Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
“Declan,” Kierse said.
He sneered down at her. “You’re late.”
“Lorcan has you on guard duty?” she said with a smirk. “Good dog.”
His glare was ferocious as he took a threatening step toward her.
“Stop instigating him, Kierse,” Gen said, pushing her backward. “It’s good to see you again.”
Declan raised his eyebrows. “Is it?”
“No,” Kierse muttered.
“It is. I know you were just following orders,” Gen said, ever the peacemaker.
The door to the bank opened, and Niamh appeared. She wasn’t in the school-girl attire she’d worn in Dublin, or the cool business-casual look she’d adopted with the Druids. Tonight, she was in all-black athletic clothing—flared leggings, a tank top, and sneakers. She grinned down at the girls. “Having fun with the rabble?”
Declan shot her a glare. “Your guests have arrived.”
Niamh patted him twice on his arm. “Thanks, Dec.” She turned to Gen and Kierse. “Are you excited to get started?”
“I am,” Gen said. She pointed her thumb at Kierse. “She has beef with Lorcan.”
“Don’t we all,” Niamh said with a laugh. “What did he do this time?”
“Yes,” Lorcan asked as he stepped into the doorframe. “What have I done?”
Kierse faltered at the sight of him. She had to physically hold onto her anger like lightning in her chest. Because he, too, was out of his characteristic suit and instead wearing black joggers and a fitted gray T-shirt that stretched across his muscular chest. His dark hair was loose against his forehead, and those piercing blue eyes shot straight through her. The pulse of their connection was a brand against her sternum.
“You were supposed to wait inside,” Niamh chided him.
Lorcan didn’t even spare her a glance. “And you expected me to listen?”
“He never listens,” Niamh muttered under her breath. “Why don’t you two have it out, and I’ll get Gen and Ethan set up inside?”
Gen nodded vigorously. “Sounds like a plan.”
They darted inside, letting the door fall shut behind them.
Lorcan didn’t even look at Declan while dismissing him. “You’re no longer needed.”
Declan gave him a little salute before wandering off, his eyes continuing to look back at them.
“So, are you going to tell me what I’ve done?”
Kierse ground her teeth together. “The binding ceremony.”
“What about it?”
“You didn’t tell me about it.”
He shrugged. “So?”
“So?” she asked in disbelief. “That’s all you have to say?”
“We don’t have to go through with it anytime soon,” Lorcan said, taking a step down toward her. “It doesn’t change what’s in here.”
He reached out to touch her chest, and she took a step back.
“Anytime soon…isn’t never.”
“No, it’s not.”
“So, when were you going to tell me?”
“When I thought you might agree to it,” he said simply.
“What if I never agree to it?”
He smiled then. That blinding, happy smile that said he’d never suffered, even though she now knew that he had. “She said the same thing, once.”
Kierse faltered. “Who?”
“Saoirse.”
“Your wife.”
“Saoirse hated me when we first met. It’s almost funny to think about, considering we were married for nearly four hundred years.” His eyes went distant. “But the first time magic flared between us, she told me she’d rather die than be bound to anyone.”
“Wait…” Kierse said as confusion bloomed in her stomach.
“Oh, yes, we were soulmates.” This time when he reached for the place they were connected, she let him touch her. “And you have her magic.”
“I have…Saoirse’s magic?” Her voice cracked as she asked desperately, “How?”
“I don’t know. I knew it the second that I saw you without the spell. This magic between us had already been connected once before, and it was calling back to me.”
“That’s impossible.”
“I thought so as well. I’ve spent the last six months scrounging through everything we had on reincarnation.”
Her eyes widened in alarm. “I am not…reincarnated.”
“You may not be her, but you have her magic. That’s why the bond is so strong. Saoirse needed time to process and come around to the idea.” He spread his arms wide. “All I have is time, Kierse. I’m happy to give you as much as you need to do the same.”
She tried to wade through this new information. Graves had said Lorcan would twist his explanation to make himself the good guy. But fuck, no one could have prepared her for this. She had the magical signature of his dead wife.
And not just that, they had been bound in the past and a triskel. No wonder things were so intense between them. No wonder she could barely escape him every time.
“You don’t have to make any decisions today,” Lorcan promised her. “The Oak Throne will wait.”
He held his hand out for her, his face contemplative and open. Damn him.
“You’re not playing fair.”
“I never said I would,” he said with a smirk.
She put her hand in his. “I’m just here for training.”
“As you say.”
“Not for you.”
His smile widened as he brought her fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss there. “If that’s what you have to think to convince yourself.”