Page 19 of Unshakable

Uncomfortable, Henri squirmed in his seat. “Why would you tell me anything about your plan?”

“First of all,” Tourelle paused to share a chilling grin and dig into his food with gusto, “you were so kind to ask. I mean, no one cares about the grind anymore. Famine this and pestilence that. Feels nice to have some genuine interest for a change. What do the kids say these days? Sharing is caring?”

Tourelle toyed with Henri and his blood ran cold. “What’s second of all?”

Tourelle looked up from his meal, his eyes glittering with joy. Or what passed for joy in his worldview. “There’s not a damn thing anyone can do to stop what’s coming once I meet my match. Not you, not your tribe of half-breeds, and definitely not Toula Thibodeaux or her pretty little granddaughter.”

“I’m sure she’ll just give up, then,” Henri managed through his constricted throat.

“Of course she won’t, where’s the fun in that? Now is not the time, though. You can tell her. Things aren’t quite ready, not quite of age, not that consent really matters to me, but this damn prophecy demands certain things. Events must happen in a certain order.”

“And what order would that be?”

He scoffed. “Not the hundred ways I’ve tried in the past. She’ll know what I mean. She can relax, for now, prepare, or not. Makes no difference in the end.”

Tourelle sounded like he believed these events to be predestined. As if one day, all the stars would align and every evil thing in his heart would fall into place, like an ethereal jigsaw puzzle.

“What prophecy are you talking about?” Henri finally asked.

“You don’t know?” Tourelle put down his fork as if stunned, then laughed. “Are you kidding?”

Henri felt his face redden, hating feeling ignorant and understood his pride often got in the way of progress. Not today. He would not allow anything to get in the way of protecting this family.

“Don’t worry about it,” Tourelle said. “It’s already done.”

Could they affect these events at all? Did the free will of any of these actors mean anything in the grand scheme of things? He didn’t ask because he didn’t want to know any certain answer, needed to believe they might change the outcome.

Henri heard very little of the remaining rambling and bragging this ancient, awful creature spewed. Helplessness filled every fiber of his being, the message he received hollow and damnably logical.

In the end, evil owned this world, and would triumph regardless of their vigilance or valiant fight. Tourelle had all the time he needed, and he would leverage each second until he got his way.

He could outlast them all.

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