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 here I thought you weren’t going to come on to me.”
He cleared his throat. “I could have invited you into the shower.” She heard the belt snapping into place before finally glancing over her shoulder. “Good to see that you’re not completely unaffected.”
“Let’s not do this,” she whispered.
He held a hand up. “I assume you’re rushing back to him with a single word.”
“It wasn’t him,” she relented. “It was Isolde.”
His surprise was genuine. “He’s really just pushing you away.”
She bit back a retort. She didn’t want to tell him about the market, either. The last thing she wanted was for him to rush in after her. “I have to go, but I wanted to say thank you for last night.” Her hand went to her chest. “And the necklace, even if you stole it in the first place.”
“I’m happy to help. And I’m always here for you,” he said. “If you need a place to crash again, I have…other rooms.”
A more sober Kierse never would have stayed the night. “Goodbye, Lorcan.”
He stepped forward then, taking her face in his hands. “It meant so much to me just to take care of you.” Then he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Goodbye, my little songbird.”
She pulled away from him and nodded once before leaving to go get George back.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Kierse twirled a coin across her fingers and back as she waited for Graves to show his face. She had two guns strapped to her thighs, visible with her jacket pushed back so the lowlifes who congregated around the entrance to the Goblin Market knew to back up. A long line of goblin-fruit-hungry humans waited to enter with hollow eyes and skeletal bodies, their mouths purple-stained as they bit into the addictive goblin fruit.
Standing alone made her feel exposed. A shifter prowled ever closer, and three vampires were eyeing her from further down the line. She almost wished that she had taken her friends up on their suggestion to come along. She didn’t particularly want more bodies she cared about to add to Jason’s trap.
She shuffled from one foot to the other as the line stretched longer and longer. Isolde said he’d be here when the door opened. It wasn’t like him to be late. She hoped that she hadn’t missed him somehow or he’d changed his mind.
But then she saw a tall figure step out of the darkness that led to the market. Her heart stuttered in her chest.
Graves was a nightmare born to flesh. His brow was low. His bespoke suit was covered by a long, black duster for the chilly weather, his black leather gloves firmly in place. The cut of his jaw said he meant business and for everyone else to get out of his way or suffer the consequences.
And he was so gorgeous.
Fuck, she’d missed him.
“Took you long enough,” she said, stepping out of the shadow to meet him.
A flicker of surprise crossed his expression, which he carefully smothered beneath a mask of indifference. “What are you doing here?”
“Same thing you’re doing here. Going to get George back.”
His mouth opened a bit, and then he sighed. “Walter, Edgar, or Isolde?”
“Isolde.” Kierse shrugged, tugging her leather jacket tighter around her against the cold. “She’s worried about George…and you.”
“She has nothing to worry about. I can handle a trip into the market. It isn’t my first time.”
“Well, you’re not going in alone.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Is that right?”
She took a step toward him. “This is a trap set by Jason. We both know it. And you should have someone watching your back. Just because you don’t think you need it doesn’t make it true.”
Graves turned half away from her, his eyes on the line. Then he blew out a heavy breath. “About the other night…”
“Let’s not do that. We’re here about George.”
“Yes, but I shouldn’t have…”
Kierse held her hand up. “No, you shouldn’t have.”
Graves’s eyes darkened. “We need to talk about this.”
She forced barriers up around her heart. As much as she wanted to hear him apologize—if he was even capable of it—she absolutely wasn’t going to let him do it here. Not like this.
“I don’t need to hear what you have to say right now,” Kierse said, crossing her arms. “You wouldn’t be doing this at all if I hadn’t shown up, and I don’t think that’s a good enough reason.”
He was silent a beat before conceding, “Maybe it’s not.”
“So can we just do this?”
Graves straightened, clenching his jaw and turning toward the entrance. “After you.”
They stepped into the winding line as more goblin fruit was distributed out to the addicted masses. When they finally reached the entrance, they both held up coins. The goblins hemmed and hawed in irritation that they were going to get through but eventually let them pass.
Walking into the Goblin Market was like entering an alternate reality of New York City. The skyscrapers towered over them, and the streets were full of monster vendors peddling their wares. There were inns and pubs and restaurants all serving less savory fare. The first time she’d walked the streets, she’d been homesick after being in Dublin for so long. Now, she realized that she missed Dublin a bit and wished she could take the stairs down through the market for a visit.