“Deandra would help, I’m sure of it,” Maddox said. His meeting with Deandra had been short, but he’d quickly learned that she had no clue Pyke wanted the Blood Stone and no idea what he intended to do with it, but she was pissed about it. And she hadn’t even known about the Kymaris connection when Maddox met with her. Once she learned that, it would probably bring her firmly onto their side.
Carrick hated to admit it, but it was the fact they had the Blood Stone that made it so he had to consider this idea. It was far more powerful than Kymaris and Pyke. It alone could probably destroy them.
But the risks were great.
Finley could get caught in the crossfire, and he wasn’t prepared to lose her yet.
There was a bigger reason not to attack, though.
“Kymaris chose a public place that will have a tremendous amount of human foot traffic,” Carrick pointed out in a low voice. “If we go in to end this with proverbial guns blazing, humans will get killed.”
“And the oblivious throngs of humanity will come to know that immortal creatures exist,” Myles adds. “We can’t unleash that knowledge on the world. It would cause chaos and panic.”
Carrick and Maddox exchanged a look. The other’s concern for humanity wasn’t their priority, but they both knew it would be for Finley.
And Rainey and Myles, for that matter, and they cared about them.
“We have to do the trade,” Carrick said, his voice bearing a confidence the rest didn’t acutely feel. “We’ll have to battle Kymaris another time.”
“Most likely at the ritual,” Maddox added.
“We should still go as backup to the trade.” This came from Titus, who was as good a strategist as Carrick and Maddox were. They both nodded their agreement.
Plans were made as they ate sandwiches and Maddox availed himself of a beer. It was decided Carrick would take Maddox and Titus, leaving Boral and Zaid at the condo with Rainey and Myles. They agreed Deandra wasn’t needed at this point, but that they would bring her on board if she’d agree to it. They needed all the help they could get if the battle was going to occur at the new moon.
While Carrick would make the actual trade, Maddox and Titus would blend into the background and watch, ready to move in if it so much as looked like Kymaris would go back on her word not to harm Finley.
If that occurred, Carrick laid it out plain and simple. “If Finley goes down, we burn that motherfucking pier to ashes—Kymaris along with it.”
CHAPTER 4
Finley
The sound of footsteps coming down the stone staircase rouses me from the half-doze I’d fallen into. With my hands chained in front of me, I roll to one hip, curl my legs in, and shift the other way to propel myself up. I stifle the groan that comes from the stiffness of my muscles, ignoring the fact my pants are wet and my ass is numb from the damp dungeon floor.
Pyke comes into view, but I expected no other. Kymaris doesn’t think I’m worthy of her notice.
“You’re looking no worse for the wear,” Pyke says genially with a smile. “Feeling okay? I really hope this hasn’t been too much of an inconvenience for you.”
I glare, my spine straight so as to appear strong and unbreakable, but my back is actually killing me. “How can you do that? Act that way when you’ve sided with evil? Of course I’m not okay, you dolt.”
Pyke’s smile doesn’t falter at the rebuke. It stays in place, his eyes shining with amusement as he waves his hand to make the chains disappear. His expression sobers slightly as I rub my wrists. “I hope you don’t take any of this personally. I mean… you’ll die and Kymaris will rise, but I actually do like you as a human.”
“Gee, thanks,” I mutter. As he takes me by the elbow, I ask, “Where are we going?”
“It appears your boyfriend has agreed to Kymaris’ request for a trade. You for the Blood Stone.”
My stomach curdles as we start up the staircase, knowing how heavy a price this trade is going to cost us all. I’m grateful I’m alive and it appears I might be that way for the foreseeable future, but I hate that we’re giving up the Blood Stone. Part of me thinks that maybe my sacrifice is for us to not give up the stone, which will probably enrage Kymaris into killing me.
Actually, she’d probably chop me up piece by piece and send them to Carrick to try to get him to relent, but if Carrick keeps the Blood Stone, the prophecy would be hard pressed to play out.
Ultimately, though, I have to trust in Carrick’s wisdom. I’m no fool thinking he’s making this play because it’s what’s best for our collective end goal. No, he’s making a completely personal decision to give up the final thing Kymaris needs to bring down the veil so he doesn’t lose me just yet.
Even though he’ll lose me eventually.
And I thought it virtually impossible for me to love the man more, but it appears that ceiling has been broken. He’s not acting with a demi-god’s cool wisdom, but as a man whose heart will be broken without me.
At the top of the staircase, Pyke leads me through hallways, up another flight of stairs, and finally into a richly appointed study that is decorated much the same as the bedroom that I was first brought to. The walls are done in a deep burgundy silk, the floors a gleaming parquet, while heavy tapestry covers the windows. There’s a large desk with ornately carved legs, a tall leather chair in dark chocolate, and a fireplace with dancing flames to help light the room.
Kymaris stands before it—turned away from me—with her hands clasped behind her back.
Quickly, I note her attire, actually stunned by how casually she’s dressed in tan corduroy pants, boots with fuzzy trim, and a thick sweater. I deduce we’re somewhere far colder than Seattle at this time of year, but still… I know from my one meeting with her at the gallery and the run-in that Carrick had with her that she prefers to dress in a sexually provocative way.
Right now, she looks like she wants to curl up by the fire with a good book and relax.
The juxtaposition from what I know her to be is confusing, to say the least.
But when she turns to face me, her angled features enhanced by an over-application of makeup and that god-awful sloping beehive, I have to bite my tongue not to offer her some beauty advice.
Which says something, because that’s about the last thing in the world I’d tell anyone I’m good at, but I could definitely give her some pointers.
Kymaris eyes me shrewdly, as if trying to figure out something. “It appears you mean more to Carrick than I originally thought. I never thought he’d give up the Blood Stone for you.”
I shrug carelessly. “I’m sure it has more to do with his own end game than with me. The gods are apparently going to favor him for his actions.”
There… hopefully that was vague enough, with just a hint that Carrick might not be her complete adversary, to have her doubt his loyalty to me. The last thing I want is for her to think she has anything figured out.
“And what exactly do you think your end game is?” Kymaris purrs as she saunters up to me.
“I honestly have no clue,” I reply with my gaze pinned on hers. “I only know I’m to thwart the prophecy, not how it will happen.”
“You think that means you’ll kill me?” she asks with a taunting laugh.