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)
Gen, Ethan, and Niamh argued behind her, telling her not to do it, telling her all the ways it wasn’t worth it.
But they didn’t know.
Could never know.
Should never know.
The pain in her heart was threatening to rip her into pieces. The thought of no Graves at all…
No, she couldn’t do that.
This was her bargaining chip.
This was all she had.
As he had done to close the door and save her life, she would do anything to bring him back.
“Done,” she said, holding out her hand.
Lorcan’s eyes widened in surprise. He placed his in hers. “Done.”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Kierse rose to unsteady feet. Lorcan tried to help her, but she pushed him aside. The last thing she wanted was his help. She would do this thing. She would save Graves’s life. And maybe she would be miserable the rest of her life. But it would be worth it.
The stone hadn’t moved from its place near the tree. Not even the indoor tornado had touched it. The wrapping was long gone, but the stone remained implacable.
“You don’t have to do this,” Niamh said, following her to the stone, Gen and Ethan on her heels. “You don’t know what the stone is going to take in exchange for the geas.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“We could find a necromancer,” Niamh continued. “Do a spell.”
“They don’t work,” she snarled. “Graves tried for Emilie, and they don’t work.”
Lorcan look startled. “For Emilie?”
But she couldn’t talk to him. She just had to save Graves’s life.
“He wouldn’t want you to do this,” Gen said.
“He’s not here to stop me. That’s the point.”
“What if it makes things worse?” Ethan asked.
“How could it be worse?”
“I wouldn’t ask that,” Niamh muttered.
“Leave her be,” Lorcan commanded. “She’s made her choice.”
“Oh, now you care about her choices,” Niamh snarled.
Lorcan waved her off. “I didn’t kill Brannon.”
“But you could bring him back,” Niamh argued. “You could make it happen.”
Lorcan shrugged her off again. “We are connected, but I am at my lowest. It is fully winter at this point. Even with Kierse feeding me, it is safer to have the stone give me the power to make sure it is done right.”
“Then make a different promise!” Niamh said. “Kierse, listen.”
“I can’t bring him back, and he isn’t going to do it otherwise,” Kierse said. “Are you?”
Lorcan said nothing, but she saw in his eyes that he would not. She knew without another uttered word what his price was. And it was the only one he was willing to accept.
“This is ludicrous,” Niamh said. “It’s going to backfire. Geases always backfire.”
Kierse took Niamh’s hand. “Tell me another way to bring him back. You’re the healer.”
Niamh looked panicked and horrified a long moment before dropping her head. “I don’t know another way. We’d have to research. We’d have to…”
“Let me do this.”
“Just know,” Niamh said with a crack in her facade, “it isn’t going to be what you think it is. It never is. Faerie promises are never what we expect them to be.”
“Will Graves be alive after this?”
“Yes,” Niamh said, “but at what cost?”
“The cost is already too great.”
Then she set her hand on the Stone of Fal and heard the familiar, “Hello again, hero.”
“I wish to make a geas upon you.”
“A geas you say?” the stone asked curiously. “Not to put a king upon my throne?”
“Not today.”
“You are free to do so. My magic has been used to make promises upon since the dawn of time.”
“Is there…any way to break a geas that I make upon you?” she asked with uncertainty.
“Promises are not meant to be broken. You and I have already discussed this.”
“But you said that there was another way to break the bond.”
“This is true. But the only way for it to happen is for you to discover it yourself.”
She swallowed. “That’s not promising.”
“It is the way of things. Only make promises you intend to keep. Know that all magic extracts something from its user.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of it?”
“There are few heroes of an age.”
Did that mean she shouldn’t do this or that it would mourn whatever price it cost? She didn’t know. None of the costs felt like they were bad enough to let Graves lay cold. She would follow him if she had to live this life. Then there would be no heroes.
“Could you bring someone back from the dead?” she asked in a last-ditch effort.
“No one can return the dead to the living. And if they can, then you do not want to see what they have become.”
Just as Graves had said.
So this was the only way. Lorcan had the connection to Graves. It wasn’t a resurrection. And trying it herself wasn’t going to be possible. If she even could do it.
“Make your geas, hero, or put your king on my throne. Those are your choices.”
Kierse squeezed her eyes shut. There was no option here. She had to do it. Graves would live. He wouldn’t be lying on the cold tile before her tree.