His voice breaks at the end, eyes closing as if he's in pain.
"Oh, my gods. This poor red flag is still so traumatized," Jessica sighs.
I look away. There's just something about being an empath that makes people show vulnerabilities in front of you at the most unexpected times.
Now and then, without meaning to, I've noticed how much Maven's matches are still broken over everything that happened.Putting myself in their shoes—if I thought for a second that Asher or Kaenon or Zak or Ian had died, leaving me here…
"I hate hearing that you guys went through that tonight. I had no idea Maven's injury was that bad," I add, looking back at him.
"My muse will never admit it." Crypt pulls a lighter out of his pocket, toying with it. "Unluckily for my vengeful appetite, I've found where the other escaped sleeper is lying low. The fae woman."
Jessica gasps. "Shit, I forgot about the other one!"
“Nivarrah?” I gawk. "You found her?"
He nods. "I even slipped into her dreams. Not to feed, just to get a glimpse of what we're up against. Thing is, her psyche is in tatters. Threads, really, at this point."
Poor Nivarrah. I rub my cold nose. "I can't imagine being bound to the soul of such a sickening person forever, with no way out of it."
"She's settled on a way out, actually. She's going to kill him," Crypt tells me. "And after witnessing some of the things that wretched knave put her through inside her fragmented psyche, I want her to have the chance. All she needs is an opportunity, and we can set one up for her. How would you feel about attending the Seeking tomorrow?"
Holy crap, that's tomorrow? I completely forgot.
I immediately shake my head. "I don't want to look for matches. I'm happy with?—"
"Not to seek matches. As bait."
Bait?
"I'm not following," Jessica admits.
Then it dawns on me—why he brought up Veld's interest in me and my being all over the news. "You're saying…you want to make it known that I'm going to the Seeking so Veld will hear and go there, too. So Nivarrah can get him there."
Crypt doesn't look away from me. "As I said, your brother would cheerfully crucify me for so much as daring to ask this of you. You and I both know you're made of sterner stuff than that blockhead realizes, but if you'd rather not be involved, I'll find some other way to draw Veld out. Then my quintet and I will wipe his vile essence from the face of existence in the most gloriously violent way possible," he adds, clearly daydreaming about vengeance. "Unless that unraveled fae woman gets to him first, of course."
Jess looks at me with wide eyes. "As much as I'm loving how unhinged Nightmare Daddy is, please tell me you're not going to use yourself as bait, El. I'm supposed to be keeping yououtof danger."
I debate, looking at Jada's quintet's little garden in front of us. It's in its early stages, but they must be getting it ready for everything they want to plant this spring.
The idea of being involved in a plot to kill someone would usually make me run away screaming. As an empath, I get secondhand pain just thinking about people getting hurt.
But I can't stop picturing Nivarrah. Her face when Veld smiled at me in the Nether, smug about her misery. Her pain and betrayal, and that old, stinging hurt as if she's experienced this too many times and can't take it anymore.
Crypt mentioned Veld has hurt other people, too—and if we don't stop him, he could get into the heads of the guys I'm falling in love with again and?—
Oh my gods.
The guys I'm falling in love with.
I didn't mean to admit it to myself, but it's true. We're still just getting to know each other, but with Asher quitting as my bodyguard to be with me, Kaenon being the sweetest mate in all of history, Ian's confessions about how long he's been obsessedwith me, and Zak racing to find me the moment he knew I was still alive…
I want to be with them. Always. Even if things get complicated.
And in order to be with them, we really can't have that horrific incubus using me to torture poor Nivarrah. In fact, I want him out of the picture so he's not a threat to anyone I love again, and so that ancient fae woman can hopefully find her way back to peace again, someday.
So I look at Crypt and nod. "Okay. I'll help you. What time is the Seeking, again?"
40
