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

Well, Carrick is most definitely not my boyfriend. That’s totally the wrong word to describe us.

He’s… my destiny?

Shaking my head, I look at both of my friends with a big smile. “Work going okay with both of you?”

“I’m busy as ever,” Myles says, seemingly relieved not to be talking about Carrick and my sex life, but then looks beside him to Rainey with worry.

My eyes go to her, and I ask, “What is it?”

Rainey looks embarrassed as she shrugs. “It’s nothing.”

“No, it’s clearly something,” I reply, leaning toward them.

“It’s silly,” she maintains, not meeting my eyes.

So, I turn my attention to Myles and silently demand that he tell me what’s going on.

Sighing, Myles says, “Rainey’s just not satisfied with what she’s doing anymore.”

My gaze goes back to her. “But I thought you loved what you did? And you’re so good at it.”

Rainey was one of those types of people who can truly say, “If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life”. She got so much personal reward out of helping women feel good about themselves with makeup and styling.

With a bit of reluctance, she looks to me. “I think when my best friend becomes the savior of the world, it makes my job just a little bit dull in comparison.”

My heart hurts for my friend. “Rainey—”

She holds her hand up. “Wait… that wasn’t the right thing to say. I don’t compare myself to you or feel inadequate at all. That’s not what I mean. It’s just… when Myles and I are helping out, even if it’s only doing research, it’s exciting. It’s worthwhile. It makes me feel important to more than just my little bubble.”

“It is important the way you’re helping,” I affirm with a nod of my head. “And also just knowing that you know what’s going on in my life, and support me, and do crazy things like taking me to see Kymaris when I shouldn’t have… that means the world to me.”

“But,” Rainey continues glumly. “We’re still just relegated to the library stacks. I want to do more.”

I freeze. There’s something in her tone of voice that causes me a bit of wariness, but I’m also curious. I feel like I’m being set up in a sly way, and I’m interested in letting this play out.

“Like what?” I ask lightly.

“Well, now that you mention it,” Rainey exclaims as she sets her cup of cocoa down and rolls off the chaise away from Myles.

Myles merely groans and mutters, “And here we go.”

Meaning… he knows what this is about and isn’t fully on board.

Moving my regard back to Rainey, I watch as she comes to sit in the chair beside me. She leans in, eyes glittering with excitement. “I have an idea.”

Eyes narrowing, I hesitantly ask, “What idea?”

“Let’s stakeout Kymaris and her minions,” Rainey replies, chin lifted as if this is the best idea she’s ever had.

I blink. “You’re kidding me.”

“I most certainly am not,” she retorts with indignation. “You and Carrick have your plate full trying to figure out about changelings, so why shouldn’t we be watching Kymaris? Maybe we can learn something.”

“Don’t you think Carrick already has that covered?” I ask, even though I don’t know if he does. I know Maddox found the house by following daemons from the gallery. We’d all looked at it on Zillow, Rainey and I doing more oohing and awing over how beautiful it was than studying it for logistics’ sake, but I have no clue what Carrick is doing with that information.

“So what if he does?” Rainey retorts. “More eyes on the situation won’t hurt. And besides, I’ve already driven by the address, and it’s in the hills, and there are woods all around we can hike in and—”

My head whips toward Myles. “You let her do that? What do you have to say about this?”

He shakes his head in defeat. “No, I didn’t let her do that, which is probably why she didn’t tell me that she was doing that. She told me after the fact, and when Rainey gets something in her head, it’s hard to get it out.”

“Try harder,” I snap, then turn back to my best friend. “I can’t believe you drove by her house. That’s way too dangerous.”

“Not really,” she replies huffily, bringing an elegant hand up a moment to study her nail polish. “It was broad daylight in a well-populated neighborhood. But we could go in tonight… hike in close and watch.”

“Not a good idea,” I say, shaking my head.

“Oh, come on, Finley,” Rainey says, reaching out to grab my forearm. “We can be super careful. We’ll stay well back and can watch with binoculars for a bit. Record what’s going on that we can see.”

My heart rate slows down a bit, and I didn’t realize it had sped up. Watching from a distance—like far, far away so binoculars would be needed—doesn’t sound too bad. We could be doing something helpful for the cause, and it could give Rainey a sense of fulfillment.