Humans would be caught in the crossfire, and Kymaris would not mind sacrificing them and throwing the world into a panic all so she could get her hands on the Blood Stone.
It was time for them all to go on the run, but Carrick still had one more thing to accomplish to slow Kymaris down.
CHAPTER 23
Finley
When Carrick walks back into the condo with Zaid, he doesn’t seem surprised to find Rainey, Myles, and me sitting sullenly in one of the groupings of furniture. I study him quickly and note that, if anything, he seems resigned.
I’m not exactly sure where he’s been—he was short on details when he left—but his bearing upon returning is grim and worried, which makes me worried.
Earlier this afternoon—just after we had finished our dress shopping—Carrick informed us that Rainey and Myles were going to have to move into the condo. While he wouldn’t say why, he said the danger was going to be quickly increasing to a level that they couldn’t be kept safe on the streets, so they had to go into hiding.
Rainey wasn’t happy. When she called Myles to tell him, he wasn’t happy either. But I trusted Carrick and if he said it was the time to buckle down, even if it meant hiding within a fortress, they had to do it. Had it been my preference, they would have moved in here long ago, but, back then, Carrick was against it just like Myles and Rainey.
Now Carrick and I are in a vastly different place, and I know there’s nothing he wouldn’t do to ease my fears or ensure my happiness. Forcing Myles and Rainey here accomplished both, even though I had to watch them glower all evening and bitch about circumstances. I understand this completely because they have no comprehension of the upcoming danger forcing Carrick to do this.
Neither do I for that matter, but I assume I’ll learn soon enough.
Once Carrick had laid down his edict that he was not going to give Rainey and Myles a chance to decline his invitation, and after I had begged and pleaded with them to just do it, they capitulated. As such, Maddox helped them pack up their belongings and they moved into a guest bedroom.
When they returned, Carrick gave me a lingering kiss against my temple, saying he’d be back soon. I was surprised he took Zaid with him, but not that he left Maddox behind to guard us.
I could have forced him to tell me where he was going, but I inherently knew it was something dangerous and bold. Perhaps too perilous and I might waste time trying to talk him out of it. Ultimately, I decided it was best not knowing and I’d trust Carrick was making the right move, whatever that might be.
“Where’s Maddox?” Carrick asks as he and Zaid make their way over to the furniture grouping.
Tipping my head to the left, I say, “Kitchen.”
“Maddox,” Carrick calls. “We’re back.”
Within moments, Maddox is in the living room with a beer in one hand and a half-eaten sandwich, so thickly stacked with meats, lettuce, and tomatoes I’m not sure how he ever got his mouth around it without dislocating his jaw, in his other. He has apparently been successful, though, as he is enthusiastically chewing.
Carrick sits in one of the chairs opposite me, and Zaid goes to a love seat. Rainey and Myles are on a couch while Maddox chooses to remain standing.
“I went to see Kymaris tonight,” Carrick said. Out of all the dangerous things I thought he might be out there doing, I never once thought he would do that.
“You what?” I exclaim, straightening in my chair. “Why?”
“Because you wanted me to do something about the human sacrifices,” he reminds me.
Mouth dropping open, I stare at him in a mixture of amazement and guilt. Yes, I’d made him promise he’d do something, but that was in the heat of the moment. I’d been in shock and disgusted by what Boral had said was going on when he called yesterday, and I’d demanded justice, but I hadn’t expected Carrick to move on it so quickly.
“What did you do?” I ask hesitantly.
“Well, to stop the human sacrifices, I blew her house up with TNT,” he says, his eyes twinkling just slightly at making such an ostentatious statement.
“Whoa,” Myles murmurs in appreciation. “Badass.”
“She was in it, along with a daemon, but no humans. She won’t die, but it will slow her down for a few days as she’ll have to find