Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
So . . . he didn’t know about the spear. Or at least not that they were trying to steal it. Despite him seemingly interrogating her, he was sure giving her easy information.
Kierse threw down a hand to see if he’d bite. “I have a friend in there,” she said, letting her voice tremble a little and staring into her coffee. It wasn’t hard to conjure. “She’s in debt. I’ve been going to see her to try to find a way to get her out.”
“No one leaves that place while in debt,” he said as if he knew for a fact.
“Yeah. That’s what she says.”
“And this friend . . . she’s the job?”
“She’s not a job,” she snapped at him, looking up at him with watery eyes. “She’s a person.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean to sound insensitive.”
“It’s fine,” she whispered. She took a drink of the piping-hot coffee.
When he cleared his throat again, he asked, “Does all of this have something to do with Walter Rodriguez?”
Kierse kept a carefully neutral expression on her face. “Who’s that?”
Lorcan laughed, easy and bright. “He was a failed pet project of Graves. A rogue warlock working in the market sounds just like something Graves would want to stop. You’re armed to the teeth. I suspect you’re . . . what? Bait?”
She gave him an innocent look. “Never heard of him. But he sounds like someone I should avoid.”
“For your safety, you probably shouldn’t associate with warlocks at all.”
“Little late for that, isn’t it?”
“Never too late. I’ll be frank with you: Graves and I used to be close. We were like family.” Kierse stilled as she heard the shape of the same story tumble from Lorcan’s mouth. And he seemed rightfully sad about it. She wondered how much of it was an act. “The only reason we’re not anymore is because of his betrayal. He’s going to hurt you the way he hurt me, the way he hurts everyone.” He traced the rim of his cup. “You don’t have to work for him. Others have tried to work with him as you are now, but there’s a reason no one else stays at his side. I don’t want to see you like that. I don’t know what he has over you, but you could leave. You’d be safe with my Druids.”
“I’ll take that into consideration.”
Lorcan jerked his eyes back up to her. “You look like you want to cut me again. Am I really that distasteful to be around?”
The answer was no. He wasn’t. He was a little too confident, but something about him felt so easy and comfortable.
That didn’t mean she didn’t see through him. He was trying to make her second-guess Graves, and she’d just began to feel like he made sense.
“Are you insecure enough that you have to ask?” she asked him instead.
“Around you . . . maybe.” His expression was earnest. “You put me off-balance.”
Fuck, he was really going for it. Really put it all out there. This must be a front. He had to be acting in the same way she had when she told him the story about Torra—fishing for information. No one could be this clueless.
“Because I don’t grovel at your feet?”
“I am a man used to getting what he wants,” he said casually, rubbing his hand across his beard. “But I just like to spend time with you. You’re different.”
“I’m different,” she said sarcastically. “Try a different line. That one is a little cliché.”
He chuckled and put his hands up. “You’re right, of course, but it doesn’t change how I feel.”
Kierse tugged her hair out of its ponytail at the nape of her neck. It was starting to give her a headache. Or maybe it was this conversation. Or the time. God, she was tired. She downed the rest of her coffee. The caffeine would help for a whole minute.
“I should go. Thanks for the coffee.”
“Wait,” he said.
She was half out of her seat when the word fell from his lips. She glared at him. “What?”
“Your number,” he reminded her.
“I didn’t agree to that.”
He slid his phone across the table without another word. “Come on, trade with me. I know that you didn’t add my number to your phone.” She hadn’t. She still had the business card, but she had never intended to use it. “Look, I won’t follow you anymore. We can just try . . . talking. Friends.”
“Do all your friends threaten to kill each other?”
He considered. “Yes. I’d say that’s accurate.”
She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. The bastard found a way to make it come out when she wanted to keep it hidden. Despite herself, she passed him her phone while she input her digits into his.
“Have a good night,” she told him, retrieving her phone.
His hand slipped out and took her wrist. As if he couldn’t stop himself from touching her one last time. “Good night, Kierse.”