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)
He disappeared out of earshot, leaving Kierse alone with Lorcan. It had been three months since the last time they’d been this close. The night of the binding ceremony was branded into her mind. Ever since she’d felt him in her gut and pressing against her thoughts.
“This was what you were made for.”
He gestured to the dead body, and she scoffed.
“Wow. What a way to win a girl over. You were made for murder. Excellent.” She stalked across the room and retrieved the Spear of Lugh. It hissed pleasant murder into her mind before she slotted it onto her back.
“To kill warlocks.”
“And now it’s caused a huge problem for us. It could get out that a wisp is still alive.”
“But it won’t,” he said, always so sure of himself. “No one is looking for a wisp in this. Brannon may be my enemy, but he can clean up a murder scene.”
She shivered at the word “murder.” “Thanks. I feel much better,” she said sarcastically.
“Kierse,” he said gently, reaching for her.
She jerked backward. “Don’t. I don’t want to do this with you. I don’t know what any of this was about—waiting for me in the vault, sharing magic, working with Graves.”
“How should I have reached out?”
“You shouldn’t,” she snapped. “You should just leave me alone. I’ve made my choice. Not that you much care about choices.”
“I lost my throne and my people and my entire world for you,” he barked right back. “I’d do it all over again for this.” His hand went to his chest where she could feel the pulse of them dragged together.
“You lost everything for your own selfishness and cruelty. You didn’t do it for me. You don’t care about me, and I certainly don’t care about you.”
“That isn’t true. We both know it.”
He took a step into her space, and she felt like there was tacky on her shoes as she forced herself a step away from him. The thread that bound them felt like a tug in her very bones to fall into him. Fall into him and forget the rest of the world.
Logic told her to walk away. But her brain couldn’t comprehend past this soulmate business, and she had to grind her teeth to rip free of it. His hand came up as if to touch the spot in her chest that strained for him. If he touched her, she’d be done for.
“Don’t,” she snarled.
Lorcan let his hand hover between them as if he couldn’t stop himself. “We can make this work. Look at how well we work together. The power sharing can make you so powerful. We can fight this all together.”
“There was a chance I might have listened to you,” she said, throat tight, “but you lost that right on the solstice.”
His hand dropped along with his head. “I see.”
Graves appeared in the door then, and her eyes locked on his. A smile stretched across those perfect lips as if he’d been listening to their conversation the whole time. “We’re good. He’ll be here any minute.”
“Good,” Kierse said. “That’s good.”
Graves came to her side, taking her hand. For the briefest moment, she realized she still had control of her absorption, and she let it drop. Her mind was wide open for him for the first time in three months.
He breathed in sharply as if he’d been singed by the connection that still lay strong and heated between her and Lorcan.
He dropped her hand, and his eyes went distant. “Oh.”
She winced. Things had been left unsaid between them since the binding. He knew what a binding could do. Of course he did. It was why he had tried to stop Emilie. But knowing and seeing in her mind were two different things.
“Try again,” she whispered, grasping his hand again as she forced the kaleidoscope of emotions roiling through her and thought only of him.
This time Graves bloomed into her mind, a collection of images that was almost too much for her to look at. Like a quick montage of all the times he’d seen her and found her beautiful. She closed her eyes and breathed in the images. She almost forgot how much easier it was to explain to him with a touch of her mind than it was to speak those emotions out loud.
“Enough of that,” Lorcan said, and the absorption snapped back on.
She reached for it, only feeling a solid wall. Her hand went to her chest at the cut-off that rocked through her. She glared at him as she realized he was going to go straight back to this bullshit because she wasn’t going to roll over and accept what he’d done to her.
“You should leave before I kill you,” she growled low.
“You can’t kill me, love,” Lorcan said.
“Trust me. I’ll find a way.”
He tipped his head at her. “Good luck with that.” He knocked her chin, and she considered swinging on him as he lifted his chin at Graves. “Until next time.”