The Evolution of Fae and Gods (Chronicles of the Stone Veil 3)

With a loud thud, Boral falls to the floor and rolls a few times before coming to rest against the short wall that borders the kitchen entrance.

But Carrick isn’t done.

He flashes again, bending distance to reach Boral before he can take a breath. Once again, he lifts him as if he weighed no more than a feather, but rather than spin him, he merely throws him back across the living area, this time landing him on top of a glass coffee table that sprays shards everywhere.

Carrick flashes yet again, slows to pick Boral up, and then flashes again to the opposite wall that is actually the exterior of his office.

When they still, Boral is pinned with Carrick’s forearm against his throat and a dagger—no doubt made of iron—to Boral’s left ear.

The violence was swift and harsh—making me dizzy—but Carrick’s voice is calm. “Zaid is never coming back to you. Don’t make a play for him again. Now tell me, when is the ritual going to happen?”

Boral isn’t physically hurt. As a Dark Fae, it was nothing to go flying through a stone column or breaking a glass table. But the iron dagger to his ear means he’s a hair’s breadth away from death.

The hatred that blazes from his eyes as he glares at Carrick chills me to the bone. In that look, I can see the hate isn’t born out of his current predicament, but for the fact Boral knows Carrick is the one who ultimately took Zaid away from him. Since Carrick found Zaid in those woods all those centuries ago, released him from his torment, and helped to build him back up, I can tell Boral will never forgive his actions.

I can also tell Boral might not be able to kill Carrick in retribution, but now I know why Carrick didn’t want me to come into the room. He knew Boral would target me as a way to hurt Carrick, and I regret being a witness to all of this right now.

Not because I’m in more danger, but because now Carrick has to worry more.

Boral’s gaze drags over to Zaid, who, to my surprise, is still standing there as casually as ever as he watches this play out. There’s not an ounce of sympathy for his father anywhere.

Carrick presses the dagger inside Boral’s ear, which causes him to shriek, “Okay, I’ll tell you.”

Carrick doesn’t let him down. Doesn’t move the blade.

When Boral realizes his story needs to be told now, and not from the comfort of a plush couch, he says, “The new moon. The ritual has to be performed on the October new moon, but I don’t know the significance of it.”

I have no clue what that even means, but Zaid knows everything. When I look to him, his eyes come to me. “The new moon is when the moon is in alignment with the sun and invisible from Earth. If she’s aiming for the October new moon, that’s about seven weeks from now.”

I breathe a sigh of relief.

We have seven weeks to find the Blood Stone to stop Kymaris and make plans to rescue my sister.

Slowly, Carrick removes the dagger and lets Boral sag against the wall as he takes a step back. He twirls the dagger through his fingers and it disappears, something that leaves me momentarily agog. Carrick doesn’t display magic a lot, and it’s still taking some getting used to.

“Anything else you feel we need to know?” Carrick asks Boral, his tone implying more violence if the asshole holds back.

My skin crawls as Boral’s gaze slides to me, and he nods. “Kymaris wants your girl. Can’t quite seem to find her, though. My guess is you have some sort of cloaking spell on her.”

I go cold all over and I have to grit my teeth so they don’t chatter. Kymaris knows Carrick is involved in some way. He came to my defense when she burned One Bean down, and she appeared to kill Ozigeor before he could reveal the ritual.

Shaking his head, Carrick gives Zaid a semi-sympathetic glance. “Going to have to kill your dad since he knows Finley’s here.”

“Be my guest,” Zaid replies blandly.

It’s not Boral, though, who rushes to beg for leniency.

I find myself stepping in to defend him. “No, wait.”

Carrick turns to face me, one eyebrow cocked. “He has no reason to keep you secret from her, Finley.”

“But he does,” I rush to say, trying to assert some rationality. “He wants a relationship with Zaid. Maybe the way to do it is to prove to his son he has value to him.”

My gaze glides over to Zaid, but only for a moment. I want to make sure I don’t offend him too badly by defending his dad.

Then to Boral, I say, “This information you gave us is crucial. And based on what you said, you don’t want Kymaris ruling this realm. It would behoove you to stay on our side and help us stop her.”