Page 83 of Ashes

He snapped his head up, his blue eyes wild. “We won’t kill the wicked just yet. When Stitches walks free, he’ll be broken. It’s up to you to care for him. His angel will help.” He frowned. “Sirena. Only when he’s accepted himself and the situation will it be time to end it. He’ll make love to her on a Thursday, and on Friday, the world will burn.Ashes.”

I swallowed thickly as he stared at me. “You’ll burn the world with Mirage at your side.”

“Who the fuck is Mirage?” Church demanded.

I didn’t know anyone named Mirage. None of us did.

“You know Mirage. Mirage is one thing outwardly but something else completely inwardly. Mirage wants revenge.”

“But you don’t know who Mirage is?” Sin asked. “Some fucking prophet.”

Asylum tilted his head, his attention focused on Sin. “I know what you’re capable of, Sinclair. And I know the date and time of your fall. A Tuesday at one-oh-eight in the morning. Your name will be called, and you’ll fall. The ropes will hurt, my friend. And I’ll be there to set you free.”

Sin said nothing as he took a step back.

“All will come to fruition ,” Asylum whispered, his voice shaking.

I had no idea what that madman was talking about, but I was all funned out with his weirdness.

“Is Sirena OK?” Church asked. “Is she safe?”

“She will be,” Asylum answered simply. “I am with her. Always.”

“If you fuck this up and she gets hurt—” Church started.

“I know, Dante. This matters to me too despite who I am.What I am. Rinny, my firefly, is my entire world. She always has been. Since the day she waved to me while I stood in my attic window. Whatever is set to meet her will meet me too because I won’t leave her side while she’s in the hospital. Tonight, she rests peacefully. Alone. Her room is next to mine. I can hear her heartbeat.Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.” He pounded his chest in time. “It calls to me. She always calls to me. Fucking trust our process.”

“Why does it seem like you’re trying to steal her away from us and deliver her back all in the same breath?” I asked softly.

He offered me the smallest of smiles and a wink. “Keep your distance and let me work. When the time is right, everything will fall into place.”

“That’s not good enough,” Church said. “Not with Sirena and Stitches both suffering—”

“Sirena suffers in silence because she wants to. Anything she faces will be faced with me at her side. Get that through your head, Dante. I am with her. I’ll make sure we come out of this. As for Stitches, he’ll soon join us.” He crinkled his brows. “Yes. Soon.”

“What’s happening there with you? Why are you staying at the hospital? What does Sully have you doing?” Sin asked.

A look of sadness swept over Asylum’s face.

“Just. . . politics. Science. Sickness. But it must happen to get us to where we’re going. We’ll grow from the pain. I promise.”

“If Sirena is being harmed…” I choked out, unable to finish. “Just. . . let us get her and Stitches out. I know you know how.”

“I do know how. And I will. I have to get into her head first. I have to bring her back. Then she’ll be released. As for Stitches, it’s a tragedy. I’ll do my best, but she will always come before him. Know that.”

Church nodded stiffly. “He’d want that.”

“I know,” Asylum murmured, his brows crinkling again. “Trust the process. All of you. I said I’d bring her back. I will. Someday. Just. . . wait for the right time. I know what I’m doing.”

He got a faraway look in his eyes. “They think I’m crazy. I am…I am crazy. They wonder why I don’t just leave with her. Why I don’t drag him out of the loony bin…They don’t know…No, they don’t know what’s at stake…I only take the lives of the unworthy, but this time. . . They need to understand.”

He was talking to himself again. Or his voices. I had no clue. Whatever he was doing, his mind was there and away from us. I cast a quick look to Church and Sin, noting the confusion and worry on their faces.

“Trust the process,” Asylum repeated. “No one ever trusts the goddamn process! Always with the questions. Just. . . listen to me. The crumbs are right here. The answers are here. Pay attention!”

“Do you want us to trust the process. . . or you?” Sin called out.

Asylum’s blue gaze snapped to Sin, and a frightening grin carved his lips upward. “Trust the process.Don’t trust me. I’m crazy.”

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