“Maybe,” I hedge, because, deep down, I know that’s what I’m supposed to do.
“Let’s test that theory,” she says in a tone that chills me to the bone. Before I can comprehend anything else, she moves so fast she’s nothing but a blur.
I feel her near me, brushing me, my arm moving, my hand clasping, then another blur has her standing back in front of me.
And I’m holding a sword in my hand, hilt gripped tightly and the pointed tip resting at her breastbone. The weapon is heavy. My arm immediately starts shaking, so I bring up my other hand to support it.
Kymaris smirks. “All you have to do is drive it in, Finley. You can end this now.”
The temptation is almost unbearable. Kymaris is no more than three feet from me with her arms held out to the sides in surrender while I hold a sword poised right at her heart.
But my sense of reason and logic prevail over passion. Knowing she’d never make herself vulnerable to me, I lower the weapon.
She raises an eyebrow, disappointment in her expression. “You’re a coward.”
“I’m a pragmatist,” I reply, dropping the weapon. It clatters onto the hardwood floor. “The sword is most likely not iron, and I’d never be strong enough to push it through your sternum. And even if it is iron, by the time I repositioned it to slide in between your fourth and fifth rib so I could actually pierce your heart, you’d have snapped my neck. So no thank you to these silly games.”
I don’t want it and it makes me a little sick to get it, but her expression flashes with respect before it evens back out into supreme haughtiness. “You’re not stupid, I’ll give you that. I look forward to us facing off when the time comes. And if it makes you feel any better, I intend to kill you quickly.”
“I’m deeply touched,” I murmur, inclining my head graciously.
Kymaris tips hers back in laughter. When her gaze comes back to mine, the amusement is gone and she’s all business. “Oh, I’m not doing it for you… killing you quickly, that is. It’s just that I have so many more important things to do on the night of the ritual that I can’t be bothered with someone as inconsequential as you.”
“So the ritual will be at night, huh?” I ask curiously. “You wouldn’t mind telling me the exact time, would you? Or where it will be located?”
Kymaris laughs again before turning ice cold. “Funny girl, but it’s time for us to go.”
“Go where?” I ask, trying to glean any information that I can.
She shakes her head in an admonishing way. “Like I said, funny girl.”
Before I can think of something else to say, her hand shoots out and grabs mine. She rips a veil in the air before her and my stomach dips and rolls as Kymaris pulls us through and into the Seattle night.
It’s the smell of the Sound I first recognize because she had us appear in a small alcove in the back of a building on the water. When I see a docked ferry boat, I realize we’re at the piers.
Turning around to get my bearings, I startle when Pyke appears. He steps into Kymaris, puts his hand to the back of her neck, and plants a long kiss on her mouth.
I find it interesting that she doesn’t return it with the same ardor that he’s giving it. She even gives him a friendly pat on his shoulder before she pulls her face away from his. Her hand goes to his cheek in another friendly pat. “Do me a favor, lover, and melt into the crowd.”
The crowd.
Hundreds of people hang out at the piers each night.
“Your idea to meet here or Carrick’s?” I ask as Pyke disappears.
Kymaris ignores my question, spins on her heel, and starts to move around the west side of what I now recognize as the ferry terminal. I dutifully follow as she expects me to.
Once around the corner, she heads north along Alaskan Way to the more popular piers where restaurants and gift shops abound and plenty of people will be milling about. She takes us past Elliott’s Oyster House, the Seattle Great Wheel, and into Waterfront Park, which, ironically, is where Carrick and Maddox first brought me to meet Echo months ago when my journey was just starting.
Kymaris spots Carrick before I do. She takes my elbow, and we veer off to a set of benches that are unoccupied except for the love of my life. He rises, eyes roving over me for any sign of distress. I smile at him with confidence.
I’m okay.
“Just so you know,” Kymaris hisses out of the side of her mouth as we make our way toward him. “I have this place surrounded by Dark Fae. If you try anything funny, not only will they take you out but also any friends Carrick chose to bring along, even though I told him to come alone. I expect there will be countless unintended human casualties, too.”
“Peaceful transfer,” I mutter. “Got it.”
Like I would try anything.
This is Carrick’s show, and I’m going to take a very complacent role. Should he give me any sign I should do something, I’ll act, but, otherwise, I expect he wants this to end peacefully, too.
“I’m curious,” I say as we continue to make our way across the park to where Carrick waits. He has the satchel in his hand, and I assume the Blood Stone is in it. “Why didn’t you just kill me back in your dungeon if I’m the key to thwarting the prophecy?”
“Oh, don’t think I didn’t think long and hard about it,” Kymaris replies conversationally—in an almost friendly tone actually. “But I need the Blood Stone more than your death, and you’re currently the easiest way to procure it.”
Kymaris suddenly grabs my elbow and abruptly stops, forcing me to face her. I twist, glancing briefly back at Carrick, who looks alarmed and is now advancing on us. Kymaris ignores him, but I hold my other hand out to keep him at bay and shake my head. Surprisingly, he comes to a stop a good twenty yards away and holds his position.
Kymaris leans into me, and I give her my attention. The friendly tone I thought I heard is gone. Her voice is icy, and shivers prickle my skin. “I really, really want to kill you, Finley. I can’t stand the sight of you. Even knowing you’re breathing the same air as me cuts me to the bone.”
My chin jerks inward at the venom that is all but vibrating off her.
The Dark Fae queen’s eyes flash red as she leans in a little closer, lips peeling back in a menacing smile. “You know… I still have Fallon’s memories inside of me, and she thought you were completely lacking as a sister. She hated spending time with you. Thought you were a complete disgrace to the family. In fact, she blamed you for your father’s death. That hate was the last thing she felt before she died.”
The old Finley would have been crushed by those words. She would have fretted over their veracity and overanalyzed every memory she had of Fallon.
But this new Finley recognizes Kymaris for what she is, and she’s not going to fall prey to her manipulations and lies.
I jerk my arm out of her grasp, but I don’t back away. Instead, I lean into her and murmur, “Your petty attempts to knock me won’t work. I’m not weak-minded like Pyke, who follows you around like a simpleton. I’m well aware of how my sister felt about me, and while we didn’t always see eye to eye, we loved each other for who we were. Everything you just said was a lie. If that’s the best you have to try to weaken me, you best come up with something better.”