Stone Solitude (28 page)

Chugging the beer and slamming down the bottle, he grabbed Daisy’s wandering hand and pulled her back out of the booth. It was necessary to get out of there because he didn’t want anyone to think Daisy was crazy. Pushing through the crowd of humans and non-humans, he made his way to the exit, wanting to protect her from his brothers’ pity. Bumping into a couple going in, he mumbled, “Excuse me.”

“Roman,” Daisy gasped, trying to catch her breath from the mad rush out of the bar. “Slow down.”

As soon as they were nearly a block away from the bar, he did as she asked, breathing in the heavy night air. Tilting his head back, staring at the night sky, wishing he could see the stars through the light pollution, he said, “They think you’re mad, Daisy. They don’t remember me so they think you’re mad.”

“That’s not true,” she said softly, cupping his cheek in her delicate hand and making him look at her.

“Romulus?” a voice asked before Daisy could finish saying what she was about to say. Turning his head, Roman saw a man standing there staring at him in bewilderment. With dusty blond hair, a long sleeved black t-shirt, leather pants, and leather boots, the man looked like a cowboy. Power emanated off the stranger in a brilliant profusion of color that was invisible to humans and though he was a stranger, there was something familiar about his hazel eyes.

“Didn’t you just go into the bar with a woman?” Daisy asked the cowboy as he closed the distance between them.

“I did,” the man answered, not tearing his eyes off Roman. Holding his hand out in front of them, the man lead the trio to a nook, away from prying eyes as he said, “I left her with Leo so I could see if my memory was deceiving me. It turns out that it has been for two thousand years.”

Roman forgot to breathe as he finally recognized the hazel eyes. “Father.”

“Romulus,” the man said once again, taking Roman into his arms and hugging him tight, a hug that was filled with a parent’s love.

“It’s Roman now,” he said, his words cracking with emotion.

“Roman,” the man repeated, a smile in his voice. Stepping back, his dad held his shoulders and ran his gaze all over Roman’s face as tears filled his hazel eyes. “The spell is strong, isn’t it? But it’s thin enough now that I can see through it. How?”

“Daisy,” Roman answered, draping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her against him, a smile trembling on his lips at finally being remembered.

“No, I don’t need to know who broke it,” his father grimaced, shaking his head. Giving Daisy a slight smile, he murmured, “No offense but it’s fairly obvious.”

“None taken,” she replied in a small voice.

“Who cursed you?” his dad asked.

“Isis,” Roman rasped, his eyes darting to Daisy to see her reaction. Her eyes widened and her lips parted but she kept silent. He knew she was listening avidly, her eyes moving back and forth between the two men as she absorbed everything that was being said.

“Ah,” his father murmured, nodding his head. Since he was a god, he probably did see. Turning to Daisy and giving her all of his attention, he beamed, “And you must be Daisy.”

Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline at his abrupt change but she held out her hand. “And you’re Roman’s father. Who are you?”

His grin widened and Roman heard Daisy’s sharp intake of breath. No one was immune to his father’s lethal beauty no matter what form he took, not even Daisy. At least she didn’t throw herself at the man like so many other women did. “Currently I’m Merrick but that’s not who I really am.”

She snorted, “I suppose you’re Apollo then?”

His father tilted his head to the side in obvious surprise. “How did you know?”

Daisy’s mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out and she looked like an adorable fish. Turning to Roman with a look of distress, she asked in a whisper, “But I thought that was a myth.”

“Sweetheart, you’re a wolf and a Siren,” his dad said sympathetically. “Is it really so hard to believe I’m Roman’s father?”

“No?” she answered, the lilt at the end making it come out as a question.

His father laughed but then tilted his head to the side and looked at Daisy again, truly looked at her. “Michael told me about you.”

“He was the one who was at the bar that night, right?” Daisy murmured. She glanced at Roman, her eyes flashing with some emotion, before she looked back to his father.

“I’m glad you’re safe,” Apollo-as-Merrick murmured with genuine concern.

“Of course I’m safe,” she scoffed, her body tense in his arms. Her eyes darted back and then away from his face again as she shifted, uncomfortable beneath Apollo’s regard. Most people were uncomfortable beneath the god’s regard but there was something else going on with Daisy, something she didn’t want him to know.

“Why wouldn’t you be safe?” Roman asked slowly, tightening his hold when it felt like she might bolt. When she didn’t answer, he said, “Daisy?”

“It’s nothing,” she lied. Holding her hands out towards Merrick, she urged, “Your father is here, Roman. Wouldn’t you rather talk with him?”

“What is it you don’t want me to know?” he asked.

Heaving a sigh, she turned to him and squared her shoulders. “If you must know, a group of humans coordinated an attack against paranormal creatures on the anniversary of the Rapture. They were just scared about what the future held so they attacked. Luckily, they forgot to take into account how… indestructible most of us are. Now, catch up with your father. I mean, you’ve waited an eternity for this.”

“No, my dear,” Merrick said with a twinkle in his eyes. “Only two thousand years. An eternity is quite a bit longer.”

Her mouth formed a perfect
O
as she stared at his father, a man as old as time. In a soft, awe-filled voice, she said, “This must all seem absolutely ridiculous to you.”

Merrick threw his head back and laughed, the musical sound responsible for numerous poems and symphonies. “I see why my sons find you so interesting.”

“Well, they probably think I’m insane,” she corrected, a slight smile curving her lips as she glanced at Roman. “After all, they never remember the man I’m in love with.”

“Yes, I can see where that might cause some confusion,” Merrick grinned. Pulling a card out of thin air, he handed it to her. As she took it, he held onto it and murmured, “Should you ever need anything, this card will bring me to you.”

“How?” she asked, still connected to Merrick by the card.

“It’s a… mystical link,” Merrick explained. “Just be sure you hold onto the card at all times. You never know when you’ll need a god’s interference.”

“I think that’s a risky proposition,” she returned, arching a single eyebrow. “But I am thankful none-the-less.”

With a smile, Merrick released the card and Daisy put it in her jean’s pocket. Roman was even warier than Daisy when it came to his father’s interference since gods always played their own games, something he knew all too well. The fact that his father was offering Daisy his help made the pit in his stomach broil with unwanted jealousy.

“Who was the girl you were with?” Roman asked, trying to ignore the jealousy. Despite Merrick’s obvious appeal, Daisy had shown no sign of being interested in the man.

A soft smile made Merrick even more beautiful as he said, “The love of my life, after your mother, of course.”

“Of course,” Roman ground out, unaccountably angry. He knew his father enjoyed plenty of female companionship and he understood that Apollo’s time with Medusa was limited, but it was different this time. It seemed as if Merrick genuinely cared for this woman, a woman not Roman’s mother.

“What’s her name?” Daisy asked, her eyes bright with curiosity. She slid her hand into his and Roman automatically twined his fingers with hers, claiming her in front of his father.

“Ferris,” Merrick answered. With a dramatic sigh, he looked away and murmured, “Unfortunately, my time with her is so limited. My bond to her keeps me here, though, so all is not lost.”

Unable to bear hearing his father gush about this other woman, he asked, “What about Mother?”

Sorrow filled his father’s eyes as he swallowed, “She returned home to be with her sisters.”

At first Roman didn’t understand what his father meant but as soon as the meaning sunk in, he staggered backwards, pulling Daisy with him until he bumped into a wall. He had never thought he’d never see his mother again and the news ripped open his guts and spilled them all over the ground. “When?”

“Shortly after the Rapture,” Merrick said in a quiet voice. “It changed everything.”

“Roman,” Daisy murmured, pressing her body against his and silently offering him her support. 

“It freed her from a cold existence,” Apollo murmured.

Roman was too numb to think, knowing that he had missed his mother by such a small window. But for him, there had never been the opportunity to see his mother one last time since the Rapture that freed her was what had brought Daisy into his life and woke him up.

Sliding his free hand through his hair, he stared at the ground, not seeing anything but his mother’s face the last time he saw her. He had been five years old and so excited to leave the island. Her smile had never wavered even as tears filled her eyes and she kept hugging her four sons. There had been all of the time in the world to return to her island prison but he had been too caught up in being a gargoyle in Rome. And then he was cursed with eternal solitude when he was thirty and there was nothing.

Sliding down the wall, bringing Daisy with him, he held even tighter to her hand. His mother was supposed to live forever and she moved on, never knowing he even existed. Worse, he hadn’t even thought about her since he woke up. Gods, he was the worst son ever. He had been so consumed with the misery of being forgotten by his brothers, he had forgotten his own mother.

“Roman, it’s okay,” Merrick murmured, sitting against the wall on his other side. “It’s a gargoyle’s burden to leave his mother behind when they leave the island. Your bond is to your brothers and to the world you guard.”

“It’s not like it matters,” Roman huffed, tears falling heedlessly down his cheeks. “She didn’t even know about me.”

“A mother remembers her child,” Merrick said compassionately as he handed a cloth handkerchief to him and one to Daisy. “Even when the memory has been erased.”

Turning his head, Roman saw the tears spilling down Daisy’s smooth cheeks as she silently cried, unwilling to take away from his own sorrow. His aching heart crashed against his chest in its desire to reach her. Untwining their hands, he wrapped his now free arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him, hugging her and letting her warmth fill him, soothe him. Kissing the top of her head, breathing in her intoxicating scent, he murmured, “I love you, Daisy.”

Her breath hitched in her throat as she burrowed even closer, hugged him even tighter. Resting his cheek against the top of her head, he closed his eyes and tried to pull himself together. They were sitting on a sidewalk outside of a popular bar in the middle of the city in the middle of the night. He was surprised someone hadn’t already called the cops on them.

Of course, his father was Apollo, no matter his disguise, so they were probably in an entirely separate bubble and none of the humans or non-humans were even aware of them.

“Hey,” a female murmured, stepping into their little world. She was beautiful, with long, dark hair and old soul, blue-green eyes and she had an inner radiance that was more than human. Even though she looked like she was young, maybe twenty-two or twenty-three, she carried herself as someone much older and wiser. Squatting down, she offered Roman a compassionate smile, “I’ve met all of the other gargoyles but I’ve never met you. I’m Ferris and you are?”

Roman swallowed a few times, trying to find his voice after the emotional tempest of the past few minutes. “I’m Roman.”

Amusement lit her eyes as she said, “Remus’s twin?” At his nod, she let out a delighted laugh, the sound so joyful, he felt another piece of his aching heart come back together. “Why have I never heard of you?” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her eyes widened in remorse, “Forgive me, I shouldn’t have asked but I’m still getting used to, well, being me and it’s really none of my business. I just came out here to check on this guy.” Motioning towards Merrick, she grinned, “He promised to take my mind off things and then he wandered off before he could even buy me a beer. Of course I forgive him because nothing is more important than family.”

Roman could only stare at the girl who was far more than she seemed and he understood his father’s fascination with her. But though she was beautiful, she wasn’t Daisy. Daisy, who held his heart and soul in her hands.

Pushing himself up to his feet, Merrick brushed his hands off on his leather-covered thighs before offering them to Roman and to Daisy. As soon as they were standing, Roman pulled Daisy back into his arms, refusing to let her get very far away from him. He wanted to carry her back to the hotel and spend the rest of the night worshipping her body and forgetting about how he had just missed saying goodbye to his mother.

He noticed with only a twinge of pain that Merrick pulled Ferris into his arms as well. He saw the love Ferris had for Apollo, er, Merrick, but it wasn’t the same adoration his father had for her. Ferris gave another sympathetic smile as she said, “I would invite you to join us but I think that would hurt too much.”