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)
Graves nodded in understanding. He, too, had been abandoned. He knew the weight of that.
“So, then I was picked up by my mentor, Jason.” She took a deep breath. Oh, how she hated saying his name out loud. “I was raised in his thieving guild—a prodigy,” she added with disdain. “There is nothing positive that I can say about him except that he kept me alive. Barely.”
She wanted to tell him more, wanted to say all the ways in which Jason had cobbled her. But the pain that she endured at his hands still burned like fire in her veins.
“The best lesson he ever taught me was how to escape. Even if it was to escape him.” She gulped, forcing herself to continue. “So, when I moved in here with you, I saw a cage.”
Graves frowned. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Wasn’t it?” she asked. “I was free to come and go but not free to live my life.”
He clenched his jaw but said nothing.
“So, you can’t blame me for reeling at the cage and immediately putting into place ways to save myself when this inevitably went south.” She glanced down at her shaking hands, hating the sound of the words. “I was prepared to die on this mission, but my brain couldn’t stop me from putting contingencies in place. But then . . . things changed.”
Graves straightened at those words. “How did they change?”
“You don’t know?”
She saw that he really didn’t. He had no clue how she felt. They’d both been so closed off, so unable to be exactly who they were. They’d been hurt in their previous lives, and now even admitting to feelings of caring felt interminable.
“At first the job was just a job. But you went from being a monster to a stranger to a friend and then . . . more. Someone I could almost . . . trust,” she volunteered. She pushed forward. “I’m not just doing this job for the money or to help my friends. I’m doing this to help Torra get out of that place. I’m doing it to keep the spear out of King Louis’s hands. I’m doing it for you.”
“I thought you were gone.”
Kierse sighed. “I didn’t mean for it to all go down the way it did, but you had to know things were different. You had to know I was coming back.”
“You were gone for three days,” Graves said. “I admit that I blew up on you, but I thought you made your choice.”
“I know,” she said tenderly. “But I came back.” Her heart was in her throat. She was baring herself to him, and she didn’t know if it was going to be enough. If she had shattered the modicum of trust they’d gained over the last couple of weeks, maybe she’d never get it back.
Finally, Graves asked solemnly, “This wasn’t your exit?”
“No,” she said fiercely. “No, this wasn’t my exit at all.” He seemed startled at her vehemence. “I only left because of Ethan.”
“And is he okay?” Graves asked carefully.
“Yes. It wasn’t the kind of overdose that my friends originally thought. Someone slipped him and three of Nate’s wolves wish powder. I absorbed the magic out of Ethan, but the wolves . . . They died.”
Graves came swiftly to his feet. “And no one came to get me? I have the antidote. I could have helped to heal them.”
“We didn’t know that’s what it was when Nate came to get me. We just thought it was drugs.” Tears came to her eyes again. “I don’t know, Graves. It all happened so fast. By the time I realized it was magic, I did what I could.”
His eyes rounded in shock. “Their deaths are not your fault.”
“They’re because of me. I wasn’t strong enough. I don’t know enough about my powers.”
“They’re my fault,” he insisted.
“Blame doesn’t matter. It doesn’t bring them back.” She swiped angrily at her eyes. “I need to be stronger. I need to learn to use my magic so I don’t end up in another situation like this.” She looked up at him sadly. “But that’s why I was gone these last three days. That’s why I didn’t come back. I woke up and came straight here . . . after pickpocketing a few unsuspecting strangers.”
“I’m glad you’re back,” he said, releasing a harsh breath. “I’m glad you saved Ethan. I’m glad you figured out your magic and how to rejuvenate it.”
She nodded. “Almost good as new. It was like my powers were waiting for the moment when I really needed them. I was able to see and smell the magic. I understand what you mean by intent now. I understand everything. I even warded Five Points to keep wish powder out of the establishment.”
“As I knew you would with practice. Unfortunately, sometimes magic only awakens during a trial,” he said.