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)
“Hey,” she said.
His head swiveled to the side, his hair swinging out of his eyes as he took the pen from his mouth. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.”
“It’s late, and I’m still on London time. Are you not jet-lagged?”
“I’ve been reading all day.”
So no. He was fully recharged. Kierse should have found a spot to pickpocket, but her head was still in the clouds.
“No stealing for me today.”
“Unusual.” He leaned back in his chair, and her eyes dipped to the exposed skin at his throat. How she wanted to forget the rest of the world and run her tongue along every inch of exposed skin.
Her eyes darted back up. “Just checked in with everyone. Maura’s morning sickness is unabated.”
“Mmm,” he said, sliding the pen into the book. “That happens.”
“Yeah. Ethan and Corey are double dating with Gen and Ronan. Apparently, there’s a new place in Hell’s Kitchen for sushi.”
“That should be interesting.”
Kierse shrugged, leaving her friends to their own relationship issues. “There was a development at the triskel tree. A door appeared in the center.”
He reared backward.
“An Ash Door. Do you know anything about that?”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.” He looked frustrated as he made a note in his open legal pad. As if it was one more thing to add to his studies.
“Do you think it was because I was opening portal doors?”
He pursed his lips. “Perhaps. I’ll look into it.”
“You seem pretty busy.” She tipped her chin at the pile of books. “What’s all this?”
“Research.”
“For?”
He hesitated. He had been doing that more often. It was about the bond. He was trying to figure out a way to break it. Turning himself inside out to try to fix an unfixable thing. How frustrating that must be for a warlock of knowledge.
“You know what? Never mind,” she said, taking a step back when he didn’t elaborate. “I’m too beat to follow anyway.”
“Wren…”
She held a hand up. “Tell me tomorrow. I’m going to pass out.”
He hesitated again before nodding. “I’ll be in soon.”
She forced a laugh. “If I know you at all, you’ll be up all night in here.”
“You do know me,” he said in a soft tone that went straight to her heart.
She would have killed to hear him say that in the past. For them to know each other this well. For these intimate moments to exist without just sex. She’d never opened herself up to that. And now that she had it…it was all jumbled.
Still, she forced herself to turn from his office and into his bedroom, reaching for one of his white dress shirts. It hung long to her knees and smelled like him—leather and fresh parchment. She inhaled deeply, savoring the parts of him that she could have.
She drifted to the nightstand and ran her fingers over the carved birds that rested there. “Hello, little wren,” she whispered.
Graves had told her that he’d begun carving them when he was with the Druids. Back when everything had seemed right in the world. The ability had never left him. And now she knew why the raven had always sat next to the wren on his bedside. Not just a symbol of what a wren was to the Holly King, but a symbol of what Kierse was to Graves, the raven.
A book of poems from Edgar Allen Poe sat on the nightstand with a raven prominently on the cover. Another vestige of his past.
She flipped through the pages until she found the evocative poem about a man who had lost his love Lenore and the raven who haunted him with nevermore. No wonder Graves saw himself in this. He had always pictured himself as the villain in his own story—yes, he had done some horrible things to get the moniker—but this tale was of loss and depression and grief. The other side of the coin that he didn’t show the world.
The side he only showed her.
Nevermore.
Which made everything swirling through her mind more difficult. She closed the book and crawled into bed, hoping her brain would shut off, but it went round and round in circles.
All the events of the last week were a roiled mess in her mind. And somehow she had no words for what she was feeling. Nothing to explain how this soulmate business felt and how much she hated it and secretly how good it felt.
“Trouble sleeping?” a voice sounded in her head.
Kierse jerked upright, her heart rate skipping through the roof. “How many times do I have to tell you to get out of my head before you listen?”
The bond was silent a moment. “I didn’t mean to. You were practically yelling at me.”
“Leave me alone, Lorcan.”
“Kierse…”
Kierse reached for that spot in her mind where the vault was. She opened and closed it. Opened and closed it. She fought for control from him with every fiber of her being. But she was tired. Beyond tired. Jet-lagged and exhausted and today had been draining on top of it. She hadn’t topped off her magic, and it was hard to focus her energy when she was low.