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)
“Oh,” she said as the pieces clicked together.
“And Kingston likes to joke that I was one of the ravens that left the Tower, because when I left England, it was around the time that they lost the Revolutionary War and began the eventual downfall of the empire.”
“Raven,” she said, reaching forward to brush his midnight-blue hair out of his eyes. “It suits you.”
“Mmm,” he said disbelievingly as he grasped her hand and brought it to his lips. His mouth brushed her knuckles, and she shivered under the intensity.
“We’re both birds,” she said a touch breathlessly.
“Yes but you’re a cute fluffy songbird, and I’m a massive, opportunistic carrion feeder.”
“They kill wrens every year the day after Christmas,” she reminded him.
“Fair, but ravens are usually bad omens.”
Kingston held his cane up to interject. “They’re also highly intelligent and mate for life.” He tapped his cane twice. “Well, I think that’s enough for today. Let’s head back and see what we remember.”
“Remember?” Kierse asked.
Without looking back, Kingston sketched a circle in the middle of broad daylight, tourists everywhere. Kierse’s eyes widened in alarm as she glanced around. No one looked at them.
Kingston grinned as he ushered them through the door, and from one step to the next, she vaulted back across his museum floor, trying to keep from pitching into a bench again. “Ugh!”
Graves offered her a hand, and she let him steady her. “You’ll get used to it.”
“I hope so. Would be embarrassing to make my own portals and collapse every time I do it.”
“It’s a possibility,” Kingston added.
“How did no one seem to notice that you opened a portal right in front of the Tower of London?”
Kingston shrugged. “Surely Graves has explained magical intent.”
“We’ve gone over it,” Graves said as Kingston began to meander the room. Graves patted his pocket as if looking for a book that he didn’t have with him. He always carried books everywhere to recharge. It must have been disorienting to not just pull a book out and read everywhere.
“Well, intent works with my persuasion. I can use my magic to convince people not to look at us.”
“That’s handy,” she said, considering exactly how she could use that to steal shit. Maybe she had picked the wrong thing to learn from him.
“Graves does it, and he doesn’t even have persuasion. So maybe he could teach it to you.”
Kierse glanced to him. “Oh?”
“It’s just my shining personality,” he said with an arched eyebrow.
She barely managed not to snort. “I bet.”
Kingston tapped his cane twice again as he came back to the front of the room, looking rejuvenated. “Well, we’re at the middle of the lesson now. How do you feel about portaling?”
Kierse glanced to Graves, who just shook his head.
“You haven’t started,” she told Kingston.
Kingston grinned. “Are you certain?”
Graves sighed. “Classic, Kingston.”
“Go find the library,” Kingston told Graves with a wave of his hand. “Give me time with my pupil.”
Graves’s face immediately soured.
“You can trust her with me. I’m an excellent teacher.”
“That isn’t how I remember it,” Graves said.
“You brought her to me. I will not harm her.”
Excellent teacher or not, Kierse knew Graves didn’t want to leave her alone with Kingston. He didn’t trust Kingston with her secrets. And he wouldn’t put it past Kingston to do something irrational if he found out she was a wisp. And without Lorcan’s power sharing, she couldn’t do anything about it, either.
“Kierse?” he asked, his eyes imploring.
But if she wanted to learn, she had to put her nerves aside.
“It’s fine,” she said, pressing a kiss to his lips. “I can do this. And you’re itching to read something.”
It was a testament to how much he must have wanted to recharge that he finally nodded, giving her space. His jaw was still clenched as he said, “I’ll get a book and come back. If you harm a single hair on her head—”
“Yes, yes, threaten me all you like, but I get results.”
He glanced over his shoulder once with a creased brow as he headed out of the room, leaving her alone with his mentor.
“We probably only have a few minutes,” Kingston said with an eyeroll. “I’ve never seen anyone else read like him. It’s as if he skims the page, commits it to memory, and is turning the page by the time most people would have been on the first paragraph.”
Kierse had seen him do that too many times to disagree. She shook out her jittery hands, keeping them away from checking her ears on reflex. “And what’s the real reason that you wanted him gone?”
“Because he’s going to be judgy.”
Kierse let her hands drop. “He is trying to be a little less judgy.”
“Is he? That doesn’t sound like him,” Kingston said with a wave of his hand. “Now, let’s get into this. The reason we walked all over town first was to familiarize you with different areas of the city. You needed to be able to visualize different locations to the best of your knowledge. If we were in New York, I think you’d have no trouble at that part.”