But that seems risky and far many more things can go wrong, especially since we don’t know the depth or breadth of Micah’s powers. He might not be so easy to take down and if there’s even a second where he thinks the Blood Stone is at risk, he could kill Charmeine with a snap of his fingers.
Thus, we go back to the original plan.
We also discuss the ethics of what we’re doing. Yes, it’s wrong to steal, but screw those sensibilities. For the fate of the world, it’s an easily forgivable sin. But the big question is what do we do with Micah?
Kill him or let him live?
It’s a question that inspired furious debate, and we were split along gender lines. Rainey and I wanted to spare him while all the men—including Myles to my surprise—felt it would be idiocy to let a monster like that live. He’d be hell-bent on revenge was their argument, and no one wanted to be looking over their shoulders.
Ultimately, it was a majority rule type of thing and the decision was made that Micah had to be terminated. I forced that tender, empathetic part of me to ice over and accept it. I knew this would only be one of many horrendous choices I’d be faced with in the coming weeks.
We’re wrapping things up and I’m exhausted. I can’t fight back the yawn and despite having the beauty of a demi-god in bed with me tonight, I really just want a good night’s sleep so I’m fresh for our march tomorrow.
Carrick has something else to discuss though as he clears his throat to get everyone’s attention. When he has it, he looks directly at me and tips his head. His eyes stay on me, but he’s talking to the group. “I don’t think I need to remind everyone here, but while getting the Blood Stone and saving Charmeine are important goals, let’s not forget the most important is getting Finley out of there alive. She’s the key to thwarting the prophecy so if things go south, I expect the priority to change to getting Finley back here safely.”
The silence is almost deafening, a somber reminder that the weight of the world is still on my shoulders. We could fail in retrieving the Blood Stone, Carrick could be obliterated, and yet I’m still supposed to come back and stop Kymaris from fulfilling the prophecy.
An actual pressure starts in my chest, and a sense of panic starts to well within me. My eyes dart over to Carrick, who is watching me like a hawk. His expression fills with worry as he doesn’t need to be in my head to know that I’m in distress.
He starts to push away from the table, but there’s a resounding crack that startles both of us and breaks our eye contact.
It’s Myles who has brought his hand down hard to get our attention.
“This is starting to get really morbid,” he says as he looks around the table. “We’ve talked about a lot of heavy shit tonight, and I think we need a pick-me-up.”
“Here, here,” Maddox exclaims, pounding his fist on the table. “Let’s drink some brews.”
“Or,” Myles says with an admonishing look at Maddox before he shifts in his chair to look past Rainey to me. “We could have a moment of joy to share among friends.”
My eyes flare with understanding, and I spare one tiny glance at Rainey to see she’s clueless.
Which is even better, because when Myles pushes his chair back and rises, only to drop down to one knee beside Rainey’s chair with a black box in his hand, the look on her face is so comical I almost start laughing.
Total surprise, which is awesome. She never saw it coming, and I really, really needed this at this exact moment.
Utter joy—because she loves Myles.
Tenderness, because while this isn’t the most romantic of situations, his heart is big and he thought everyone could use a good proposal.
Admittedly, my eyes get a little wet and I blink rapidly. I dare look to my love and he’s still watching me but with the softest expression I’ve ever seen on his face. I’ve never asked him but outside of our first marriage, I wonder if he’s ever proposed to me again.
I’m thinking he has.
I smile at him, then scoot my chair back just a bit and lean to the side so I can see Myles in action. He has a beautiful speech prepared because I helped him work on it. It was supposed to be delivered at dinner next weekend as he managed to score reservations—dropping the name Carrick Byrne, of course—at one of the most upscale restaurants in Seattle.
The ring was going to be slipped right into a glass of champagne brought to the table with dessert, and Myles was going to do the dramatic bending to one knee before everyone in the restaurant. He even went out and bought a new suit for the occasion.
But here he is, in the secret library of an immortal demi-god, helping his friends get ready to march off to battle and he chooses this moment to propose to Rainey.
I think it’s perfect.
I listen intently as he just wings it, and it’s even more perfect than our speech we’d prepared.
But it’s when he says to her, “Rainey… I’ve learned so much about destiny and fate these last few months, and I can only conclude Finley isn’t the only one who has her life decided. I know mine is. It’s decided that I’m only supposed to be with you.”
There are tears. There’s an obvious acceptance as she nods her head furiously as he formally asks her to be his wife. He slides the ring onto her finger, and then they are hugging, and kissing—with tongue, oh boy—and then everyone around the table is up and offering congratulations.
Well, not Boral as he doesn’t know Myles and Rainey enough to do so, and, even if he did, I doubt he’d give a flying fuck about them.
Lucien also hangs back, quietly watching the celebration as Carrick conjures champagne and glasses—making Zaid look completely put out that he couldn’t run to get them himself.
My gaze lingers on Lucien. I wonder if he would have married Charmeine if he had the chance?
I wonder if this makes him incredibly sad for his losses.
Perhaps more determined than ever to rescue his love from the Blood Stone.
Regardless, tomorrow, we are going into our own little mini-war where the stakes are about as high as they can be and it’s not guaranteed that we’re all going to come back alive.
CHAPTER 15
Finley
It was a contingency we had not planned on and it hit us out of the blue—at the last minute—and there is nothing we can do about it.
Maddox was summoned away by the gods.
Our entire group—including Rainey and Myles, who wanted to see us off—had congregated in the living area of Carrick’s condo. On the floor were three duffel bags filled with iron weapons. All of us—excluding Rainey and Myles—were wearing black clothing with black face paint so we could blend into the darkened island and make it difficult for Micah to see us coming.
Even Maddox was dressed this way, as he never intended to hold the glamour of Charmeine the entire time. At some point, Micah would realize he was being played and Maddox would go into stealth mode like the rest of us.
We even had two vehicles waiting downstairs to take us off deep into the forest surrounding the base of Mount Rainier. We did not want to enter or exit Micah’s realm anywhere near civilization because one of our contingencies included making sure Micah couldn’t harm humans here should the battle spill back over into our realm. It’s why, I suppose, it was a good idea to kill Micah before leaving so as to further protect the Earth realm.