37. Asher

THIRTY-SEVEN

Asher

S everal hours passed after the end of Brinecrest. I waited in a small room within some secured building in London. I didn’t catch the name, didn’t care.

About anything.

I wanted to sit here and not think and do nothing and maybe the crazy ride would stop and I could jump off.

I tugged at my rose quartz, sending endless prayers to the stone gods.

Still no end in sight, yet. And the bells calling for aid continued to chime.

Thankfully, Eden, Dane, Tom, and Maren were safe. Along with Carissa, who’d told us all to wait inside this gray room. Anita got out, too, and some of the others. No one knew where Luke, Seth, Billy or Luna were, and the casualties didn’t bear thinking about.

Was my boyfriend one of them? Would I feel it if he’d died?

Why do you care about him now?

The terror house survived, those immortal horrors still kicking about inside. The weavers in the town pooled their magic to protect it at the last minute. Smart, but it came at the expense of the tower.

Gods. I couldn’t believe it. Everything fell apart so quickly. One moment we were under a green dome, the town brimming with festive vitality. Next, this shit.

And the ink was barely dry on my relationship with Luke.

Where are you?

After endless silence, the door opened, Carissa returning with a human guy.

Compulsion forced me to my feet, everything tingling, the bells chiming louder. I surged forward, about to make a cut to the side of his neck. But the need died, the call fading away.

I’ve already marked Luke.

I knew this man, recognizing the face I’d seen before.

“By the gods…” I moved back, chest tight. “By the stone gods.”

Finn shivered, a foil blanket across his shoulders.

I got the urge to hold him, ready to mark him again. It came in weak peaks, like an erratic reading on a heart monitor. Quickly descending into nothing. Because somewhere out there, I still felt Luke, our bonding a puff of endless wind, and clearly unbreakable.

But what about Finn? He’s my mark, not…him.

Carissa sighed. “It seems destiny has been corrected. Sort of. Why didn’t you mark him?”

I held up my hands. “Luke…” I struggled with extra words.

So where was he? What’d happened to him? At least I knew he was alive.

Finn made a sound, lowering his eyes. “My brother…” I waited for more, but he released a long breath.

“Sit down, Finn,” Carissa said. I’ll do the talking.”

He sat beside me, pulling the blanket tightly around himself. Didn’t look up, made no introductions. His blond hair brushed his shoulders, swept back from his face.

You really look alike.

I kept that to myself, numb to any introductions for now.

Carissa explained to the others that Luke and Finn had apparently swapped places, meaning Luke was now a terror. I already knew after seeing it for myself but didn’t have the energy to enlighten the others after telling my boss everything. So, she briefed them instead.

Voicing it gave this nightmare extra weight.

Luke. My Luke…

…is a murderer.

“He’s in the place of ice,” Finn said.

His gentle voice made me squirm.

Both brothers were softly spoken.

“The one with the snakes?” I asked, watching him watch the floor.

He nodded slowly.

“There’s more,” Carissa cut in.

Shit. Luke.

“According to Anita, the king put Ember where she is,” my boss revealed. “Probably not much of a surprise, and neither is her confirmation of their affair.”

Eden said something, but my body hit the floor, darkness claiming me.