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)
“This isn’t a whim, though. This is to stop Amberdash from consolidating power. This is…the bond…” She choked off before saying more. “We need it.”
His mask slipped a moment. Those thunderstorm eyes going long and distant as if even he couldn’t think about what it would mean for Amberdash to continue to have the stone. For them not to use it to break the bond.
Then it was carefully contained again. Disappeared into the aether of that complex mind. He was pissed that they couldn’t do it, but that was the choice.
“The convocation starts tonight. We don’t have enough time to plan a different way to get everyone in, and the plan hinges on our exit strategy.”
Graves of a year ago would have sacrificed anyone in his path for what he wanted. And here, today, he was sacrificing everything he wanted for his people.
He was right for doing it, but it didn’t suck any less.
As the rest of the team tried to argue with him, Kierse hung her head back on the couch, staring up to the window far above with the sun shining through to them below. There had to be something else here. Some way to escape this. She did not want to be tied to Lorcan forever.
“I mean guess I’m stealing the stone,” Lyra said with a laugh, flopping into the seat next to Kierse.
Kierse grinned at the beautiful vampire princess. “Excellent. What’s your plan?”
Lyra shrugged. “I’m very distracting. It’s not hard to make all those monsters angry with each other. It’s stirring the pot and then using it to slip out.”
Kierse touched her finger to her lip as she thought about what Lyra had said. They knew they were coming and what the plan was. But what if they could use that? “Maybe you could.”
Lyra raised her eyebrows. “Could what?”
“Steal the stone.”
Lyra laughed and put a hand to her chest. “What? I was joking. I can’t break into a secured vault. I don’t have persuasion magic. I can’t just walk out with it.”
“What if you could?”
“I promise I don’t have magic.”
“Walk out with it.”
“What are you thinking, Kierse?” Graves asked. The wheels turned in his mind at her suggestions. He didn’t seem irritated, just curious.
“I have an idea,” she said. “Probably dangerous, definitely risky.”
Laz leaned forward. “We’re listening.”
“And it relies on our actress,” Kierse said. Then she looked at Graves. “And you…if you’re up for helping Lyra with a distraction.”
“I’d love to be a distraction,” he said amused.
Kierse nodded at his approval. This could work. It wasn’t the elaborate plan they’d planned, but maybe simpler would be better.
“I thought you just said we couldn’t do it,” Laz said. “They know we’re coming. That’s the other shoe dropping. How are we going to get away with it when they know we’re coming?”
“By feeding into their expectations. Let them think we’re stealing the stone exactly how we were before. Let them think we’re desperate. Let them think we’ve fallen into their trap. And then turn the tables on them.”
Kierse leaned forward. “Okay, here’s the idea—”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Kierse ran her hands down the front of her little black dress. Graves had it made from a Bond Street designer in London and shipped in for the event. The dress hugged her in all the right ways with a square neckline and short sleeves. The matching black blazer was cropped to accentuate her waist, made out of expensive wool with a white Italian silk lining, and was made for day to night wear. Something she had never considered before. She had been bedazzled in couture gowns and never felt as done up as she did in “appropriate” fashion.
“Stop fidgeting,” Graves said at her side. He, too, was in a suit that matched her dress. A white button-up and blue tie that brought out the hints of blue in his otherwise gray irises. He looked respectable and not at all like a shadow you desperately hoped not to find yourself in a dark alley with.
“I feel like everyone is looking at me,” Kierse whispered as she flashed the security guard her entrance ID card.
“That’s the point. Chin up.”
Kierse swallowed her own fear. This was her plan, after all. She’d had plenty of plans on her own as a thief. But since working with Graves, she’d let him take over the planning stages and gone along with everyone else. He’d been alive so much longer, and it made sense that his knowledge would be what got them there.
But she hadn’t forgotten what Reyna Anderson had told her about stepping up. This was her moment. It all hinged on her, and she was ready.
They passed through security and into a courtyard already teeming with humans and monsters alike. A few people caught sight of Graves and stepped backward. His reputation preceded him.
Graves kept his expression blank, except how it pleased him to have an arm threaded around her waist.