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)
“It’s going to be hard to push him out with the bond in place. But he doesn’t know when you’re kissing him. He might want you to think that he’s always there in your head. But he isn’t.”
“Could it just be stronger? Could it be possible it’s changed?”
“Sorry. You’re in new territory, I’m afraid. But I’m going to say that he doesn’t know. That doesn’t mean he won’t try to make it more difficult for you to be together. He’s still the Oak King. He still hates Graves as like his main personality trait. And he lost everything to try to get at you, babe.”
“He lost everything because of his own hubris.”
“True. He’s not making it easy on me, either,” Niamh grumbled.
“What do you mean?”
Niamh waved her off. “Just internal Druid stuff. Many still believe he should rule even though I sit on the Oak Throne.”
“That sounds like him.”
“Doesn’t it? So I’m not Team Lorcan right now, either. But I can see he’s lost his people, his land, his throne all for you. He’s going to fight to win you when he has nothing else.”
Kierse’s head dropped. “I just want him gone.”
“I know,” Niamh said as they stopped before the bank door. “Come on. I know some people who will cheer you up.”
They climbed the stairs to the first floor and opened the door to beautiful mosaic tiling and marble floors. The rotunda had been carefully restored with a stunning painting, and much of the original mechanisms still worked in the room. It was gorgeous, and she was glad that it had been preserved as part of the city’s history. Even if it had been done by Lorcan.
At the center of the room was a group of Druids in brown robes sparring. One final thunk on the mats as a large Druid woman with curly dark hair laid out another guy with ease and they called it. They laughed and shook hands and were dismissed.
Ethan had bulked out since joining the Druids. His corkscrew-coiled hair was cut short, falling short of his dark eyes and the scar that cut down the side of his face, tracing a dark line across his sepia skin.
“Kierse!” he said with a grin as he trotted away from his cohort.
A woman with her red hair piled up in a high bun at the top of her head appeared from another room and bounded toward them. Gen’s High Priestess clothing was solid white against her pale, freckled skin. And while she was partially blind from the macular degeneration, she could still see some out of her peripheral vision.
They both threw their arms around Kierse into a group hug at the same time, speaking over each other.
“You didn’t answer our calls.”
“Can’t text in London?”
“Walter and George came back without you.”
“They’d barely tell us what was going on.”
“Not that that isn’t normal…”
“But what the hell?”
Kierse pulled back and held her hands up. “Wait, wait, wait, too much at once.”
Gen huffed. “You fell off the face of the earth and didn’t have the decency to let us know what was going on.”
“I was on vacation?” Kierse said.
Ethan laughed, slapping his hands on his knees. “As if you’d ever go on vacation.”
“Okay. Graves and I were sort of kidnapped by Kingston and taken back to London, where he forced us to walk around the city and go to the opera in fancy clothes. Oh, and he pushed me in front of a train in the subway.”
All three of them gaped at her.
“All of that’s true. Well, except the kidnapping. Graves told him we were going to visit, but I guess he took it upon himself to portal us back. That’s why Graves sent Walter and George on without us.”
“You were really on vacation?” Ethan asked.
“As if that trip to Florida to see Daphne wasn’t enough,” Gen muttered, talking about the August jaunt she and Graves had gone on to get the information about the stone. “Now you get to go to London, too.”
“Next trip, we go with you!” Ethan proclaimed.
“It wasn’t a vacation,” she said.
Niamh held a hand up. “Why were you pushed in front of a train?”
“Kingston was teaching me to portal. He tried to put me in danger to trigger it since that does tend to work for me. It did not work here, and I was almost hit by a train.” Kierse shrugged. “I’m going to keep working on it. So far, I’ve only been able to draw a door.”
Ethan and Gen exchanged a glance.
“What?” she asked.
“When was this?” Ethan asked.
“Like three days ago. I’ve been working on it. I can’t seem to open the door, just draw it into the air. Every time I reach for the handle, it dissolves.”
“We have something to show you,” Gen said.
That sounded ominous, but she followed her friends from the main area of the bank toward the newest addition to the restored building—a magic tree.