Repairer of the Breach (Stones of Fire Book 4) by Sarah Ashwood (reading eggs books .TXT) 📗

One of the young women who’d assisted in carrying the body turned to look at me.

“Weren’t you here?”

“I was outside, on the other side of the house,” I explained. “I heard the explosion, but I didn’t see what caused it. Carter said…a phoenix?”

“Yes.” Her face was grave, her pale eyes sad. “It was Darla, Mrs. Costas’ personal assistant. She must have believed Mrs. Costas was being threatened in some way. She used her abilities—phoenixes can do this, you know. Can sort of, I don’t know how to explain it it—explode into flame. Anyway, that’s what she did, and someone said she took Mrs. Costas with her. Flew off. I don’t know where they went.

“I can’t believe this happened,” she summarized sadly, turning back to James’ inert body. “He was such a good guy.” She sniffled, dashing a hand under her nose. “Liberty’s going to be heartbroken,” she added. “She really liked him.”

“I doubt it,” Tracy chimed in grimly. I hadn’t seen her come in, but she’d entered the room and stood behind my shoulder, also staring down at James. “I heard from Eric that Liberty pulled out yesterday. No official resignation or anything. Rumor has it she, uh, changed sides.”

Everyone else exclaimed in surprise, but at this point I was far from shocked. Liberty, James’ girlfriend, going behind his back, pulling strings, acting as a traitor.

That explained a lot.

My guts churned. I tried to think. I knew from the two police detectives that Carter had come here to inform his boss about his wife’s duplicity. Then Mrs. Costas had shown up. I surmised there had been a confrontation inside the house. Mrs. Costas had been threatened by her husband—possibly Carter too. Whatever had happened had been bad enough that Darla went to extremes to remove her boss from the situation. Undoubtedly, they’d escaped to Nosizwe. I wasn’t sure how a phoenix carrying a woman, flying through the Texas sky, would go unnoticed. Then again, they’d probably flown over the compound wall and out of immediate danger, then called someone to pick them up. I couldn’t imagine them taking the chance of soaring over the city, potentially exposing themselves to the view of millions.

All of that aside, we now had a dead man. A friend. Sort of. The very real and very high cost of this unending feud was in front of me. I wanted to shake these people, scream at them, ask them was it worth it? Was it worth it? The turmoil, the fighting, the bloodshed?

Unable to stomach it any longer, I walked out, giving Tracy’s hand a squeeze as I passed her. I didn’t know if it was the remnants of smoke and dust in the air, but I felt like I couldn’t breathe. My head was pounding and my vision blurry. I stumbled down the grand, central staircase and dashed through the foyer, barely making it outside before I collapsed, leaning onto the mansion wall for support. I gulped multiple long, deep breaths before I tentatively pushed away from the wall and threaded my way through the milieu of emergency vehicles crowding the front of the mansion. I simply wandered until I found a semi-silent, semi-private bench on the grounds where I sank down exhausted, heartsick, and full of fear. I put my head in my hands and tried to pray, tried to process what I should do next, tried to think, tried to plan.

Rational thoughts refused to come. They were as scattered as my broken prayers. On top of everything was James’ white face, streaked with blood, and hearing Mr. Costas tell Carter to gather the troops. And Carter agreeing to it.

This isn’t how it’s supposed to be. What was the point of all that Repairer of the Breach crap if it’s just going to come to an all-out, final battle that’s been building for years anyway? What was the point of that crazy trip to the other world? What was the point of the flaming sword? What was the point of any of this? He’ll go into battle as the Talos, and maybe he’ll survive. Maybe they’ll overwhelm him. Maybe they’ll take Sean or someone else he cares about and use them against him like they did me—if they still think his blood is needed to unlock the Stones. Whatever happens, there’s no way for him to escape unscathed. I don’t get it. What was the point? What was the point?

Into this melee, this maelstrom of doubts and confusion, came Carter. I knew by his approaching gait that it was him. I felt him sit down next to me. He didn’t say anything for a long time. He didn’t try to touch me. I didn’t have to look at him to sense his unease. We just sat there, me trying desperately not to be devoured by fear and even anger, trying desperately to suppress all the things I really wanted to say. Finally, he cleared his throat.

Here it comes, I thought.

Carter had waited long enough that some of the first responders were climbing into vehicles and starting to leave. His voice was quiet, somber.

“Ellie,” he said. I felt him reach for my hand, gently pry it from my face. “I’m not going to ask if you’re okay. I know you’re not.”

I lowered my other hand from my face, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at him. Still, I was able to resist the instinct to pull my hand away.

“No, I’m not, Carter.”

My voice sounded strained, pitiful. Weak even to me.

“I’m sorry about James.”

“You should be,” I snapped without thinking. “He was your friend more than mine.”

So badly I wanted to add, “See? See where this war and feuding and fighting gets you? Your friends dead. Killed for no reason. What’s the point, Carter?”

But I didn’t. He knew what I was thinking without me saying it. Half-apologetically, he said, “You know I have to do this, right?”

I counted to ten before trusting myself to reply. “No,