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)
“Ooh, ahh,” she said with a smirk. “Let me get my fingers on it.”
“All on display now, unfortunately for you.”
“Trying to imagine you letting the public look at your volumes.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
Kierse laughed.
He pressed a kiss to her hair. “I’m going to go make a few threats,” Graves said. “I won’t be far.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Of that I’m sure.”
She ran her fingers along the bars of the room, keeping her away from the books. She’d never been so thankful for the Holly Library where nothing separated her from the books. Then she felt a cold, disconcerting presence at her side.
Ah, finally.
The other part of her night began.
She found Gregory Amberdash at her side dressed as Death in a black shroud with a scythe in his grip. Apt.
“Gregory,” she said, drawing away from his dangerous touch. “It’s not enough to have me trailed?”
“Ah, my little thief, don’t be like that,” the wraith said as he came before her. “It was to make sure no one harmed you.”
“Before you could get to me,” she countered.
He gestured with his scythe. “I have never obscured my motives from you.”
“Oh, really? After what you pulled at your last party?”
He made a dismissive wave. “All in good fun.”
“You tried to kill Graves.”
“He was the one who broke the rules,” Amberdash said, entirely unrepentant. She shouldn’t have expected anything else. “You and I had a nice conversation last time we met.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Did we?”
“I admit it was a bit one-sided, and you stole something from me, but I think we’re even in that regard, aren’t we? You can call your hound off.”
Kierse laughed in his face. “You set your hounds on him and are now asking me to stop him from killing the people that did it?”
“You were involved in the last one, if I’m not mistaken. And I can only assume next you’ll go after Nova.”
“As if your wolf deserves to live after what happened with Nate,” she seethed. “Let alone Graves.”
Amberdash’s expression was grim. “She’s ready for you. I wouldn’t underestimate her.” He held his hands wide. “We could also call a truce until after the convocation.”
She looked up into his deadly face. A monster who sucked souls out of the living. Who was fighting to be able to do it to whoever he wanted at any time. The face of nightmares. The face of the man who ruled the Men of Valor. He couldn’t be serious.
“You were the one who started this war.”
“And I still want you on my side of it. You know that you are special to me,” he said, waving his cold, pale hand. “I’ll take both of you if I must. Is that what you would wish? Tell me what it is that you want and I will give it to you if I am able. We can end this thing between us.”
Kierse glanced up at him, trying to find his angle. He was clever. He always had been. There was a reason he’d risen so high.
He’d never give her the stone, and she could never ask for it. She needed to let him think that he led the conversation. She needed to bait him.
“What…what could you offer?” she asked, letting him see the hint of vulnerability he wanted from her.
“Whatever you desire,” he said with a cold, deadly smile.
“These magical artifacts…” she said. “The amulet, the brass knuckles…”
“Surely you don’t need more power,” he said on a laugh.
As if Amberdash didn’t, too, want more power.
“It’s not safe out there. Otherwise you wouldn’t have people tailing me,” she reminded him. “More power keeps me safe.”
“More power won’t keep you safe any longer, but I know something that will.”
She lowered her defenses further despite all her natural inclination to move away from him. “And that is?”
“Become my attendant.” He leaned in at the shock she let show. As if she didn’t know it was what he wanted. “I will keep you safe, and all you have to do is give a little to me.”
His finger flipped through a lock of her hair. The last thing she wanted was for him to get too close and suck out a part of her soul.
“Why me?” she managed around her disgust.
He snapped his fingers absentmindedly. “The vitality. You have always had it. I want to keep you safe in the oncoming battle.” His gaze expressed a menacing darkness. “You should choose the winning side.” His eyes shifted over her head. “In turn, I could rid you of…your latest problem.”
Her latest problem…
The bond came alive, and she half-turned to find a knight striding toward her. His arms, shoulders, and chest plate covered in armor. A red cloak sliding over his shoulders. A glistening sword strapped to his belt and a rueful smile on his lips.
A knight.
He’d come as a knight.
Her knight. After she had told him that she was coming as a queen, he hadn’t tried to be her king. Instead, he’d shown up as her protector, dedicated to her. God, it was so Lorcan.