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)
Then he was through the door, and all the air left with him.
She exhaled sharply. “It’s all locked down again. Why did he give it back just to take it away?”
“For that reason exactly,” Graves said, turning from her to rummage through Archie’s belongings.
“About what you saw in my mind,” Kierse began.
Graves waved her off. “I know what a bond looks like.”
“Yeah, but…”
“More pressing concerns right now, Wren.” He found a sturdy quilt and snapped it open. He clearly didn’t want to talk about the bond any more than she wanted to experience it. “Help me roll his weight onto this.”
She closed her mouth and rolled the dead body onto it. Still she couldn’t help saying, “We need that stone.”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“You’re sure the stone will break the binding?” Kierse asked, feeling defeated.
He wrapped the quilt around Archie’s body. “I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’ve seen the Stone of Fal in action. It’s known for proclaiming the over king and ensuring the long reign of the monarch, but I’ve seen it create a geas before. I’ve seen it break a geas before as well. Never a bond like yours, but that wasn’t done then.”
“Did you think about it with Emilie?”
He tensed. “I was too arrogant to consider other options before. I just used my powers,” he said, flexing his hands. “To her detriment.”
Kierse nodded in understanding. “Why does Lorcan think you can’t use the stone?”
Graves bent down and hefted the dead body onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “Because I’m no longer a Druid.”
“How would he know that?”
Graves sighed. “I sold my Druidic magic for the sword, thinking it was a worthy price, but then I couldn’t access its magic once it was gone. He has the sword.”
“You think it told him, then.”
“Good an answer as any.”
“Do you think it’s because you lost your Druidic magic?”
Graves shook his head. “I think it’s because I’m not worthy.”
Kierse frowned. She hated that assessment. That Graves always saw himself as the villain. Sure, he was far from innocent in all of this, but to say that the objects didn’t work for him because he was unworthy… What had he done in his life that was so much worse than her or Lorcan?
George cut through their conversation. “A black van just pulled up in front of the house, boss.”
“Good. Come help us load up.”
“Understood.”
Walter stuck his head in a moment later. “There’s some guy out here asking for you. What do I do?”
“Take the feet,” Graves said, tossing the back half of Archie at Walter.
Walter caught the feet and nearly fell over. “Why is he so heavy?”
“Ever heard of dead weight?” Graves asked, deadpan.
Kierse tried not to laugh.
They carried the dead body of Archie Blair out onto the street named for his family into the pitch black of night to a waiting black van on the sidewalk. A burly Scottish man in black wool sweater and pants waited for them. He had dark, russet hair with a full beard, and when he looked up at Kierse as she came down the front steps, he froze into a statue.
“Sh-Shannon?” he gasped.
Kierse stalled at the sound of her mother’s name on his tongue.
Graves and Walter threw the body into the back of the van, and Graves patted his hand down on his slacks. “Meant to give you more fair warning for this,” Graves began. “Bram, allow me to introduce you to Kierse McKenna.”
“Bram,” she whispered.
The name rang a bell. It was the one that her mother told her father was waiting for them when they escaped the Fae council.
“You helped save my life.”
And then this big, burly Scotsman threw his arms around her shoulders and burst into tears.
Chapter Six
“Sorry, sorry,” Bram said, pulling back and wiping his eyes with his sleeve. “Just never thought I’d see you again. You are the spitting image of your mother, that you are.”
“She was beautiful,” Kierse whispered.
“That she was,” he said solemnly. “You’re lucky you take after her and not Adair.”
Kierse laughed softly as her heart ached for this knowledge of her father that she could only find in her memories. “He seemed great, too.”
“Best man I knew.”
“As much as I enjoy this reunion, we should move this dead body,” Graves interrupted.
“Right. Right,” Bram said, shaking his head. “Glad to be of help.”
“Walter, go with George,” Graves said.
George leaned against the hood of the black car in his driver’s suit. His dark hair was tousled, and he looked for a moment like the thrill seeker he was and not the punctual driver who ran Graves’s errands. “Want me to follow or make sure we’re not being followed, boss?”
Graves grinned. “You know what you’re paid for.”
George tipped his head at him and said to Walter, “Put your seatbelt on.”
Walter hurried into the black car while Kierse and Graves entered Bram’s van. They took off out of the heart of Edinburgh and out into the hillside.