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)
Kierse blinked at him, seeing the unwanted parallels between her and Graves and Lorcan and Saoirse. “That’s just a story!”
“And I thought the Oak and the Holly Kings were just a story, too.”
The book trembled in her hand. “So you’re mad at me because of a story?”
“No, I’m mad at the universe for handing me this bullshit hand.” He ran his arms across the table, scattering his books and papers and the ledger all over the floor.
“How is that my fault?” She seethed at his audacity to compare her to another Irish tale as if this was what she wanted. “How can any of this be my fault when I’ve been honest?”
“You’ve been ninety percent honest, but the last ten percent is bullshit.”
“What?” she gasped.
“I want you to tell me the truth,” he growled. His hands clenched. “Just the truth this time.”
“About what?”
His gaze met hers, and it was hard and furious. “The truth this time.”
Kierse met his gaze with a hardened one of her own. “Fine. Fine.” She held her hands up. “Things are different with Lorcan. They’re different because he’s my soulmate and the bond.”
“And…”
She swallowed. “And I have feelings for him, okay?” The words felt like a punch to the gut. “But I don’t want them. I don’t like them. I didn’t choose them. I have been doing everything in my power to ignore him at every turn.”
“Everything in your power except talking to me about it.”
“You want to talk about it? Fine. What do you want to know? What can I tell you since you’re desperate for answers?”
“Don’t,” he said, turning away from her.
“No, look, do you want me to tell you all the details of this? I know what you saw when you looked in my head at the party, okay? Because I had to live it,” she said, her voice wavering with grief. “Are you sure you want me to relive that out loud?”
“No,” he said stiffly. “No, that isn’t what I meant.”
“Then what do you mean?”
“I don’t want those kind of answers, just the truth.”
“Fine, you have your truth. I have feelings for Lorcan, but I don’t want them. Is this what you wanted? Does that make you feel better? Are you happy now?”
“You know it really doesn’t.”
“No,” she agreed, fighting back her own anger. “I didn’t think so. So now tell me how to fix it. You’re the genius. You’re the one who knows everything. Knowledge at your fingertips. Did you figure out a solution in all of your research?”
“You know I don’t know,” he admitted.
The answer was heavy between them. The crux of the problem. Graves had no answers. There was no way to fix this. The stone was out of reach, and it was a big if if it would even break the bond. This was their life right now, and Graves couldn’t fix it.
He leaned his hands onto the table. He shook, and more blood came down his face from the exertion, dripping onto the table as he hung his head.
“Would you let me stop the bleeding?” Her hand going for his damaged skin.
“I don’t want your help!” he roared, blocking her once more.
“Graves…please,” she whispered, small and helpless at his refusal.
“I had the shit beat out of me tonight. I watched you falling for another man. I didn’t even have my own ride home,” he said in seething fury. “I opened myself up to you. I let people in, and this shit happened to me. So you should go.”
Kierse’s hand hung in the air like if she yearned enough, he might take back the words. “Go?”
“Just go! Go be with him if that’s what you want!”
Tears came to her eyes as she stared down at this hurting man. She’d known for so long that he didn’t find himself worthy. That he made himself the villain. And over the last year he’d changed. But now he was reverting right back to where he’d started, and she didn’t think she could change his mind.
“I don’t want to be with him,” Kierse said.
“And I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I just want you to leave.”
Kierse nodded as she tried to swallow down her tears. “Right. Fine.” She snatched the book back up off the table. “You know, you forced me to admit my feelings for Lorcan that I don’t want, but you keep missing the most important part. None of that matters to me, because I love you, Graves, and as far as I’m concerned, there isn’t room in my heart for anyone else.”
She wiped at her wet eyes, waiting for him to look at her. But he didn’t even move. And she wouldn’t stay where she wasn’t wanted.
“But fine. You want to push me away. You want me gone? Then I’m gone.”
She tightened her grip on the little green book, lifted her chin, and walked out of the library. She only looked over her shoulder once to see if he would stop her, if he’d call her back, if he’d say he made a mistake.