Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)
“Lorcan, stop touching me,” she said, her hands trembling.
He did as she said. “What happens when it doesn’t work? You search for a new way to escape me? Have you ever considered just seeing if this could work?”
“Yes,” she said softly.
His head jerked back to her in surprise. Clearly not the word he had been expecting.
“Of course I’ve thought about it. Even before the bond was in place, I wondered what it would have been like if this had happened first. If I’d met you on the streets of Manhattan and we’d had a connection that was only explained when you broke the spell on my magic with the sword. What it would have been like to fall in love with you with Graves as my enemy.”
He leaned forward as if he could kiss that into reality.
“But it didn’t happen that way,” she said, pulling back. “And I love him.”
He closed his eyes. “You shouldn’t.”
“But I do.” She squeezed her hands together and then stood up. “So if you can’t give me another way out of this bond, then I’m going after the stone to do it myself.”
He looked up at her, beseechingly. “The only other way out of this bond is the option you already have at your fingertips. And Graves would take it from you straight to your death.”
Kierse sighed. “Same old song and dance, Lorcan. One day you’ll see that he’s changed.”
Lorcan looked like he wanted to argue more, like he wanted to ply her with ways to stay here, with him. But instead he stood, pressing a kiss into her hair. “I’m here if you need me.”
And then he turned and walked away into the night.
Kierse waited until the scent of his magic dissipated before braving the subway back to the brownstone. She slid off her leather jacket and hung it up at the front of the house. She ran a hand down her face, thankful for the heat but drained from the activities of the day.
There was no light on in the downstairs study. The library was empty of even Walter and Anne Boleyn when she peeked inside. Walter must have already gone to bed. Graves’s office door was firmly closed. No sound on the other side. She stepped into the bedroom, finding it too empty.
“Graves?” she called, palming her phone to see if she had any missed texts. Nothing.
He hadn’t said he was going out, but it was clear no one was there. She headed out of the bedroom only for Graves to appear out of the shadow.
“There you are,” she said, falling into him. He slid a hand around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss.
“Here I am.”
“I didn’t think you were going out.”
“Got some last-minute information. Did you have a nice night?”
She shrugged. “It was…interesting. Niamh and I managed to get my persuasion sort of working.”
“That is good news.” He took her hand and pulled her into the bedroom, where he stripped out of his jacket and suit coat.
He fisted his tie and jerked it free, then threw his shirt, trousers, and shoes to the side. And she watched his incredible physique step into the closet instead of toward her. Rude. She followed him, catching the clench of his ass as he dragged on black pants.
“There’s something else.” Not quite a question.
Kierse’s eyes dragged back up to him. “I saw Lorcan. Niamh told me to talk to him.”
“Should have never brought her into the circle,” he said as he pulled on a long-sleeved black shirt.
“He wants to be there when we kill Kingston.”
Graves considered it as he pulled on his black gloves. “Because of Saoirse?”
“Yes. And I think he should.”
“Anything else you think should happen with Lorcan?” His voice wasn’t crisp and angry at the edges as it had been over the last couple months. This time it was sincere as if he trusted her to make her own decisions in regard to him.
“I told him we’re going after the stone and if he didn’t give me another out that was the one I was taking.”
A smile hit his features, then he stepped into her, pulling her against him. “And then you came home to me?”
“Always.”
He drew her in even tighter and then lowered his head to fit her mouth to his. She breathed him in, the scent of his magic a balm—leather and parchment and bottled ink. It rose around her, intoxicating and unbalanced. As if she would fall into him like a love spell and never come out of it.
“As much as I desire spending the rest of the evening ravishing your body, we’re going out.”
“We are?”
“I have an appointment to kill a shifter.”
Her eyebrows rose as she came out of her heady euphoria. “Fury?”
He nodded his head once. “Will you come with me?”
“You don’t even have to ask.”