The Rise of Fortune and Fury (Chronicles of the Stone Veil #5) - Sawyer Bennett Page 0,16

to put Pyke down rather than let me.”

I swivel toward him with a smile. “I have to say… I hate him for what he did to Zora. The magic he put in her from Nimeyah’s staff was light in nature, but other magical fae twisted it to make it dark. They abused her for years… from the time she was a child. Whatever happens to Pyke, his death has to be slow and painful.”

“Agreed,” Carrick proclaims with fire in his eyes.

“I’m wondering,” Myles says pensively. “What exactly does Kymaris know about Finley’s role in the prophecy now that we know Pyke is in collusion with her?”

“Not much,” I answer, but look to Carrick for clarification.

He nods. “We kept Pyke pretty much in the dark. The only thing he was told when we first visited Faere was that Finley was part of thwarting the prophecy, and that was it. We never told him why we needed the Blood Stone, but, in hindsight, he probably already knew about it from Kymaris.”

“Does that mean Kymaris has no clue about Finley’s powers?” Rainey asks.

“No, she doesn’t,” I reply, giving her an encouraging smile. “Nor that Zora is my identical twin or that we have a connection. Those are our aces in the hole, so to speak. And while I used my shield to stop that tree from falling on us, Pyke was too busy fighting Micah to see it.”

I pick up my sandwich to take another bite. Everyone refrains from questions so I can get some food in my belly. I finish the first wedge before picking up the next. “I did learn one thing while in captivity… the ritual will be done at night on the new moon.”

“Of course it will,” Maddox chuckled. “All evil rituals are held in the dark of night.”

“And we know it will be in Seattle,” Boral adds, explaining, “All the Dark Fae have left town. Kaesar told me they’re laying low until the new moon when they’ll come back.”

Once again, I swivel to Carrick. “You weren’t able to take any of them out?”

He shakes his head grimly. “Like Boral said, everyone has left. I suppose blowing up her house put a little fear into them.”

“It was still the right thing to do,” Rainey says primly. “You saved human lives, Carrick.”

He nods in agreement. “It’s all about the choices we make with what’s presented to us at the time.”

“Like trading me for the Blood Stone,” I murmur, leaning over and briefly resting my head on his shoulder. A thank you, of sorts. “Although, you know keeping the Blood Stone would have been a sound choice.”

“No, it wouldn’t have,” Carrick rebukes, and I lift my head. “Putting aside the fact that I wanted you alive and well for my own selfish reasons, Onyx has said you’re going to have to be the one to battle Kymaris. I don’t think it was meant to be down in a dank dungeon. It’s going to be a final showdown at the ritual, I believe.”

It’s all conjecture at this point, but I have to agree with Carrick about the way things have been transpiring. Kymaris and her minions have gone into hiding. We can use the time trying to find them or trying to figure out where the ritual will be and making our stand there.

“Game isn’t over until the final buzzer sounds,” Maddox points out.

“That’s right,” Zaid says confidently. “We have nineteen days until the new moon. Anything can happen.”

“One thing must happen,” I say, setting my sandwich down as I slowly scan around the island so I can meet every eye. “We have to go rescue Zora. Now.”

No one says a word.

They all have varying opinions, and they stay silent because we’ve hashed them all out already.

Carrick, the one who has been the most skeptical of my sister, breaks the silence. “Agreed. That has to be our priority.”

Rainey looks appalled, but everyone else is immediately accepting as evidenced by their nods and determined expressions. She sees it, too, so she says nothing.

“Everyone should be relatively safe here,” Carrick continues. “Without the Blood Stone in residence, there’s no reason for Kymaris to assault us here. She’s made enough references to settling the score with Finley on the ritual battlefield, so to speak, that I think it’s safe here.”

“Plus, she’s in hiding,” Myles points out. “Along with all her minions.”

“I’ll reach out to Kaesar,” Boral says from the end of the counter where he’d parked his stool beside Maddox. “The worst that will happen