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 was nice meeting you,” Reyna said, offering her hand again as Graves and Beckham spoke quiet threats.
“You, too.”
Reyna tugged her closer for an embrace, her fangs right at Kierse’s supposedly rounded ears. “If I can give you a bit of advice, don’t become a pawn to them. You have to rise above or they’ll devour you.” She smiled like they were old friends when she pulled back. “I hope we see you again.”
“Next week, then,” Graves said, shaking Beckham’s hand.
Then they said their goodbyes to Lyra before taking the elevator down. It wasn’t until they were in the limo again that Graves finally relaxed, slinging an arm across her shoulders.
“That went better than I thought,” Graves said.
“What did you think would happen?”
“I thought he’d throw a punch.”
Kierse laughed. “You were practically asking for it.”
His head fell into her neck, where he pressed a kiss. “Honestly, it’s good to see them happy.”
“Who knew you were a hopeless romantic?”
“Hardly.” His nose brushed against her neck. “You don’t usually see happy endings in my line of work.”
“And for yourself?”
His face was bleak. “Never.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“I already spoke to Niamh,” Graves said gruffly.
Kierse tugged on her jacket. “Good. Tonight I will get my magic back and we’ll both be walking into Amberdash’s party armed.”
Graves’s grip tightened on his book. “I would prefer to be there.”
“And I would prefer to be checking out old, creepy, experimental laboratories with you underneath the Amberdash building. Visage is like a ghost in this town. I didn’t even know they still had labs under the building.”
“It’s certainly haunted,” Graves agreed.
Kierse reached for his gloved hands. “I wish you were going with me as well, but we both have business to attend to tonight. And neither will feel safe walking into that party to get that damn ledger tomorrow if we don’t complete our tasks.”
Graves nodded. “You’re sure that you can get the ledger?”
“If I have my magic?” she said. “Without a doubt.”
Kierse had been in Amberdash’s study enough to know that he kept a ledger hidden within that held all of his dirty dealings. The plan was twofold—discover Amberdash’s motives at the party and obtain the ledger to unearth his private dealings for the Men of Valor.
Kierse was a talented enough thief without her powers, but a little added security wouldn’t hurt.
Graves took her hand. “Just be careful. These spells…they’re never what you think they are.”
“What do you think I’ll see?”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure, which is the problem.”
“You never like things you can’t control.”
He shrugged. “Can’t blame me.”
“I don’t,” she said softly, lifting her eyes to his. “I want to know that you’ll be okay with me doing whatever it takes to try to get under the bond.”
Graves nodded once, dropping his lips to hers. “Whatever it takes.”
She left Graves at the brownstone and took the subway into Brooklyn. His nerves weren’t unfounded, of course. She was nervous herself about what was to come but went into it with a clearer head now that she had his blessing.
Ethan waited for her at the Brooklyn subway stop. “You ready for this?”
She fell into step with him, pushing her shoulders back. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“And what does Graves think about all of this?”
Kierse hesitated before saying, “He seemed…fine.”
Ethan shot her a look. “I’m not Gen, and even I can tell when you’re lying.”
Kierse huffed, but Ethan didn’t budge. “Okay. He’s not fine. He doesn’t like the spell, but he told me to do whatever it took to get under the bond.”
Ethan laughed. “Now that sounds like him.”
“Things have been tough,” she admitted softly. Ethan’s hand went to her shoulder. “Lorcan can get in my head, and Graves can’t.”
“That must infuriate him.”
“To no end,” she said. “Also the bond is…complicated.”
“Yeah. I read a lot about it with Gen afterward. That’s why I’m hoping this cleansing will help. Doesn’t Graves want that?”
“Of course he wants that. But he can’t fix it right now. He can’t do anything about it, in fact. Everything we’ve tried hasn’t worked.” She paused before adding, “He already lost someone once from this. He doesn’t want to lose me, too.”
Ethan tugged her in for a hug. “We’re going to figure this out. And come on, we all know Graves is going to use that big brain and come up with something else.”
“Yeah,” she said, bottling her emotions all back up where they belonged.
Ethan rubbed his hands together. “Well, let’s make this happen.”
They headed into the Williamsburgh Bank building, which was empty save for a handful of High Priestesses in long white robes. Niamh and Gen stood at the front of the building that led into the room with their sacred tree. Niamh smiled when she saw her and waved them over.
“Glad you made it,” Niamh said brightly. “We’re all set up.”
“Good. You think this is going to work?”