A Discovery of Secrets and Fate (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 2)

“Gods no,” he replies with a roguish grin. “Carrick would have killed me had I thought to do such a thing.”

“Then who did undress me?” I ask suspiciously as Maddox rolls off the bed.

He moves to the door and opens it, indicating I should precede him out. “I imagine Carrick did the disrobing and then re-robing in my t-shirt.”

My face flames red as I can clearly remember coming on to Carrick last night. Had he not mercilessly put me to sleep with some of his power, I’m afraid of what I might have done to seduce him.

“Where are we?” I ask as Maddox joins me in the hall, resisting the urge to fan my face from the embarrassment of what I did last night causing it to warm.

“A friend’s house,” he replies. “Just north of Seattle.”

“Who?” I press.

“Let’s just say a lady friend who is currently spending time at her home in Aruba,” he replies impishly.

Now that makes sense because this traditional yet luxurious decor doesn’t suit Maddox either. And I can only imagine Maddox probably has lady friends in every major city. He just seems the sort.

I follow him down a massive staircase and through double doors to a dining room where I find Carrick and Titus eating breakfast.

“Morning, sunshine,” Titus says jovially.

Carrick is back to normal. I get nothing but a quick, dismissive glance before he turns his attention back to his bacon and eggs while scrolling his phone that sits beside his plate. I’m happy for this because he apparently saw me naked last night as he changed my clothes, and I don’t think I can even look him in the eye right now.

I take a chair closest to Titus, then help myself to the platters of food before me—bacon, eggs, sausages, toast, pancakes, fresh fruit, and pastries. Titus’ plate is loaded with all of it, and I chuckle as I take a much more modest amount for myself.

Maddox moves to the chair opposite me, but he doesn’t touch the food, perhaps indicating he’s already eaten.

Reaching for the carafe of coffee, I direct my question to the man most likely to give me an honest and complete answer, and that would be Maddox. “What are we doing here at your lady friend’s house?”

“Well,” he drawls as he leans forward, crossing his arms on the table and leering at me. “My lady friend likes her pleasures, um, let’s just say a little on the kinky side.”

“Kinky side?” I ask, tipping some cream into my coffee.

“Well, her basement is really quite the wonderland of implements and toys, but most importantly, she has a rubber room that has a variety of cuffs, whips, and chains, which is easily hosed down.”

My jaw drops as cream continues to pour into my cup until it’s overflowing. Maddox merely glances down at it and says, “Your coffee.”

“Shit,” I mutter, placing the little pot of cream—which is now almost empty—back on the table. I can only imagine the things that Maddox does with his lady friend in there, but I know we’re not here for sex.

“The incubus,” I say, turning my attention to Carrick. “You tortured him, didn’t you?”

I direct this question to the man I am confident led the interrogation of the Dark Fae they must have captured last night as I was rescued. I’m guessing that sword I saw come through the fae’s belly was Titus’ and was made of iron so it incapacitated him.

Carrick’s gaze levels on me, his eyes gleaming with pride. “You’d be surprised what you can get out of someone when you pin them to the wall with iron daggers.”

There was a time—pre-Adira’s death—when this would have sickened me. But knowing they were going to hunt this incubus down and get information from him in a violent way has me feeling nothing but curiosity as to what they learned.

“And?” I drawl, picking up my fork and stabbing some scrambled eggs.

Carrick lays his utensils down, then wipes his mouth with a napkin. “I’m confident that neither of those incubi were sent by Fallon after you in particular. They didn’t even know who Fallon was, so it was coincidental.”

“Which means we’re no closer to learning who took down the protection spell on my house,” I mutter.

“But the incubus knew you had some powers,” Titus intones, and my gaze swings back the other way. “Felt you break his hold the other night, so he knew you were different just as he realized you weren’t fae or daemon. But he swears he didn’t tell anyone.”

“So we don’t know if Fallon is aware of me being something other than just her annoying sister,” I murmur thoughtfully. It’s not good for me since I intend to confront her to see if I can draw the real Fallon out. If she does know I’m different and could be an obstacle to her, I could be walking into a death trap. I turn my attention back to Carrick. “Do you believe everything he said?”