by Rowan Casey
"The veil would have come down and the world as we know it would be no more."
"Exactly that. Exactly that. I had one chance to change that, though Nimue made me swear not to interfere in your fate. That was the cost of the pact I made with her to get you your weapon back, gambling it would be the one thing that could make a true difference to my vision. The rest had to be up to you."
"It worked, obviously," I said.
"To a degree, in that I am not dead. Though there is a demon out there carrying your child and Theomacha escaped. But they are a problem for another day. Let me see your arm." I showed him the bone. It wasn’t pretty. "It will heal," he said, which were not the comforting words he thought they were. Sure, bones heal…in six to eight weeks, and worst case I was going to need metal plates to brace them from now on. I was sick. "Now, I need something from you."
"Why don’t I like the sound of that?"
"Because you aren’t going to like what I’m going to ask."
"I knew you were going to say that. So, what do you need me to do?" This was the new me. The guy determined to be the hero of his own life. I wasn’t going to be a jerk. Sure, I’d just sold a dead rock star’s photo, but that was me drawing a line through my old life.
"I need you to get close to Morgana. I need you to insinuate your way into her circle, gain her trust. I need you to find out what the sisters are planning, because Theomacha was right, there is a weakness in the Veil. I constructed the table at Avalon around it so that we thirteen could guard it with our lives."
I nodded. "I can do that. Get close to a woman. That sounds like the kind of task I was born to do. So, what’s the catch?"
He couldn’t look me in the eye as he said, "Do you trust me?"
It was the second time someone had asked me that today, and we all know how the first one worked out. "Should I?"
"Everything I do is for the greater good. Every lie I tell is for the benefit of us all."
"Encouraging stuff," I said. "So, spit it out. What aren’t you telling me?"
"When the time comes, and it will, I need you to die for me. It is the only way we can win this. Can you do that for me?"
"Ask me again tomorrow. Today, I'm just happy to be alive." I heard the sirens coming up the hill. "We really shouldn't be here when they arrive," I said. "Given the fact he is who he is, and we're lying here with swords and guns."
We leaned on each other for the long walk back to the Mustang. Dad's mix tape, as ever, had the perfect song for the occasion. As I fired up the engine, Frankie warned us exactly what would happen when Two Tribes went to war.
I already knew the answer to that: I die.
THE END
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The Veil Knights Series
The Circle Gathers (Book 1)
The Questing Beast (Book 2)
Hound of Night (Book 3)
Run of Luck (Book 4)
Cloak of Fury (Book 5)
The Medusa Gambit (Book 6)
White Mountain Rising (Book 7)
Hammer of Darkness (Book 8)
Stone of Destiny (Book 9)
The Hollywood Incubus (Book 10)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rowan Casey is the pseudonym for twelve New York Times, USA Today and Amazon bestselling writers who have come together to create the Veil Knights shared-world experience.
With more than ten million copies of their books in print around the world, they include Lilith Saintcrow, CJ Lyons, Joseph Nassise, Steven Savile, Annie Bellet, Jon F. Merz, Pippa DaCosta, Robert Greenberger, William Meikle, Steve Lockley, Hank Schwaeble, and Nathan Meyer.
For more information, visit
www.rowancasey.com
[email protected]
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
The Hollywood Incubus
Copyright 2018 Rowan Casey
(With special thanks to Steven Savile)
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Series Summary
Veil Knights Newsletter
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
About the Author
Copyright Information