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)
“Well, you took too long,” he said, gesturing behind him.
Graves rubbed his temple. “You could have called.”
“Honestly, what did you expect with the engagement news flying around?”
Kierse’s eyes widened, and Graves blew out a breath. “So you’ve spoken with Estelle?”
The Paris warlock had played a game with Kierse and Graves when they had visited her thinking that she had the cauldron. Their ruse had clearly worked if she still circulated the news of their engagement.
“Quite right,” he said, then gestured back into the museum. “Come along. You can’t truly resist London. I know you too well. We’ll walk the British Museum, get afternoon tea, and the like. I still have my box at the opera house. Or if you prefer the West End, we could take in a play. None as spectacular as your old friend William at the Globe, but alas they have renditions of his works still.”
“We’ll fly in tomorrow,” Graves said.
Kingston ignored him. “Miss McKenna, have you ever been to London?”
“I have not.”
“Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris but not London? Sacrilegious,” he declared. “We must educate your apprentice, Graves.”
“We can fly.”
Kingston pointed to the open portal. The lingering scent of gunpowder and charcoal wafted in at the gesture. Kierse didn’t remember having scented his magic, but it was old. “Or you can take one step through and be there. Have you ever traveled by portal? It’s the only way to travel!”
Graves’s careful plans had all gone up in smoke, but he never seemed to be able to resist Kingston. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Are you going to insist on dissuading my hospitality?”
Graves would have kicked anyone else out of his house and never spoken to them again. But not his mentor. Kingston had trained him to be a warlock. And they’d cohabitated for hundreds of years before they’d both realized they were too powerful for the other to remain. Graves left to find his own city and ended up in New York at its rise. But he and Kingston remained on remarkably good terms. It was the first person she’d ever seen him like. And while she’d seen many people since then, Kingston was still the easiest for him.
“Well?” Graves asked Kierse.
She wasn’t sure it was a good idea, considering she just killed another warlock. Kingston didn’t know she was a wisp, and she wanted to keep it that way, but Graves looked at her as if he had a very good reason for agreeing to see Kingston, so she relented. “All right.”
Kierse went to style her hair back in a way that covered her ears, then grabbed her leather jacket. Graves took his suit coat, and then they stepped through the front door. Kingston grinned the entire time.
“Here we go,” he said.
Kierse could see the golden frame of magic around the portal. It emanated from Kingston, too, but she couldn’t seem to grasp how it worked. Still, it was beautiful and mesmerizing to feel the traces of magic. She held her breath as she stepped across the threshold.
For a moment, it was like she was sucked backward. The thing had an almost sticky resistance, like pushing through molasses. When she got through the other side, it kicked her forward, and all her energy propelled her. She jogged a few steps before tumbling across the hardwood and colliding with a small bench.
“Ow,” she groaned, holding her head as she sat up and checked her hair was covering her ears. All good on that front.
Graves stepped through and took quick strides to her side. “Probably should have warned you about the impact. It’s like all the energy it would have taken to get to the other place is forced into you as you exit.”
“Physics?” she asked as she rubbed her aching head.
“My apologies,” Kingston said. “It’s been some time since I’ve taken someone new through a portal. You handled it well.”
“I fell head over feet and collided with a bench.”
“The first time Graves did it, he landed in the Thames!” Kingston said on a laugh.
She glanced to Graves, and he shook his head, but there was a smile tugging on the corners of his lips. “Really?”
“He did it on purpose,” was all he said.
Kingston chuckled. “Perhaps I did.” He removed his top hat and set it on a table before continuing through the museum that was his house. “Come along. It’s a beautiful day for a tour of London.”
Kierse dusted her hands off and followed with Graves at her side.
The museum room reminded Kierse of Graves’s library. Since Kingston recharged his magic through looking at artwork, it made perfect sense for him to have an entire hall full of art.
“The pieces are changed out regularly,” Kingston explained. “It helps me recharge faster if I don’t know what I’ll be looking at.”
Kierse understood that. “Like stealing from someone who doesn’t care.”