The Rise of Fortune and Fury (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 5)

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.”

Her gaze is shrewd, and I can see Kymaris calculating whether to hit me with something else. Instead, she says, “You’ve got spunk. Have to admire that.”

“I don’t want your admiration,” I snap. “I want to know why you’re doing all of this.”

Kymaris blinks in true surprise. “Why I’m doing all of this?”

I watch as she tips her face up to the sky—devoid of rain and clouds so she can see the stars—and holds her hands outward while turning in a slow circle. I cut a glance at Carrick, who watches with the eyes of a hawk.

Bringing her gaze back to me, Kymaris says, “This world is amazing. You’d never understand that since you haven’t been to the Underworld. The better question is why wouldn’t I try to take it over?”

“Yes,” I say with exasperation. “I can understand that. But you could live here peacefully like many other Dark Fae do. You could have had an incredible life like your brethren.”

“All unambitious fools if you ask me,” Kymaris snorts.

“You mean they don’t have your ambition to subjugate,” I growl.

“Precisely,” she says with a blinding smile.

For some reason, that infuriates me more than anything else she’s done so far. Shaking my head as if I pity her, I say, “You’re weak, Kymaris. Your ego is over-inflated, and the only way you can ever feel good about yourself is to tread on the backs of others. It’s pathetic, and it makes you unworthy of ruling anything.”

Clearly, I had gotten a little too comfortable in our conversation and forgotten what a cold-blooded monster she is. I’m not prepared for her snarl of fury or her hand shooting out to latch onto my throat. With her preternatural strength, she squeezes as she lifts me into the air. My hands come up to try to pry her fingers loose as a few people near us scream in alarm.

“Oh my God,” a woman yells. “Someone help her.”

Kymaris waves her free hand. Although my vision starts to go hazy from lack of oxygen, I see she’s frozen every human around.

Her magic clearly can’t touch Carrick as he materializes at our side with a quick bending of distance. As I struggle to breathe, I take in Maddox and Titus appearing behind him with relief.

Behind Kymaris, Pyke appears, along with several Dark Fae. They far outnumber our side, but I’d stack two demi-gods and an annihilator against them any day.

Kymaris seems utterly unperturbed by Carrick standing there with fury in his eyes, and that’s to her detriment. She has no time to react when he conjures a mighty battle ax out of thin air and swipes it down hard and fast, cleaving off the arm that is holding me up.

Gravity takes me down as Kymaris shrieks in pain, clutching the stump pouring black blood just above her elbow. As I hit the ground, I realize her hand is still clutching my throat but without any strength. I’m completely wigged out as I pull it loose, tossing it to the side and crab-walking backward away from her. Unfortunately, Pyke appears and hauls me to my feet, placing a dagger at my neck in warning to Carrick to hold his ground.