Exaltation (Insight #11)(84)
“We have to stop that.”
Dagen clenched his jaw. “I don’t know what Revelin said to you up there, but do you really want to heed his guilt trip? How do you know he was not riding your conscience? That he knew that if he told you that we had to avoid the curse it would starve us out.”
He had a point there. “We’re smarter than him. There has to be a way to find natural exaltation without evoking it.”
“Not as much as we need to fight our own f*cking sovereign.”
Rydell knew that was true, but he still didn’t know how to solve his issue. “Send everyone out to have fun. Concerts, sporting events…send them to those masses.”
“That is not sustaining. Not personal enough.”
“Use that method and the reserves. I’m not going to order that we stop, but I am.”
“You lead us,” Dagen argued.
“Right. But I don’t know what this deal is between Raven and me. I gotta be careful.”
“It’s a headache,” Dagen spouted.
When Rydell threw him a glower Dagen refused to back down.
“I’m stating the obvious and you know it. I’m all for good karma but I didn’t hear Jamison promise this girl was not going to kill you all the same when she found her boy. And quite frankly that’s all that f*cking matters. Too many people count on you, King. Don’t forget that.”
Rydell glanced over him, seeing a real fear in him.
He nodded once.
“Get some rest. We have been invited to dinner tomorrow,” Rydell said to Dagen. At that Dagen quirked his brow. “Yes you, too.” Rydell pulled off his muddy shirt. “Have you blocked Kade’s curse yet?”
“You know I can’t tell that, not until it happens. My plan now is to break the car, but I think that’s making it worse and him a better mechanic.”
“Any insight on Jamison?”
“All we know is what we dug up for Berries, which states he’s a witch you don’t f*ck with, not an Escort. Maybe your girl can help you figure that one out.”
“Maybe,” Rydell said under his breath.
***
Raven still felt like hell the next day. Couldn’t get those images of Cashton out of her head or the confusion of her emotions to go away.
For the first time ever, she had to ‘act’ happy as she got ready for the cookout. Knowing Rydell was going to be there had her on edge, too. She was sure he would be the perfect distraction but at the same time she’d have to protect him from Miss Thelma Ray and the others. She had never brought a boy around before. He was sure to get the third degree.
As she got dressed she looked outside and saw a host of cars that didn’t normally come to these things. They belonged to people who were in the coven, the ones Emery called originals. They usually kept to their own for the most part, only showed up for big occasions.
“All of them are coming today?” Raven had asked Emery when she came up to check on her.
“All but two,” she said and then left without another word.
Great. Now Raven had to really be on guard if her theory about Rydell and Dagen being from another coven had any truth to it.
Raven woke the girls up before she went downstairs. She’d seen her father pull up out front. Rydell’s car was just behind him.
She found Rydell in the back with Soren and Kade. His back was to her so she acted like she was setting up chairs as she listened to them. She was curious about who he was when he wasn’t around her.
“You have stop being so tense about this race,” Rydell said.
“I got a lot riding on it,” Kade answered.
Raven was sure he felt that way. Kade’s entire family raced. He had always struggled with it. Raven wasn’t sure how difficult it was to just press a gas petal down, but if you were to hear racers talk it was an art form. Kade’s self confidence had always held him back.
“Then you will never really win. You have to do it for you,” Rydell urged.
“I can’t even fix the car. Every day something breaks. The next big race is for pinks. I need to win so I can get a ride that will always win.”
“Then build a car from the ground up. Put your blood and sweat in it. If you go into this the wrong way you will lose in the long run—I swear it,” Rydell asserted.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, man,” Kade said with a desperate sigh. He spotted Raven first. “Hey, River coming down?”
“She was up late last night. I just woke her up. It won’t be long.” She met Rydell’s stare shyly. “Hi.”
“Let me introduce you,” Raven said to him. “Little help.” She said to Soren nodding at Dagen. It would take her forever to get through everybody if she had to take them both. Soren nodded for Dagen to follow him.
Rydell slowly walked to Raven as his eyes moved over not only her, but the space around her. “Something happen?” he asked when he was just before her.
“Hard to sleep last night.”
“In a bad way?” he asked as the concern continued to fill his eyes.
Raven put her hand on his chest. “You kept the bad thoughts away.” And that was the truth.
As Raven introduced Rydell to all those who were there he felt an odd sense of déjà vu, especially when he met Saige and Evanthe. They didn’t say much but the way they looked at him had him a bit unnerved.