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)
So she watched him walk back to the very people who had poisoned him against her.
As Ethan rejoined the group, Lorcan returned to her side. “I’m guessing that didn’t go as planned.”
“You guessed right.”
She would have to deal with it later. She couldn’t look at it too closely right now or she would get angry. Or worse, upset.
“Whatever he said, he didn’t mean it.”
“Did you hear what he said?”
Lorcan gestured for her to walk ahead of him, away from the acolytes. “Look, I don’t have to hear what he had to say. I’ve seen hundreds of acolytes come through these halls. I’ve been him. I know what it looks like.”
She clenched her jaw. “I don’t find that comforting.”
He stopped before an exit out to the street. “It’s boot camp. There’s a reason we don’t let anyone in or out.”
“Because you’re indoctrinating them.”
“It’s boot camp,” he repeated. “They eat, shit, and breathe this place. That’s how it has been done for thousands of years. They’re young and impressionable. They haven’t found out who they are yet. They all find their way eventually. Just give him some space.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “You haven’t lost your friend.”
She wanted to tell him not to touch her or try to comfort her, but somehow his words were comforting—the touch especially so. Like drinking cool water on a summer’s day. She heard Colette’s insidious words about using this to her advantage, but she didn’t want that.
She shrugged his hand off. “You can justify anything, can’t you?”
“We have that in common.” He pushed the door open to another bright, unseasonably hot spring morning. Brooklyn had come alive in the time she’d been cloistered in with his little army. People and monsters wandered the streets, a little market on the corner full of fruits and vegetables had thrown its doors wide, a fire hydrant had been opened, and kids ran through it like a sprinkler. It was peaceful. A world she might have had with her parents.
“Did you know my parents?” she asked softly.
He tilted his head. “I might have. What were their names?”
“Shannon and Adair.”
“Ah,” he said softly. “Shannon Cairan.”
Kierse stilled. She hadn’t known her mother’s surname.
“I knew of Shannon, though I never met her or her husband, I’m afraid.”
“Because they didn’t trust you. Because he was human,” she accused. “Twenty years ago, they were here in the city trying to hide me. They wouldn’t go to you for help.”
Lorcan winced. “Walk with me.” She followed him out onto the Brooklyn streets. “Shannon was young. Only about fifty when she was killed. Very young for your kind. Wisps can live to be thousands of years old if they hold onto their mind and their magic. Also very young to have a child.”
She held her breath as he spoke about wisps in a way that Kierse had never gotten from all of her books and research. Even from Oisín, who discussed them more like faerie tales than reality.
“She was young enough that I didn’t know her personally.” He swallowed. “My wife was a wisp.”
Lorcan took two more steps before stopping and turning back to see she hadn’t moved. There was grief in the lines of his face. Something that he managed to hide so well. Because if all the wisps were gone, then so too was his wife. How had he accepted that death and continued on as he was?
“I’m sorry,” Kierse found herself saying. She started walking again. “When did it happen?”
“About a century ago,” he said, continuing forward. “Her name was Saoirse. We met when we were young and were married shortly after. We had two sons as well—Torin and Gannon. Wisps, the both of them.”
“Oh,” she said softly.
“So, you see, I am invested in the return of the wisps. But I do not know why your mother feared me. I would have helped her if I could. I would have saved all the wisps if I was able.”
She’d thought that she’d seen worship in his eyes when he’d discovered she was a wisp. In reality, he was seeing all that he’d lost in her face. The wife and two sons who had died so long ago.
“I think the wisps didn’t like that my dad was a human. They were worried you would judge them for it or refuse to help them.”
Lorcan considered. His eyes swept over her. “You believe that you are only half wisp?”
“Yes? Once the spell broke, I got a memory that confirmed he was my father.”
“Hmm. You don’t have magic that acts like any half wisp I’ve ever seen.”
“But I don’t have all the wisps’ powers, either,” she said.
“Not all wisps had the same powers. Some had more or less than others.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. She hadn’t known that.
“And your signature…” He cast a hand forward, a soft glow of magic suffusing his palm. He trailed off, shaking his head. His eyes were distant when he said, “I don’t know how you could be half and part of a triskel.”