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)
“I’ll do my best.”
They were the next in line when Graves drew her away from the window. “I have one more thing for you before you go.” He withdrew a long, narrow, red box from inside his suit coat.
“What’s in the box?”
“A gift,” he said, offering it to her.
She took it hesitantly. She could put the value on priceless jewelry but for herself? She was still uncertain about that.
Her hand stilled when she opened the box to find a little wren nestled inside. She was a delicate gold charm with a little diamond for an eye on a thin gold chain.
“Oh,” she whispered as tears came to her lashes. She looked up, fanning her eyes. “I can’t cry. My mascara.”
Graves laughed. “I know how much you miss yours. I know that it cannot possibly replace the one that your mother gave to you, but I thought it would feel like armor to walk into that room.”
Her hand went to the little bird. It wasn’t the wren her mother had given her all those years ago, but she was much better than the emptiness Kierse felt every time she touched her throat.
“Thank you,” she choked out. “Thank you so much.”
Graves removed the chain from the box. She lifted her hair off her shoulders to allow him to place the golden wren at her throat. He latched it and let it fall where it rested delicately against her chest.
“It’s perfect,” she whispered.
“Be safe, my wren,” Graves said ominously before she stepped into her high heels.
The car stopped before the entrance, and George came around, holding an umbrella overhead as he pulled the door open. She held George’s hand as she stepped out of the limo.
“You look like a queen, if I do say so,” George said with his ever-present smile.
“Why, thank you, George.” She tapped her chest twice. “Anne today?”
He shook his head. “Team Holly, of course, on mission days.”
She grinned. “Perfect. Well, wish me luck.”
“You won’t need it. We’ll be waiting for you right here when you’re done.”
“That’s reassuring.”
She adjusted the magnificent, beaded gown that hugged her hips and chest with a cinched waist and a long, flowy skirt. The beads arrayed across the champagne fabric in a shimmering silver and pearl and rhinestone that caught the eye even in the gloom but left much of her back exposed. Her hair was up in a high ponytail that fell in long Hollywood waves, and she’d replaced her bright-red lip with a dark maroon.
“I’ll take that,” a voice said out of the din. He extended his hand to clasp the umbrella out of George’s hand.
George looked as if he were going to run him through. “I don’t think so.”
“Lorcan,” she growled.
“Hello, my little songbird. Miss me?”
Lorcan had an invitation, of course. She’d felt his presence from blocks away. She hadn’t considered that he would be waiting for her after everything.
Graves stepped into the rain, his tall frame almost stretching with his irritation. “That’s quite enough.”
Lorcan smirked back at him. “Hello, brother.”
“I would reconsider the next thing that is going to come out of your mouth,” he snarled.
“Sure,” Lorcan said, a glint of malice in his eyes. “Don’t wait up. I’ll take real good care of her for you.”
Graves lunged forward, grasping Lorcan by his lapel. They were eye to eye, and Kierse was certain violence was about to go down. And on some level, she was fine with it. Fuck around and find out. On the other hand, they had too much at stake today for them to get in a fight.
“Enough,” Kierse said, putting her hand between them. “Lorcan is just trying to provoke you.”
“I’m saying the things he already knows to be true,” Lorcan said. “Kierse and I have an invitation to the party. You do not. Which means I’m going to be the one watching her back tonight. And he and I both know that it’s better to have someone at her back than to walk in there alone.”
“I’d rather she go in alone,” Graves said. Which he could say because the plan rested on him finding his own way inside.
Lorcan tipped his head at him. “You don’t want her with a full boost at her side?”
Kierse gasped as her powers fully opened once more. A feeling she hadn’t had since Edinburgh. It had been over too quick, and she hadn’t appreciated it like she should have when she killed Archie. She doubled over slightly as the full weight of her powers came back, and she adjusted to them all over again.
“We’re more powerful together,” Lorcan countered.
“Graves,” she said, straightening. “He’s right.”
Graves’s head shifted to her. His gaze slid down her dress and must have felt the energy radiating off her. He pushed Lorcan away from him, who just laughed. Then Graves pressed a kiss to her lips. Still, her absorption wouldn’t drop. She wanted to strangle Lorcan.