to him,” she closed her eyes and breathed through her delicate nostrils, fighting for composure, something Jenna understood far too well. Reaching out, she simply took Medusa’s hand in her own, offering silent comfort, knowing words would be inadequate. “I don’t know if he even survived; he was an anomaly and the Fates are quite odd when it comes to anomalies. I think perhaps they kept him to themselves. Or they killed him; I try not to dwell on it since it has been so very long.”

Medusa squeezed Jenna’s hand and smiled in gratitude, “Of course, I could have asked my lover to search for him but that just seems… crass. He knows all of my darkest secrets but that one and it is the only one that matters.”

“What is the child’s name?” Jenna asked softly, her heart racing in her chest at the thought of bring
ing
Medusa her long lost son.

“He is lost to me, Jenna,” she murmured softly. With a gentle smile, she added, “Please do not open old wounds.”

Jenna’s eyes widened in her face at Medusa’s perceptiveness, making the beautiful woman laugh. Reaching forward, Medusa ran her fingers lightly along Jenna’s jaw, “I have been around for many years and your thoughts are clearly written in your eyes. At this point I am simply grateful that two of my boys have found love and happiness; it is all a mother could ask for.

“Now, come; let me show you the rest of my home,” Medusa grinned, standing up and smoothing the front of her diaphanous gown before holding a hand out for Jenna to take.

As Jenna slid her hand in Medusa’s she slowly came to her feet, eager to see the rest of the place but apprehensive. “Will I fall into another trap?”

Medusa looked at her with wide, dark eyes, her expression blank for a heartbeat before it melted into a breath taking smile, “No, my dear; you have already been tested and you have passed. There are no more traps.”

Jenna breathed a sigh in relief; she had no desire to go through the rabbit hole again and discover another life she would have to turn her back on. Silently, she followed Medusa as she gave a tour of her home, pointing out the various works of art and telling the stories behind a few of the pieces. She explained that every creature comfort was provided to her, courtesy of Apollo and a few of the gods who had taken pity on her, though they did not break the rules by joining her on the island. Except for Poseidon, who used to use the water to visit her upon occasion, though it had been many, many years since he had been
there.

She let out a long sigh, “So many of the old gods have grown weary of this place
and have returned to Olympus. O
nly Apollo remains and I think the only reason he stays is his desire to fuck a human.”

Jenna’s brows pulled together in a frown, “I have always thought Apollo had taken many human lovers, and not just females.”

Medusa laughed her light, tinkling laugh,
“
No; he has bedded mortals, not humans. Do you see the difference?”

Jenna grinned and shook her head no and Medusa laughed harder, “The mortals he bedded were not human, at least not entirely; they were the children of lesser gods. Poor Apollo is the only god whose radiance is too much for
humans to endure; m
ost become ill as soon as they enter his aura.”

“I’m sure a little nausea would be worth it to experience Apollo’s kiss.”

Medusa snorted, “This is
techni
-color vomiting, heads exploding, stomachs erupting sick. No; until Melanie, poor Apollo believed no human would be able to get close enough to touch.”

Jenna scowled slightly as she finally put Medusa’s words together, “But I thought Omari….”

Medusa smile as realization dawned in Jenna’s head and her jaw dropped, “No.”

“Yes.”

“Holy crap,” Jenna breathed, still unable to believe it. They had stopped in a room amassed with soft, luxurious pillows and Jenna’s legs simply gave out; it was perfect timing as the cloud of pillows cushioned her fall.