Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
“Stop,” she begged.
A tear tracked down her cheek as she yanked on her wrist, pushing against his shoulder with her other hand to try to get away from him. Still it didn’t move. The magic only crept closer, crawling across her chest and down her torso. As if she were being dipped in glowing light.
“Please, Lorcan, put a stop to this.” She tugged some more. “I don’t want this. I don’t want to be bound to anyone. You can’t just take my autonomy.”
“It’s too late,” Lorcan said. “The ceremony has already begun.”
“We can undo it. We can undo it together.”
“What would you do if we did? Run straight back to the problem? No. I’m not going to let you get yourself killed.”
“He’s not going to kill me,” Kierse argued. “But this is worse. Can’t you see that?”
“How could this be worse than what he did?”
“You’re taking away my choice!” she screamed at him.
“He was stealing your mind,” Lorcan roared back. “He was going to push too far and he was going to kill you. Do you want to be dead? Is that better than being with me?”
“This has nothing to do with you and everything to do with your fucked-up power. Your vengeance against him. You don’t want me. You want to win.”
“This isn’t about winning.”
“You don’t even see how far you’ve gone. You act like you’re a good guy. That you’re so far above him. And then you prove time and time again that power is all you want. As long as he doesn’t win, right? As long as you can prove you’re better than him, nothing else matters.”
“You’ve always been determined to see me as the bad guy,” Lorcan said. His eyes narrowed. “Fine. Make me your bad guy. If that saves your life, then so be it.”
And something broke inside of her at those words.
The ceremony had already begun. Her powers were depleted, and his were infinite. There was no way for her to save herself this time. She’d gotten lucky time and time again. She’d had the spear against King Louis. She’d phased to escape Jason. There was no escaping Lorcan. Not when the universe seemed to want their joining. Her approval mattered little.
There was only one way to stop this: she needed help.
But no one was going to waltz in and save her. Her friends who had always been at her side were gone. They’d been concerned about her, talking to others about her behind her back instead of bringing their concerns directly to her. They probably wanted this. Colette and Nate and Maura could do nothing to stop this. And Graves…there was no way to get to Graves.
The universe hated her enough to give her a mental connection with Lorcan and not the person that she loved. The technology that had linked them was nothing compared to this mental, emotional communion. Something she could never have with Graves.
It was truly over. She was finished. Lorcan had won.
A tear tracked down her cheek at that debilitating thought. She was a fighter at heart. She had always prided herself on her own self-reliance. On the ability to get herself out of sticky situations. But there was nothing she could do against what Lorcan was doing to her. Not when she was at her lowest. She would do anything to stop him. But what else did she have?
Her knees buckled, and she nearly collapsed as she hit peak overwhelm. Lorcan reached for her with his free hand, keeping her on her feet. He was saying something to her. Some pretentious bullshit about how this was good for her, how it would keep her mind intact. Her magic was what he really meant. The magic of his wife. The connection he’d lost nearly a century ago.
Lorcan wanted this. He wanted her to second-guess her friends and family. To second-guess Graves. He wanted her to have only him to turn to.
Maybe Graves was a villain, but if he was, then he was a villain of Lorcan’s making.
All of that shit about Graves infiltrating her mind and breaking it was bullshit. Lies and propaganda about the enemy Lorcan had created that he really believed. It wasn’t the Graves that she knew.
“No,” she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
“No?” Lorcan asked.
But she didn’t elaborate. Everything was no.
She might not be able do it by herself, and she might not have anyone coming to save her—but if Graves had been in her mind, if their magic connecting during the solstice had changed his powers enough to send images into her mind, then maybe there was a link.
In the end, she had to decide whether love was enough. Whether love meant trust. She’d met Graves where he was in the dark and let him see her own darkness in turn. They were one and the same. A mirror.