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)
And as they exchanged a look, the bond pulsed, a call and answer, that she had no idea how to stop.
“And how would you do that?” Kierse asked, more curious than interested. Even Amberdash couldn’t kill the Oak and Holly Kings.
“I have my ways.” He laughed at the edges of his words. Amberdash glanced between the queen and her knight. “Think on it. You have until the end of the convocation. Choose wisely.”
“Fine,” she said, accepting the ultimatum for what it was. Choose or they would be on opposite sides of this war forever. Although she’d already made her choice. “Until then.”
Lorcan reached them then, holding his hand out. “My queen.”
She accepted his hand, letting Lorcan pull her from Amberdash and the swirling problems he initiated.
Chapter Forty-Eight
“Where did Brannon go?” Lorcan demanded, glancing around the room. “Can’t believe he left you alone in the midst of these snakes.”
“I was fine.”
Lorcan shot her a look, and the bond pulsed harder. “I could feel your discomfort from a block away. I couldn’t get in here fast enough. Came right for you.”
Sometimes she wished that he would just believe her when she said she could take care of herself. Graves did.
“I can handle myself,” she argued. She had been handling herself, in fact. One step closer to figuring out Amberdash’s motives and his cache of artifacts. He’d never have revealed anything around Graves.
He huffed in displeasure. “Amberdash isn’t playing with you. If you’re not careful, he’s not going to wait for you to agree to become one of his attendants.”
“Sounds like someone else I know.”
His eyes softened, hurt in his irises. “He wants to eat your soul. How could you even compare us?”
She blew out a harsh breath. “Could you trust that I can handle Amberdash on my own? I’ve been dealing with him alone for years. Okay?”
He looked like he wanted to argue, but one glance in her direction and he folded. “All right. I overreacted. I saw you alone and…” He ran a hand back through his dark locks. “I don’t like to see you unprotected even if you don’t need protection. It’s innate in me as much as the bond.”
She nodded at him, accepting that he could apologize. “Let’s just find Graves.”
They passed into the rotunda, which teemed with monsters and humans admiring the artwork and imbibing the expensive liquor. No Graves in sight.
Instead, a woman with raven hair dressed in an all-black flowing gown with long black lace sleeves stepped into the rotunda, pulling attention. A similar black lace mask was secured to her face, and black feathers were tucked into her hair.
She stalked toward the library they had just vacated, stalling a moment as her eyes traveled to the sword buckled at Lorcan’s side. “Hmm,” she said, running a black-lacquered nail down it. “I like this.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Thank you.”
Her smile was quick and wicked. “I feel like I’ve seen it before.”
“It’s a stage sword.”
The words fell flat on Kierse’s ears, and she realized that the sword he carried was not a stage sword but the Sword of Truth. She glanced up at him, but he still stared at the mysterious woman.
“I don’t think so,” she said. Then she put a finger to her black-painted lips. “But I won’t tell.”
He caught her wrist before she could retreat. “Who are you?”
“You cannot guess who I’m dressed as?” she asked, holding her arms wide. “Out of your own myth, Druid?”
Kierse glanced at her all-black attire, trying to place who she could possibly be out of Celtic myth. But Lorcan had no such problem.
“The Morrigan,” he rasped.
And then she saw it. The Tuatha de Danann of war, the three-faced goddess, and the wife of the ruler of the Fae, the Dagda. Life and death personified.
“Morrigu,” Kierse said, the name Niamh had used in the cleansing spell.
“Sure,” she said on a laugh. “A little archaic, though. You can just call me Morgan.”
She twisted her hand out of his grip with a grin and then disappeared into the fold like a cloud of death. Lorcan stared after her with a furrow in his brow.
“How did she know when you didn’t even recognize it?” he asked.
“Lorcan, I don’t know. It was just a Halloween costume.” She snapped her fingers to draw his attention. “I didn’t think you were reckless enough to bring the sword to this party.”
He shrugged, finally pulling his attention back to Kierse. “It is fitting to use the sword of our people against the villain who destroyed them. Don’t you think?”
She sighed. It was the same reason that she had her father’s knife. Lorcan wasn’t wrong that it was fitting, but if Amberdash got more of the objects, it would mean bigger problems.
“Just hold onto it.”
He smirked. “I know how to handle a weapon, love.”
“I bet you do,” she said, pushing past him.