33. Asher

THIRTY-THREE

Asher

T he woman screamed, throwing herself at her husband’s corpse.

I froze, my mind scrambling while Rory’s brain matter oozed down my face.

Eden said something, the humans thrown into panic. Their frightened cries set my teeth on edge.

What just happened here?

“Rory!”

Knights moved in, helping Dane with the crowd.

What just happened?’

“Get up, Cookie. Get up.” Eden hauled me to my feet.

I blinked, the gore reaching my neck. “His head…”

She dabbed at my face with a tissue. “By the gods, Cookie.”

“I don’t understand.” I winced under the influx of commotion, sensitive to everything.

“Come this way.” Eden led me to a quieter spot down some side alley.

I leaned against a wall, bending over, hands on my thighs. “Shit, sis. Shit. His head.” My brain restarted. “His head.”

“The things he said.” She dabbed at my face some more, wisps of snow landing on her cheek. “They can’t meddle? What does that mean?”

I straightened, tasting the copper of human blood on my tongue. “Just when you think things can’t get any weirder.”

Man, the shaking in my hands was a riot.

Eden’s phone rang. “It’s Carissa. Hi, boss. Yes. We’re in the town. No. Not the lighthouse.”

As soon as she said it, I took off without a second thought, tearing back to be with my boyfriend.

“Enjoying your morning?” I spoke via the amulet, keeping all panic from my tone.

“It’s great,” Luke answered.

Thank the stone gods.

Eden landed beside me seconds after I touched down.

“A bit of warning next time,” she scolded.

“Sorry, sis. I never should’ve left him alone.”

Laughter sounded from behind the door.

The relief hit me like a slap with a brick.

“He’s fine,” Eden said. “Now let me call Carissa back.”

I nodded, taking a walk to Luke’s shed, stretching out the aching anguish. Just Eden saying we weren’t at the lighthouse filled me with dread. I was supposed to stay close to him at all times. No more sibling dates for me; at least not without him.

I’m not leaving your side again.

I returned to the front of the lighthouse, catching sight of Luke putting the kettle on. He stood over it, a smile on his face. He shamed the sun. He really, really did. He disarmed me, filled me with gratitude at being alive at this point in time.

Call me the luckiest gargoyle ever.

It took everything not to charge in there, tear his clothes off, and fuck him across the kitchen table.

I reckon he’d go for that. Without his friends around, of course.

Down, boy!

Thoughts of Rory soon killed my boner. The poor guy. His poor wife.

Was it related to Ember?

Eden ended her call, going to tell me something. But I tumbled into darkness, a loud whistling inside my skull.

“Shit!”

I landed on sand, the darkness staying put.

“What’s happening?” I called.

The roar of angry waves thundered in my head. My knees buckled, visions of ice and glass and snakes flashing, azure eyes in the dark. Auburn hair. His lovely smile.

Wrong.

So wrong.

The call for aid clanged, a frantic bell in a lonely tower. Someone trapped calling for help, for me to mark them. Each dong hit my core, the face of Luke fading away.

Wrong face.

Wrong man.

A new face appeared. Similar to Luke’s, but thinner. A man with blond hair and pale blue eyes.

The bell rang, every chime a revelation.

Finn Garland. This was Finn Garland. With his face came a flood of understanding, dark whispers speaking of a wrong marking. Corrupted. Stolen.

My heart leaped into my throat, the truth striking like a missile.

“No…”

Finn watched me, a vacant expression, nothing more than a projected image. My real mark, his brother having stolen his destiny.

Screaming sirens brought me back to the lighthouse. To Eden shaking me and elevated voices, a deadly energy crackling around me.

People called Luke’s name.

People warned of a rising sea.

I grabbed my sister, steadying myself against my one true rock in this world. “Sis…”

Her haunted eyes were wide, darting between me and the sky. “Luke’s summoned a tsunami.”

My stomach dropped. “What?”

No. He wouldn’t.

Dane appeared, ordering Tom to jump on his back. Knights raced past, chaos rising.

Stolen.

Finn is my mark.

I turned my head, my connection to Luke a toxic bond now. It dragged rusty nails across my soul.

“Luke…” I spoke through the amulet.

Unbearable sorrow answered me. It drowned him, leaving behind the tiniest flicker of his essence.

He knew what he’d done.

My boyfriend hovered in the sky, his body wreathed in electric blue light. Arms outstretched, a wall of water building beneath him.

Too big for this town to withstand. It’d wipe it off the map.

“Luke… Don’t…”

I suffered my own sorrow, the worst I’d ever endured. Hollowing me out, the last pieces of me clinging to flimsy denial.

This wasn’t happening.

This wasn’t happening.

But the deadly weapon I’d fallen in love with unleashed the wave.