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)
“Is it nice to be in Manhattan?” she asked, running a finger along the bookshelf and seeing many that she’d read at Graves’s place.
He grunted as he pulled out supplies and made a batter. “It’s good to be closer.”
To her. He didn’t have to say that.
She sank into the couch and found it as cozy as she imagined. Her head lolled onto one of the plush pillows, and a few minutes later, Lorcan brought over a cup of coffee.
He returned to start cooking and asked over his shoulder, “Do you want to talk about the fight?”
She stared down into her mug of coffee. “I don’t know. It feels weird talking about it with you.”
“Why? Because I’m involved. There’s no one else on earth who knows Brannon as well as I do.”
“Why do you call him that?”
“That’s his name.”
“He doesn’t like it.”
“Then you have my answer.”
Despite herself, she laughed.
“That’s better,” he said as his eyes dipped to her mouth. “Thought I’d be able to get you to smile.”
A few minutes later, he brought over a plate of pancakes for her. Half blueberry, half chocolate chip. His was the same. Same again.
They both ate without talking. And when they finished, she huddled back into the plush couch, tucking her legs up underneath herself as she leaned her head against a pillow. She did feel better after eating.
“He saw us with the bond,” Kierse said into the stillness.
Lorcan finished up with the dishes and came to take the seat next to her. “He’s seen that before.”
“It was more than that, though. It was like…we couldn’t escape it. Like we were…I don’t know…”
“Meant for each other.”
She nodded, glancing out the window. “And he could feel it. That I felt it.”
“But he already knew that,” Lorcan said as if it were so obvious.
“I don’t think he did.”
Lorcan leaned back on the cushions. “He knew. He’s seen so many of these bonds in action. He knows exactly what they do. Why do you think he tried so hard to keep Emilie from her bond? Emilie and Tadhg absolutely would have fallen in love once they used the bond. It’s inevitable.”
“This was different.”
“Because of how he feels about you.”
“My magic was down, and he could read me, and he told me not to touch him.”
“That’s an improvement.”
“He kicked me out,” she said.
Lorcan leaned forward in surprise. “You didn’t just leave because he was being an overprotective ass?”
She shook her head. “He told me to leave. He told me to come here.”
Lorcan fought with himself. She saw it on his closed-off face that he was trying to control what he thought about that. Trying not to upset her.
“That seems short-sighted on his part,” he said finally.
She laughed. “That’s not what you wanted to say.”
“No,” he agreed, meeting her gaze imploringly.
He wanted to tell her to come here. To stay here. To be here. That he’d never treat her that way. But she didn’t… She couldn’t…
“He wants to win. And more than that, he wants to beat me,” Lorcan said reasonably. “We’ve been waging a war across centuries. Pushing you away at the height of our new bond sounds like he’s giving up. And I just thought he was a better opponent than this.” Lorcan held his arms wide. “After all, you did end up here.”
“Not like that,” she said guiltily.
He stood, draping a soft blanket across her. “Can I ask you a question? Your powers. The portaling. How did this happen?”
Kierse stilled. “The cauldron gave them to me, all the other wisp powers that I was missing only being half.”
“You’ve had them since the bond and I cannot control them?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Could I try? If I promise to give them right back?”
Kierse wavered. “That doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
“If I tell you that I don’t think I’ll be able to?”
“Fine,” she said slowly.
He closed his eyes and settled his hand over hers. For a moment, she felt the pull of his magic, the bond that secured them together, as he tried to tie off the new powers. But each time, they slipped out of his grasp.
He released her, taking his hand back. “Interesting. They’re separate from the bond, which should be impossible.”
“The cauldron said it was a loophole.”
“Well, if anything could do it, the Tuatha de Danann could.”
“You’re not mad?”
He laughed. “No. I think it’s brilliant. I think you’re brilliant.”
Her cheeks heated at the words.
“Though I think you’ll be mad at me.”
“For what?”
He pulled something out of his pocket. She reached out before she realized what it was and gasped. Her wren necklace.
Her mother’s necklace.
Her hands trembled as she touched it. She’d thought it lost forever after the bonding. All those years on the streets without it and here it was in Lorcan’s hand.
“I know you have a new one,” Lorcan said, gesturing to the necklace Graves had given her before the party. “I shouldn’t have kept this one.”