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

When he finally sets me down, I’m a little dizzy. He steps back and peruses me thoughtfully, tapping a finger to his chin. “You’ve changed a lot in the last month and a half.”

God, has it been that long since we last trained together? Titus has been in other realms, tracking down and destroying evil fae, or, in other words, living his real life.

“I have so much to tell you,” I say, linking my arm through his at the elbow and leading him toward Carrick’s office. “I’ll try to give you the CliffsNotes version, and we’ll catch you up as we go along.”

Titus chuckles, moving easily alongside me despite his size.

“So, let’s see,” I mull aloud. “Kymaris, who is Queen of the Underworld, is here in the Earth realm. We’ve deduced that her intent is to bring the veil down and let her Dark Fae and demons run amok so she can rule Earth.”

“Kymaris, huh?” Titus says with surprise. When he’d last been here, he only knew there was a prophecy but not anything about it.

We move past the piano and enter Carrick’s office. “Fallon wasn’t my real sister at all but a changeling that was placed after my real sister—who is my identical twin—was stolen. Her name is Zora, and she was kept in the Underworld to funnel dark magic into Kymaris—who was in stasis, mind you—and on our 28th birthday, the ritual was enacted and Kymaris was projected into Fallon’s body.”

“She was a changeling?” Titus asks for clarification.

“Yes, but a changeling actually becomes a human baby, so Fallon was my sister for all intents and purposes until she died. Zora is still alive in the Underworld, and I’ve contacted her. Are you with me?”

“With you,” he mutters as I unhook our arms and move past Carrick’s desk to the end of the built-ins. Titus stops by the desk as I turn to face him.

“There was an angel named Sarvel—not the divine type—at my birth, and she put some type of light powers within me that I just learned how to use.”

I look up at the ceiling, trying to think what else I’ve missed. “Oh yeah… Kymaris is going to use a ritual that requires twelve Dark Fae that are original fallen to bring the veil down on the October new moon. You don’t even want to know about the little ritual I observed her perform to bring some of those fae to her, but let me just say she is one twisted and demented lunatic. At any rate, she needs the Blood Stone to power up this ritual, and we’re going to go steal it from a monster in another realm, which is why we need your help.”

Titus just stares at me with wide eyes, speechless for a heartbeat or two, before he hesitantly asks, “Is that all?”

“Actually… no. I learned I’m actually a reincarnated version of Carrick’s first love and I’ve had many reincarnations over the centuries with him. It’s all part of this whole curse thing by Rune, which I’ll tell you about later, but suffice it to say, I love him madly and he feels the same.”

“Unbelievable,” Titus drawls. “It’s like a supernatural soap opera.”

“Don’t I know it,” I say with a laugh, then reach under the molding to the button that will open the secret passageway. As the door slides open, I didn’t think it was possible for Titus’ eyes to get wider, but they do and it makes me laugh. “Right this way, sir.”

“What in the hell type of secret society thing do you have going on here?” Titus quips as we descend down the spiral staircase. He’s so big that he takes up almost the entire width of the steps and the steel structure rattles as we descend.

I laugh as I step off the staircase with Titus right behind me. Everyone is at the library table, some looking at him with smiles and others flatly.

But we are now officially convened.

I sweep my arm to everyone and welcome Titus. “Let the first official meeting of the entire Prophecy Busting Consortium come to order.”

Maddox snorts, and I wink at him.

Titus glances around at the library with interest as I briefly look around the table at my team.

Carrick at the end, not that he’s the boss, but this is his house. His brothers, Lucien and Maddox, sit to his left with Boral on the other side of Maddox.

Across from them are Rainey and Myles, who have met Boral for the first time and are regarding him dubiously. It’s obvious to them that Zaid hates his father, and Zaid even argued with me right up until this meeting started that we were making a mistake bringing Boral with us.

I disagreed but was tired of arguing with him, so I sort of snapped and told him to just suck it up.