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)
Graves swept her hair out of her face, placed a soft kiss on her tender lips, and said, “I love you.”
Her eyes lit up, overcome by the admission. “I love you, too.”
Chapter Sixty
It was several minutes before either of them had the ability to move. Kingston was waiting somewhere above them. They didn’t have endless time. And yet neither seemed like they wanted to relinquish this sanctuary.
Finally, they cleaned up, and Kierse changed into one of Graves’s shirts. He returned from the closet in boxer-briefs, his holly tattoo visible as it threaded up his arms to his chest. He held a package out to her.
“What’s this?” she asked, sitting on the bed.
“Before…this,” he said, gesturing all around them. “I had a present for you.”
“A present? What is it?”
“Open it and find out.”
She took the box gingerly in her hand, removed the gold ribbon, and then tore into the shiny black paper. Inside was a flat black velvet box. Jewelry? Something to wear tomorrow?
She glanced up at him, but he signaled for her to continue. She lifted the lid, and her heart leaped into her throat. Nestled inside was a knife.
Not just any knife—her father’s knife.
She removed it, holding the worn handle reverently. It was the wrong fit. Her father had been a giant of a man. But still…her father had held this knife.
Her finger moved to the blade, and she hissed as it pricked her. It was still sharp to the touch. She sucked the blood away as she looked over the symbol carved into the metal—antlers around an Irish knot.
“It was his war band,” Graves said. “The symbol of his people.”
Kierse looked up hopefully. “Are they still around?”
“A few of them.”
“I could meet them?”
He nodded. “Though they were monster hunters and likely disagreed with your parents’ marriage as well.”
“Of course,” she said in understanding. But there was still hope. There might be family out there somewhere. “You kept this all this time?”
“I’d forgotten about it until the last time we did memory work and you recalled it,” he said. “It should belong to you.”
“Thank you.” She pressed the knife to her chest as tears came to her eyes. “It’s the best gift you could have given me.”
She had so little of her parents. She hardly even had memories of them. So much had been taken from her. All she had was this knife and her wren necklace.
She wanted more.
Suddenly, holding the knife, she felt as if she was ready. Ready to face her past. To face what happened to her parents.
“Graves,” she said, gripping the knife hard between her hands. “I think I’m ready to see that last memory.”
That didn’t seem to be the reaction he’d expected. “Now?”
“If we have time. I know the heist is tomorrow and Kingston is here…and everything could go wrong.”
He stopped her with a kiss. “We have time.”
“Should we go to the library?”
“I think we can do it right here,” he said, gesturing to the bed.
“Okay,” she said as she settled into the pillows. Graves sat next to her, his hand reaching for hers and squeezing.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
She swallowed. It was time. Time to find out what happened to her parents after the spell was put on her. Her hands shook slightly at the thought, but there was no use holding back any longer. She needed the truth.
“Ready,” she said and lifted her absorption.
“Let’s start in the hallway,” Graves’s silky voice said.
She swallowed and pushed forward to the point right before they reached the doorway.
“7016,” her mother said.
Kierse leaned into the memory. Cillian Ryan had taken her memories from her for the spell.
“7018.”
She just needed to push through. If she knew what had happened, then maybe she’d have the answers she needed to be able to move on. She wanted to find out what happened to her parents. She wanted to know so much more than this…
“Next one.”
Kierse pressed against the crack in the memory, smelled the lemon and pine, saw the crossed swords warding. All she had to do was walk into that room.
It wouldn’t bring her parents back. Nothing could bring them back.
But she wanted answers. It wasn’t too much to ask.
The memory gave, and she seemed to slip right through it like jelly and then past it. They were back in the tiny apartment. It was so like the night that the wisps had shown up to their place in Scotland. The wardings were failing.
“I thought we had more time!” Shannon cried. “Take Kierse and run.”
“What about you?” Adair asked.
“He’s here for me.”
“Mum!” Kierse cried, rushing for her mother.
Shannon bent down and pulled her into her arms. “Listen, love, you have to go with Daddy, okay?” She wrapped Kierse’s little fingers around the wren necklace at her throat. “This was given to me by my mum. It’s a wren, you know that?”