“Funny you should ask,” I reply, swinging my legs off the armrest and perching on the edge of the chair. I lean forward and lower my voice. “Clearly, I’m going to die, if not in the prophecy, then from Rune’s curse. Carrick says he’ll always wait for me to come back to him, and he’ll wait for me to fall in love with him again, then he’ll tell me the truth of our lives and take me to the Hall of Histories. This is how we’ll live, until I die again.”
“But…” Titus drawls. “Because I sense a ‘but’ in there.”
“But,” I say with a smile. “Carrick wants to use the Blood Stone when this is all over to see if it can make me immortal.”
“From what I learned last night, it seems it could work. It has the power of infinity, right?”
I shrug, looking down at my hands. Because who knows?
“What’s really eating at you?” Titus demands.
My head comes up, hoping he’d push me on this. Because who better to ask about this than someone who currently lives it.
“What’s it like… giving up your mortal life?” I ask.
Titus gave up his mortality roughly a century ago. I wasn’t sure the exact time frame, but I knew he was a hundred and twenty-nine years old and, by my guess, he was probably in his mid-thirties despite the graying dreadlocks.
“It’s a sacrifice,” he says somberly. “Because you watch your family and friends die, and then you are all alone. Except, well… you’d have Carrick.”
“An eternity with him sounds wonderful,” I admit. “But I want to make sure I’m not looking at it through rose-colored glasses.”
Titus ponders my questions a bit before answering. “There are two types of people. Those who plod through life without any great hopes or dreams. And then there are those who want to suck every bit of juice from the fruit of life and eagerly look around the corner for what is coming next. Those are the ones who are cut out for an immortal life. You’re one of those, Finley.”
A smile breaks out on my face and a small level of tightness that had been in my chest over this issue expands and relaxes before disappearing altogether.
Yes. I want an immortal life with Carrick if we would be so blessed. We could travel the world and the realms, seeking adventure and aspiring to every dream we ever had.
Or, as an alternative, a mortal life together. We could get married, have children, and then grandchildren. We could sit on a porch when we were old and drink tea and talk about our life together.
Both options sound amazing, as long as we were on the same path together.
“You do know, if Carrick can’t find a way to make you immortal, you could live in Semper Terra. You’d make a great Annihilator.”
I freeze, my body locking tight with the realization that could actually be an extremely easy option. I could live in Semper Terra. I’m assuming Carrick would be allowed to be there with me. Anyone living in Semper Terra doesn’t age by the magic imbued within the realm. But if a person leaves the realm, the aging process starts again.
And the thought of being an Annihilator—one of the badass warriors taught to destroy evil creatures?
I could get on board with that.
Sadly, all of this talk of immortality is probably nothing more than talk. I doubt immortality will stop Rune’s curse because he’s all-powerful. He can kill any immortal.
Our happiness would eventually hinge on Rune letting his hatred go, and I just don’t see how that will happen.
“What would I have—” is as far as I get because a rip opens right in front of the elevator doors and Carrick steps through. I get a brief glimpse of Nimeyah’s castle, and then Pyke.
Titus and I stand from our seats, and Pyke’s eyes come directly to me. They warm, and he gets a flirty smirk on his face. Because he knows it irritates Carrick to flirt with me, Pyke makes a big production of coming straight to me for a hug.
I have no choice but to engage, but I keep it light with a tiny pat to his back. Looking over his shoulder at Carrick, I can see he’s not amused but he’s not going to say anything. It’s by silent agreement with Carrick and because of how well I know him, that he would not want Pyke to know the history of us. Given that we weren’t going to tell him anything really, other than we were on a mission to hunt a piece of stone Carrick wanted, Pyke was going to be kept in the dark.
“I’ll go round everyone up,” Titus says in his deep rumbly voice I’ve really and truly missed.
When he’s gone, Pyke claps his hands together and rubs them with a devilish gleam in his eye. Throwing a thumb at Carrick, he says, “He says we have a grand adventure ahead of us. Going to steal a stone from some monster?”
“That’s the plan,” I say with an overly bright smile in return. “Carrick really wanted you to come with us. Said that you were always up for a fun time of fighting and general mischief.”
“Indeed I am,” Pyke replies gleefully. “It’s so boring in Faere and modern wars aren’t any fun to participate in.”
“First-world problems,” Carrick mutters, and I try not to laugh.
Everyone starts filtering into the living area. Boral from the patio, Lucien from the man cave, and Zaid from the kitchen. Introductions needed are made, then we are loading up duffels over our shoulders and heading down to the cars waiting for us.
CHAPTER 16
Finley
It’s an overcast afternoon as we head out of Seattle toward Mount Rainier, but there’s no rain in the forecast. I ride with Carrick, Titus, and Pyke in the G550 while Lucien, Boral, and Zaid take Maddox’s Hummer. Apparently, he had given Zaid an extra key several weeks ago in case we needed it when he wasn’t around, so we decided to take him up on the offer because they didn’t want to cram into Zaid’s little Volvo.
Carrick must have told Pyke the basic plan of attack because he doesn’t ask any questions about our mission. Rather, he drones on and on about court politics in Faere, about a pregnancy scare he had after a dalliance with a Dark Fae, fury for which his mother would have killed him were he to sire a daemon, and a new fashion line he was thinking of creating for members of the royal court.
I’m struck a little dumb listening to him, wondering how in the hell he and Carrick are even friends. I mean, I know they’re not close friends and Carrick said most of their times together involved Pyke joining battles and frays Carrick was ordered by the gods to participate in, but the more I get to know him—or listen to him prattle—the more I realize he’s just as vain, unambitious, and self-centered as his mother. It even pains me to admit that Deandra shows more substance than he does, and that’s saying a lot.
But whatever. He’s willing to lend his muscle and incredible power to help us collect the Blood Stone, and I’m grateful for it as I know the rest of the crew is. While we might have been able to pivot our plan and go in with less force, going in with more is the safer bet. It’s hard to replace Maddox, a demi-god, but there’s none stronger than a Light Fae prince after that.
A few miles south of Carbonado, Carrick turns off onto a dirt road that I never would have seen even if I’d been looking for it. It’s really not even a road, but rather two tire divots running deep into the woods.