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)
“I don’t know that Anne has friends.”
“So, she is your cat,” Kierse said, meeting his gaze.
“She is,” he said softly. The one thing he seemed to soften for. And then he added, “I’ve been checking on you.”
“Personally?”
Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he was starting to soften for her, too.
“Yes, personally,” he said, his eyes boring into hers. “The magic burn is hard on your system. I gave you an antidote, but it didn’t seem to be speeding up your recovery. Or at least not fast enough for my liking. How are you feeling?”
“Not great,” she admitted. “I still don’t understand how I wasn’t immune. I know you told me on the plane, but it’s fuzzy. Actually, a lot after the wish powder is fuzzy.”
He frowned. “I believed that you were immune to Imani’s wish granting, because it was in the ventilation system. So you would have been breathing it in all night and you didn’t appear to be addled.”
Hadn’t she, though? But it certainly hadn’t felt like being set on fire from the inside out. It had just felt like lust. Plain and simple desire.
“Did you know beforehand that it would be pumped in through the ventilation system?”
He was silent a moment too long before saying, “I needed to test your immunity to it, and I had the antidote with me.”
So, he had known, and he’d risked her anyway. He had told her it was a test. He’d informed her from the beginning, but that didn’t stop it from riling her. Not after what happened underground.
“I could have died in that vault.”
“I believed it to be a controlled test,” he told her. Then his eyes hardened. “Things got out of hand.”
“No job ever goes exactly to plan.”
“No, but I never intended to risk your health or safety as mine were when my limits were tested,” he admitted, then frowned at that admission like he hadn’t quite anticipated saying it. “I did not like to see you hurting.”
Her heart hammered at those words. Because her brain told her that a man like this could not want that. Jason had never considered her health and safety. In fact, he had been the one to purposely put her in harm’s way. It had been his hands doing the dirty work.
Yet Graves looked sincere. And in that moment, she believed him. He hadn’t thought that she would get hurt. He didn’t want to see her hurt. The last piece of that train of thought slotted into place: he had been upset by her sickness.
“I’m okay,” she told him softly. “I’m already feeling better. With a meal, I can probably start training tomorrow.”
Tension released from his shoulders. “Good.”
“Well, did we even get the information we were looking for?”
His stormy eyes were dark, but he looked away from her as he casually cast one of the letters into the flames.
She gaped. “What are you doing?”
He still didn’t look at her as he said, “What information did you think was in these letters?”
“You said it held information to get the spear.”
“Did I?” he asked, tossing another into the fire.
She racked her brain. Had he said that? He’d definitely implied it.
No, he hadn’t said it. She was the one who had implied it, and he’d agreed. She’d walked right into his plans. So eager to prove herself, to get this test over with, she hadn’t even considered that he was sparing the truth for his own aims.
“So . . . what’s in the letters?”
“They’re of a personal nature. I’ve wanted them back for a hundred and fifty years.”
She nodded her head, understanding winking into existence. A dangerous smile crossed her lips. “You used me to strike back at your enemies.”
Oh, how clever he was. She’d hate him if she didn’t appreciate the brilliant machinations under his dark exterior.
“Something like that.”
“And if I’d failed?”
This time, he smiled, that lethal calm washing over him. “You assured me that you didn’t fail.”
“Of course.”
“This is how things are done. I wasn’t going to let you attempt to steal the spear before you even knew if you could access it.”
She felt the truth in his statement. “Well, at least we are one step closer to the spear.”
He stilled at the sardonic tone in her voice. Like for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he’d actually gotten away with his own subterfuge or if she was going to bellow at him. They watched each other across the sitting room, his eyes considering her thoughtfully.
“We are.”
“But when we go after the spear, maybe I should know all parts of the plan.”
“As you say,” he said simply.
She wouldn’t have believed him if she hadn’t seen his momentary break about her being sick. He hadn’t wanted her to fall ill. And maybe he had kept the truth from her about the packet, but would it have changed anything? Looking at him right now, she really doubted it.