Page 44 of Fated to Monsters

Any good brother would.

“Um, I mean, not really.” Jade presses her hands behind her on the counter and scoots back until she’s sitting on the hard surface. “Do you?”

I draw in a breath and exhale slowly. “I’d like to stay here, in Arthlia. I don’t know what that entails, but I don’t want to leave.”

Jade bobs her head up and down while chewing another bite. “Me either. Ev and I want to stay, too.”

Her face lights up and her gaze shifts to Everest as he walks into the kitchen and joins us.

“What about you?” I ask him. “You going along with whatever she has to say or do you actually want to stay?”

Everest strolls over to Jade’s side, kissing her cheek and gripping her thigh. “I’m all in wherever she is.”

I grin. “Didn’t answer my question.”

“I don’t have anything anywhere else.” He glances up at her before focusing back on me. “She’s it for me. I’d be an idiot if I left her now. And the thought of ever going back to Prania—I’ll pass. There’s nothing left for any of us there. It’s a wasteland.”

It turns my stomach to think about what we escaped from, but he’s right. There’s no going back. What remains of our homeland will burn to ashes in time and if it doesn’t, it will be overcome by hunters and the entire demon population will be eliminated. Why return there when it’s a hopeless cause?

“You mentioned your brother is no longer with us.”

“Wes,” Jade snaps at me.

“No, it’s okay,” Everest reassures her. “He died a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” I shouldn’t press, but I can’t ignore the nagging that he isn’t divulging the whole story. “Casualty of the war?”

Everest nods and his gaze falls to the floor. “Yeah. You could say that.” Just when I’m sure he won’t say anything else, he opens his mouth again. “It was random, his death. No explanation. Only a letter that came to his house stating if next of kin wanted to pick up his body, they could show up at Rockbridge to get it.”

Hunters paint a picture that demons are cruel, but that lack of consideration is cold-hearted and unforgiving.

“Of course, I did,” he continues. “I showed up demanding answers, but when they had none to provide, I infiltrated their operation in an attempt to figure it out for myself.” Everest laughs dryly. “They never expected me to not be on their side. Few non-demons ever go against the natural way. Because my brother was respected and had made a name for himself, I got preferential treatment. I refused to work in the field so they gave me a higher-ranking guard position. I thought I could lay low and uncover the truth."

“Did you?” I ask him.

Everest averts his gaze again. “Only took about a month to learn what had happened.”

“A month? And yet you stayed there for years?” That’s when it hits me, he went there for the truth of his brother’s death, but he stayed for something else entirely.

“I was assigned sector eighteen.” He grips Jade’s thigh, and she wraps her fingers over his. “I found what I was looking for and then some.”

“You saved me,” she mutters to him.

“We saved each other,” he whispers back to her.

“I’m grateful you found her, Everest.” I can’t fathom the possibilities had he not been there for her when she needed him the most.

We may have lost Mother, but thank the Angels that Jade was spared.

“I am, too.” Everest forces a smile.

"I hadn't spoken to anyone since Mother." Jade's eyes glisten with each word spoken. "It was Everest who finally broke through to me. I was a shell of a person left there to rot, and somehow he saw something in me that I thought I had lost forever. He was kind, and patient, and eventually, I started to trust him. He’s the one who insisted I use a fake name. He didn’t want me to lose anything else to that place than I already had.”

“And so, Franny was born,” he says.

“I never lost hope,” I tell her. “I never quit trying to get you two back. I’m so sorry for all that wasted time. I should have come sooner.”

“It wasn’t all wasted.” She tugs Everest toward her, positioning his back to her chest, between her legs. Jade hugs him close, kissing the top of his head and resting her chin on it.

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