Repairer of the Breach (Stones of Fire Book 4) by Sarah Ashwood (free biff chip and kipper ebooks .TXT) 📕

him close, offering him comfort in return. There was pain and regret on Ballis’ face, but matters appeared to have settled, at least temporarily. Beyond him, though, stood the Stones of Fire and the two visitors who’d stepped through the portal with him.

He has enough to deal with right now, she decided, turning away. I’ll speak my piece later.

Later, after she caught Gary and gave him what for. Later, after the dust had settled and she had a drink with Adeola, figured out if seeing him was worth her time and energy. Later was fine, but he’d definitely hear about it. If she was going to be the cop-in-the-know, she was through crossing the line for shifters and letting them cross her lines. Ballis needed to know it, and he would.

But later.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Carter held Ellie until the shakes subsided. His, as well as hers. Coming out of the trance, realizing what he’d been doing, had been one of the most gut-wrenching moments of his life. He avoided looking at Ciara’s body. It filled him with rage. If she wasn’t already dead, he could’ve happily broken her neck. But she was, and he tried to let the anger go at being used against his own people.

Finally, everything had quieted. Carter raised his face from where he’d been bent over Ellie to study his surroundings. People were still moving around, but almost in a daze, like they couldn’t believe the fighting was over and what had transpired. With the deaths of Sean, Ciara, and Nosizwe, the two gangs of shifters were leaderless. He had the impression nobody knew what to do next. Oddly, they were sort of grouping up, many looking his way. It took him a minute to figure out why. In fact, it was Ellie who said, in a soft voice that strengthened as she spoke,

“I think they’re waiting for you to talk to them.”

Surprised, he pulled back so he could see down into her face.

“What’s that?”

“I said I think they’re waiting for you to talk to them.” The remark took a moment to compute. She went on. “Everybody’s—everybody’s gone that they looked up to. Just you left.”

He snorted a laugh. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

“It already is.” She’d recovered her backbone and eased away. “You’re all that’s left. Plus, you’re the Repairer of the Breach. And you have that cool magic sword and you can open portals to other worlds and all that fancy stuff.”

Carter wanted to argue, but it was hard to dispute, especially with the Stones there and the two shifters who’d come through with him, Vehuel and Seriel, waiting patiently beside them. Still, he’d never considered himself any kind of leader, beyond his status as Sean’s head of security. He’d never expected to be thrust into a role that required this level of leadership, and certainly not of both Sean’s people and Nosizwe’s. What the hell was he supposed to say to them?

While glancing around, trying to gather his wits, his eyes fell on something in the trampled grass. Something he’d tossed aside when the cop’s shot had broken the Merrow’s spell. The sword. Carter stepped away to retrieve it, put it in his waistband. The action bought him a few moments, and as luck—or possibly fate—would have it, he didn’t have to figure out what to say before he felt a presence at his elbow. Seriel had stepped up next to him.

“It is time to lay aside hatred, envy, strife, and warfare amongst ourselves,” she said solemnly. “Any of you who wish to return to our realm, to a place of safety where humans can no longer harm us, are welcome to do so. We will take you with us. Those who wish to remain and live the lives they've built here may do that, as well. But the time of conflict is over. Why would we fear humans and what they might do to us if we do worse to ourselves? This is not as it should be. This ends tonight.”

Carter saw heads nodding thoughtfully. Seriel had a point. All his life he’d held humans at arm’s length, afraid of revealing himself to them, thinking he was doing the right thing by following Sean and his ideals, only to engage in a running war of shifters killing each other. Ellie had tried to point that out to him since the beginning. At the time, it had made him furious. Now, he understood what she’d immediately seen from an outsider’s perspective.

Seriel went on.

“I said before that the doorway between realms will remain open for a brief amount of time. During the Repairer’s lifetime, it will be open and can be used, so that any of our people who wish to establish their families and their lives in our world can do so. The Talos holds the key, and the key is the sword and his blood. The sword will not work for anyone else. No one else has his blood. When he dies, the portals close permanently, and the Stones will be useless. It is your duty to spread the word amongst yourselves that this one lifetime has been given for our people to return to Atlantis, the home of their nativity. After it, you will have to make the best of what you can here on Earth.”

Vehuel, took over, saying soberly, “Perhaps future generations will be able to dwell in harmony with humans. Perhaps humans will accept us; perhaps they will not. I would admonish any who wish to bring such a thing to pass to act with great prudence. Great prudence.”

He seemed to single out Nosizwe’s former followers with his nod, his piercing look. A few people shuffled their feet uncomfortably, looking chagrined. Most still seemed so shell-shocked that they didn’t know how to react.

In summation, Seriel announced, “Any of you who would go with us tonight to a new home are welcome.”

She held out an arm in invitation. Carter studied the group, wondering if anyone would actually take her up