A Battle of Blood and Stone (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 4)

“Carrick,” I say softly, prompted by my gut instinct telling me that we shouldn’t leave the safety of the condo. “Surely with you, Maddox, and me, our collective powers would outweigh what she could bring.”

“But it might not,” he counters. “And a one-percent risk is too great a risk. But regardless, her attempt to break through would cause havoc among humans. They’re ignorant of immortal creatures, magic, and the Underworld. To keep the peace, we need to leave.”

“Then we bring the fight to her now,” I say adamantly, anger welling within me. This is all moving way too fast. “We find her, and we tear that bitch apart with iron.”

“You’re not ready,” Carrick says in a low voice.

“I might not have full control of my abilities, but I know how to use them,” I point out. “Besides… it’s the whole team that will take her down, not just me.”

Carrick scrubs his hands over his face, clearly frustrated with something. When he looks at me, his jaw is locked tight. “No, it won’t be the entire team. You’re the key to thwarting it, which means you’re the key to thwarting Kymaris.”

“Well, yeah… that’s right, but y’all will be at my back,” I say hesitantly, confused why this is so bothersome to him right now.

Carrick growls with impatience. “We might be at your back, but it is you who has to kill Kymaris. You alone, and you are not ready to do that.”

It goes deadly quiet. Such a heaviness hanging in the air that it’s me—puny human—against the Queen of the Underworld. It’s literally going to be my powers against hers. My strength against hers. My determination against hers. Everyone else will have a front-row seat.

At least according to the prophecy as relayed by the gods and confirmed by Onyx.

“You’re just not ready,” Carrick reiterates. “So, we’ll obviously keep training to get you ready. Until then, our best bet is to go into hiding and wait it out until we can get past the new moon.”

“And then what?” Myles asks, sounding incredibly frustrated. “Surely there will be another new moon she can use. Do we stay in hiding forever?”

“No,” Carrick replies grimly. “We’ll have to find a way to end it, and Finley will be the one to carry it out.”

My head is slightly spinning at everything he’s laid down before us. I had assumed we’d take the next few weeks to just chill here in the cocooned safety of the condo. We’d practice my magic, eat good food, and laugh at Kymaris not being able to get the Blood Stone. Now we have to run, and it’s not sitting right with me.

“Rainey and Myles are going to have to go somewhere safe outside the city,” Carrick says.

“I know a place,” Maddox says, his sandwich apparently forgotten. “I have a friend upstate, and I have another idea, too.”

“What’s that?” Carrick asks.

“We get two daemons or Light Fae to glamour as Myles and Rainey, and we let them go about their regular business on the Fantasia and at work. Maybe it will throw Kymaris off, and we’ll be able to gauge if she goes after them for information.”

“And you happen to know some daemon or fae who are willing to risk their lives like that?” I ask with distaste.

“Favors are always owed,” Maddox replies with a wink.

Carrick nods at his brother, a gleam of pride in his eyes. “That’s a great idea. You handle that and getting them relocated.”

Surprisingly, Myles and Rainey remain incredibly quiet throughout this announcement, and their lack of objection or fight tells me they’re taking Carrick’s belief in the danger very seriously.

Swinging his gaze back to me, Carrick says, “I want you and Zaid to go to Faere. You’ll be safest there; the realm will be adequately warded against Dark Fae, and Deandra can watch over you.”

“Absolutely not,” I say with a shake of my head. “I hate that place, and I don’t feel much different about its inhabitants. And if you make me spend so much as a second with Nimeyah or Deandra, I’ll never speak to you again in this lifetime.”

“Finley, we don’t have time to worry about your sensibilities right now. Faere is the best place for you.”

“Fine,” I say pleasantly. “But I’m not staying at the castle. We can go to Arwen’s. It’s far away from the castle, and the royals don’t go there.”

“You can’t stay there alone,” Carrick growls in exasperation.

“And just where are you going?” I ask with a frown.

“I’m going to try to slow Kymaris down even more,” he says darkly, and the set determination in his jaw tells me that whatever he has planned, I’ll never talk him out of it.

“How?” I gasp.

“I’m going after some of the Dark Fae she has collected.”

“How?” I ask again, dumbfounded. We’d never talked about such a move.