“Maybe,” Carrick agreed thoughtfully. “But we don’t know that. I’m wondering why he’s never made an effort before to rescue her. Micah is still a fae and can be killed by Lucien, so why didn’t he go back for her after he was cast out?”
“Maybe Micah threatened to kill Charmeine if he did,” Finley suggests. Then a light bulb goes off, totally apparent in her expression. “You’re worried Lucien is going to refuse to help us to protect Charmeine.”
“It’s crossed my mind,” Carrick woefully admitted.
Finley frowned slightly as she pondered. “But what kind of life does she have in that stone? Wouldn’t he be willing to risk it to save her?”
“What if she doesn’t need saving?” Carrick countered. “What if Micah eventually let her out, and she’s fine?”
“That’s a long shot,” Finley muttered, but then her expression softened as she stared down at Carrick. “You’re still worried about something else. More than just the mechanics of how this is going to work.”
She was astute, but more than that, she was pulling on their connection to come to that conclusion. Finley may not have real memories of their times together, and they’ve only known each other a handful of months in the now, but she knew him.
Knew him to his core.
He nodded, taking her hands in his to hold, then letting them fall back down to her thighs. “I’m not so much worried, but I do wonder if Charmeine is the reason Lucien is the way he is. I mean, he had it harder than Maddox and me because the gods used him in ways they didn’t use us, but they built us tough, you know? We have a conscience and feelings, but demi-gods know how to shield themselves.”
“So maybe it was him falling in love and losing her that made him such a loner and hard to get close to rather than the work he did for the gods?” Finley surmised.
Carrick’s smile was wry as he nodded. “And now I’m going to ask him to confront that again.”
“And yet, you have no choice,” Finley murmured sadly.
“No choice at all,” Carrick agreed. “You’re my priority. Helping you thwart this prophecy and keeping you alive. If I have to sacrifice my brother’s feelings, then so be it.”
Finley leaned forward, her expression filled with pain for his dilemma. “I’m sorry.”
She bent further, placing her mouth against his for a soft kiss.
“Don’t be,” Carrick assured her when she lifted. But she didn’t sit back—rather, she leveraged herself with her hands to his chest to stare down at him. “I’m not going to have regrets about it.”
“And if we’re able to get him to take us to Micah’s realm, and we’re able to get the Blood Stone, then what?”
“We protect it,” Carrick replied with a low growl emanating in his chest. Because Carrick had been considering something since his time with Rune. If Finley had to go up against Kymaris to stop the ritual, a good way to keep her safe would be to get the Blood Stone and prevent the ritual from happening.
“Then what?” Finley asks.
“Then we hunt Kymaris and destroy her.” Of course, Carrick wasn’t sure how that would occur. Did the prophecy mean Finely would have to do it, regardless if the ritual occurred? In order to be prepared, he’d have to assume so. Her fate might just depend on whether she could beat Kymaris in a one-on-one battle, and while Finley had come a long way in her physical training, she knew nothing about her powers or how to use them. She was at a horrible disadvantage right now.
Carrick needed a way to push Finley to access her powers.
Finley didn’t respond. He could tell by her expression she was on board with that plan, but he could tell something else was worrying her.
“Now lay your worries on me,” Carrick demanded, bringing a hand up to brush her hair back over her shoulder.
“I have got to tap into my powers,” she huffed, pulling back and sitting on her haunches again. “It’s ridiculous I’ve been gifted angelic light or whatever the hell it is, and I can’t do much more than put a bubble over myself. Which is great for rainy days here in Seattle, but I already have an umbrella.”
“I’ve got an idea on that,” Carrick replied, and Finley blinked in surprise.
“Like what?” she asked with excitement.
“Not going to share until I’m sure about it.” It was an answer she didn’t like, but she didn’t stay focused on it long as a light started gleaming in her eyes. It made him uneasy.
“I’d like to try to contact Zora again.” Carrick opened his mouth to argue, but, to his surprise, Finley clapped her hand over it. She chastised him with a shake of her head. “If in the worst-case scenario, Kymaris gets the Blood Stone and things go down on the October new moon, then we have to start acting now to figure a plan to get Zora out. We can’t do that until I can build some trust with her and she can hopefully provide us information to help us.”
Carrick wasn’t totally opposed to this because time was indeed running out. But he felt he needed to point out something once again. “What if she’s in league with Kymaris? What if she’s your enemy?”
“She’s not,” Finley asserts with a confident lift of her chin.
“You don’t know that.”
“Fine,” she huffed with a scowl marring that beautiful face. “But we’re never going to know until we at least try to make contact. I need to have a conversation with her so I can start judging her loyalties. We’re in the dark where she’s concerned, and we need to know what we’re dealing with.”
She made an excellent point. They did need more information about Zora, and, as long as Finley didn’t give important information away, the risk was minimal.
Unless Zora had the type of power to kill Finley, but she hadn’t the last time a connection was made.
She had warned her off with a powerful zap of electrical current, though.
Carrick stared up at Finley, the woman he would love throughout eternity, and struggled against his need to protect her at all costs. But he also knew Finley—from her very first incarnation as Eireann—was a woman who wouldn’t take a backseat. It would stifle her if he made her do that. It would crush her.
“Okay,” he promised, taking a moment to enjoy her bright smile. “Let’s give it a go with Zora, but I want to be here.”
“Of course,” she assured.
“And,” he drawled, wanting to put one more stipulation into place. “I want to try this idea I have about tapping your powers first. I’ll need a day or so to arrange that if it can be. But I want you to have some control over the light inside you before you contact Zora.”
Finley wasn’t as happy about that, but she reluctantly agreed.
“Want to go back to bed?” Carrick asked. He didn’t need the sleep, but Finley did. He really had to stop keeping her up through all hours of the night. Perhaps he could slake his thirst for her with quickies during the day.
He was lost in that thought when he realized Finley’s hands had gone to the waistband of his pajama pants. They were merely held over his narrow hips with elastic and a drawstring.
Her fingers worked at loosening the string, and he held his breath as he watched. He didn’t try to quell the thickening of his cock just at that simple maneuver.