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)
Kierse’s mind reeled. He’d known. Not that she was a wisp but that she had magic. And warlocks on his side? Graves certainly wasn’t.
“And I want you on my side again, Kierse. It feels wrong having you work on the other side.”
Never.
“What is happening?” Lorcan blared through her defenses.
“He’s monologuing. Stop talking. I’m trying to figure this out.”
The bond went silent while Kierse worked on controlling her breathing. She couldn’t wait him out. And her heart was threatening to beat out of her chest. She didn’t know what to do. Well, she had an idea, but it was impossible.
“You can come out now. I’m not going to hurt you for trying to steal from me. I know you well enough to expect this. I didn’t invite two of the most talented thieves in the city and not expect one of you to steal from me if you didn’t kill each other first.”
Her blood boiled at the mention of Jason. He brought them together on purpose. She’d known, of course, but hearing it out of his own mouth…
“The world is changing, my dear. It’s time to choose my side. Monsters like us aren’t meant to be contained by the inferior race. I want to give you what you already want—freedom. The power to choose what you want when you want without the consequences of a treaty that harnessed our powers. The world was better when we came out of the shadows and conquered the world.”
God, he really believed this shit. Not just espousing it for his little minions, but he actually believed it.
Kierse had hated the years of the war. She had praised the treaty when it had come into being. She had learned to live again the last four years as the world righted itself. She never wanted to go backward. She never wanted to think the world would be better if only one group of monsters were on top and everyone else was beneath them. She refused.
The anger welled up in her. She shouldn’t do this. It wasn’t safe. Not with the dampener in place around Amberdash’s neck. But there was no other option.
She had one way to escape this room. One way to get away with the ledger. And she had to do it now, consequences be damned.
Kierse grasped her magic, pulling against Lorcan like she was yanking back all the power he’d taken. She felt his grunt of discomfort at her inelegant solution.
“Kierse,” Amberdash said gently. His hand fell on the desk. He was coming closer. He would look to where she was hiding. “Please speak to me. I want us to work together again. I’ve always considered you a daughter even though you saw me merely as a business associate. I found you work. I treated you better than Jason ever did. I wanted to bring you in sooner. You had one more test, and that was the one where you fell in with the warlock. We can repair this.”
No, they couldn’t.
Kierse drew her door. The dark outline appeared before her with a handle like it had all those other times she had trained.
It had to work.
She had no choice.
Her hand settled on the door, and she twisted the knob. It turned. Her heart stopped in shock as it did what she wanted. Then she pushed, and the door opened to a darkened room on the other side of Amberdash’s offices. She’d been there once while recovering after a particularly bad thieving encounter. He’d nursed her back to health.
Kierse didn’t think. Just felt the magic drain away from her like a pot of water splashed into the sink.
“Kierse?” Amberdash said again.
Then she tipped forward, throwing herself headfirst through the door and tumbling into the silent room halfway across the building from where she had just been.
The door snapped closed behind her.
And darkness closed in on the edges of her vision. She couldn’t stand. Her body failed her. Her magic was gone.
The only thing that was left was the bond.
“Lorcan…help,” was the last thing she said before she passed out.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kierse came to with a sharp, painful tingling in her fingers and toes. Her head was no longer on the hard floor but on a soft pillow with her feet at the end of a couch. Hands were on her cheeks, a body lay next to hers with a breath of distance between them, and heat radiated into her own.
Her eyes fluttered open as a name left her lips, “Graves?”
The body next to her flinched. “Just me, love.”
Cerulean looked down at her. Not gray. Not thunderstorms. Blue. The scent of his magic rose all around her, encasing her in a perfect summer holiday. The crash of ocean waves, fresh sea salt, sunshine on her face. Lorcan.
She winced and tried to pull away but was physically incapable of doing so. Her body was on a permanent shut down. That explained the tingles as her nerves began to fire again.