Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kierse came to with a sharp, painful tingling in her fingers and toes. Her head was no longer on the hard floor but on a soft pillow with her feet at the end of a couch. Hands were on her cheeks, a body lay next to hers with a breath of distance between them, and heat radiated into her own.
Her eyes fluttered open as a name left her lips, “Graves?”
The body next to her flinched. “Just me, love.”
Cerulean looked down at her. Not gray. Not thunderstorms. Blue. The scent of his magic rose all around her, encasing her in a perfect summer holiday. The crash of ocean waves, fresh sea salt, sunshine on her face. Lorcan.
She winced and tried to pull away but was physically incapable of doing so. Her body was on a permanent shut down. That explained the tingles as her nerves began to fire again.
“Release me.”
Lorcan winced. “I cannot. I’m currently holding you back from the brink.”
She could sense that now that her mind was slowly returning to her. She was drained to the very bottom of her powers. The only connection still there…was the bond. And if she had not had it…
“What happened?” she croaked.
“Why don’t you tell me?”
Kierse stalled for time. “Amberdash wants to make me an attendant.”
Lorcan’s eyes widened. “You’d never agree.”
“He’s the head of the Men of Valor. I don’t know that he’d care if I said no.”
He looked contemplative. “And how did you escape him?”
There was no use lying. By the expression on his face, he knew exactly what had happened.
“I portaled.”
“Yes,” he said with a raised eyebrow. “Want to explain how you can do that?”
“Not really,” she said around a cough.
All of that work to keep herself free of Lorcan, the mental work she’d done to keep the bond at bay, all came down to pieces when she was here. If she let her guard down for a second, it was all too easy. Which was why she had never let herself get to this moment. Why she had pushed so hard.
And now…
“I think I can…” She trailed off, fighting for control. “I think you can let me go.”
“I won’t risk it. You used up your magic and most of mine pulling that stunt. If we don’t get out of here or destroy that amulet, you’re going to be in a much worse position than you are currently.”
“What’s worse than this?”
“Dead,” he said flatly.
She blinked as she realized in that moment how close she was to the abyss. Her bottom was as far as it could go. Lorcan was the tether holding her alive.
Alive.
She closed her eyes and wished that Graves were here. That he was the one in Lorcan’s place. Even as the bond wound itself around and around and around her.
“Don’t move and we should try to power share gently this time.”
But Graves wasn’t here.
And if she wanted to leave this room, she would have to work with Lorcan.
“How…do I do that?” she finally asked.
“Well, you don’t yank my magic like you’re playing tug-of-war. Would really recommend not trying that again.”
She huffed and immediately coughed again. “It’s not my fault that I don’t know how to do any of these fancy bond tricks.”
“I can train you.” He sighed. “I want us to work together. I want to guarantee you walk out of this office, okay?”
“Fine,” she whispered. “What do I do to fix this?”
“You could kiss me again,” he teased.
She glared at him. So much for trying to work with him. “Never mind,” she said, trying to sit up and collapsing backward onto the couch again with a grunt.
“Sorry. Sorry,” he said at once. “I know that kiss…wasn’t what I hoped it was.”
“You forgot I’m a thief.”
“I never forget,” he said, “I just…” He shook his head. “Anyway, let’s forget what happened in the spell. I only meant that our connection is stronger with physical touch, and it always will be.”
Her glare only deepened as she said flatly, “Yeah, well, don’t expect me to ask you to fuck me into feeling better.”
Lorcan snorted that time. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
God, she hated this part. She hated that she had to work with him. But she couldn’t even sit up. Without more magic, without the power sharing, Graves may never find her.
She pushed aside her pride and asked, “So what do I have to do?”
“You’re at the bare minimum. I tried to push magic to you, but it was only enough to keep you alive. We’re both that drained. I’m going to need you to take from me.”
“But won’t that drain you?” she asked. “Won’t you be incapacitated?”
“I’m so glad to hear you care.” She shot him a dirty look, but he just laughed. “I’ll be fine. I’m the Oak King, remember? I have magic that you couldn’t possibly comprehend.”
“I remember it trying to kill me. I also remember that this isn’t your season.” Lorcan lost to Graves at the summer solstice, and they were officially into fall, which was the full turning point into Graves’s Holly King magic. Lorcan was coming up on his weakest time of the year.
“I’ll survive. I literally cannot die by anyone else’s hand,” he grumbled as if he’d tested it.
“That’s enlightening.”
“Forget about it. What’s important is you, right now. Remember when you were power sharing with the triskel? It’s like that. Touch the bond.”
She reached for it clumsily, her body responding a touch too late.
“Gently!” he grunted. “A little less.”
“Sorry,” she muttered as she let up some on that bond between them. She had actively been avoiding it for so long that she’d forgotten how…comfortable it felt. She didn’t want it to, but it did. “Is that better?”
Lorcan’s eyes fluttered closed as he said slowly, “Yes. That’s perfect.”
She cleared her throat. “And now?”
“It’s going to…it’s going to feel good,” he told her slowly. Their eyes meeting one more time in the distance, heat broiling between them. “A fair warning.”
She swallowed. “Is there another way?”
“If I had another one, I’d offer it, love,” he breathed.
“But I wanted you to have the warning.” She nodded her head once.
She didn’t know if she could brace for it, but she would try.
“Now, a slow draw forward.” His hand lowered to the spot on her chest where she always felt the bond.
“Imagine you’re pulling my tie through your fingers. ”
She glanced down at his chest and blushed. Fuck the proximity. Fuck the bond.
“Okay,” she said, doing as he said. It was slow work. Nothing compared to the rush from Edinburgh or even when he’d released her powers on the streets of New York.
They were both dry from the amulet, all of it caged up somewhere deep inside themselves that they couldn’t quite access. And her portaling had only made it worse.
After a few seconds, she felt a trickle of magic release into her.
She closed her eyes on a sigh. Her entire body relaxed.
Just the tiniest bit of magic had taken her tank off empty.
She felt all her limbs release their tension, and she sank back into the couch, her face tilting into Lorcan’s embrace.
He wasn’t wrong. It felt…incredible. Like pure bliss. Like if she gave into it, then it would be the easiest thing in the world. And she couldn’t.
“That feels better,” she breathed on a sigh.
Lorcan cleared his throat and shifted his hips. “That’s… Yep. Try that one more time.”
“Are you sure?” she whispered. She looked up into his so blue eyes. “You don’t have much.”
“I have more for you, love,” he said, eyes darting to her lips and back up. “You’re not quite there.”
Kierse reached out again, slow and steady.
Using the soft draw on their bond that felt like euphoria.
Lorcan’s hand slid into her hair. His other hand ran along her jaw, tipping her head up and sliding his thumb across her bottom lip as if he might kiss her.
She shivered and felt the world settle around them like stars sparking to life.
In the bond, she could feel him trying to keep from moving. Trying to respect the boundaries that she had placed between them. She could almost read inside his own mind exactly how hard it was to not act. She could feel it, too, like an unwanted plague on her body.
She pushed him backward, regaining a few more inches of ground. They both panted, breathless in the renewed distance.
“Enough,” she said on a desperate breath. “That’s enough.”
Lorcan’s forehead dropped to her shoulder. “Kierse.” He said her name like a prayer. “I didn’t mean to…”
“What the fuck is this?”
Graves looked between them. The compromising position he saw with his own eyes and not the reality of what had just happened.
Lorcan jerked up at the sound of Graves’s voice. Kierse kept her eyes closed as mortification settled into her bones. She hadn’t wanted any of this with Lorcan, but he had saved her life. And the consequences of that were now dire.
She heard Graves’s heavy steps as he strode across the room and landed a blow across Lorcan’s face. He toppled off the couch at the force of Graves’s punch.
“Stop,” she said, trying to push herself into a sitting position, but it was slow, and she fell backward.
Graves tossed Lorcan away from her body and moved in to help her up. “What happened?”
“I…portaled,” she explained.
Graves shot Lorcan a glare as he steadily came back to his feet, brushing off his suit. “There’s a magic dampener.”
“No shit,” Lorcan snapped. “Amberdash has the Amulet of Hermeria.”
The blood drained from Graves’s face as he looked back at Kierse. “You managed to portal while someone had an active Amulet of Hermeria?”
“She nearly drained us both,” Lorcan said, running a hand back through his hair. “I was keeping her magic steady until she woke up. Then we power shared.” Lorcan mumbled under his breath, “Asshole.”
Graves glanced between them as if he saw more than what Lorcan was saying. “Take mine.”
“What?” Kierse asked.
“Your absorption is down if you’re that drained. So you can pull my magic.” Graves shucked off his gloves and offered her his hand.
“She could only pull mine because of the bond,” Lorcan argued.
But Graves’s eyes were on her, a fiery anger buried deep. A volcano awaiting eruption. “Take mine.”
“Graves, I…”
He took her hand and winced. For a moment, he was distant, his eyes very far away. There were consequences to him being able to read into her mind on contact right now. He could see exactly what had happened between her and Lorcan. Less and more than he wanted to see.
“I see,” he said, dropping her hand.
“Wait,” she said. “I can…I can try.”
“You fucking read her right now?” Lorcan asked with disgust in his voice.
“I don’t want any sanctimonious bullshit from you,” Graves said, coming to his feet and getting into Lorcan’s face. “You have not a leg to stand on.”
“Graves, please,” she whispered. “Try again.”
He looked at her, and for the first time of their acquaintance, he looked fearful of reading her.
“Please,” she repeated.
He clenched his jaw and came to sit next to her. “I can never resist you.”
So she focused her attention on her magic. Actively using it right now felt like lifting a car over her head. But if she didn’t, she was so drained she wouldn’t be able to leave this tower. Or walk at all. If Graves could help, then she needed to try.
With concerted effort, she actively turned her absorption on, and when Graves touched her next, he projected an image into her mind.
“Focus here,” he said.
It was not as easy as with Lorcan. The bond worked despite the amulet. Drawing Graves’s endless powers toward her while the amulet was being used was nearly as hard as portaling. Except it was better than being dead, so she forced it through as she watched the image in her mind like a movie.
It was the wildflower field she had entered with Lorcan during the spell.
Only this time she was seeing it through Graves’s eyes.
The smell a balm to him. A group of friends—Druids and High Priestesses—careened through the bloom before him.
He was always a step back, watching, observing, but not engaging.
He picked up a purple bloom and brought it to his nose.
A figure appeared next to him, and she saw Lorcan smiling down at him. “Brannon, don’t lag behind! The festival is about to begin.”
The magic pushed through her as she watched them interact as friends—brothers—as she’d never seen before. This one moment contained in time. This was what he saw of Lorcan when he looked up on him. This was how he remembered him.
“There,” Graves said, releasing her. “That’s better.”
“You have so much,” she said, taking a deep breath.
“It’s my time of year,” he said simply.
Kierse glanced around the room. “Wait, where is the ledger?”
“This?” Lorcan asked. He drew the notebook out of his suit. “It was on the ground when I found you.”
Graves snatched it out of his hand, sliding it into the pocket of his suit. “That’s what we came for. We should go. Now.”
“Fine,” Kierse said as she wobbled a moment on her feet.
The door to the office room crashed open, and Amberdash stood like a cloaked shadow sucking up the darkness. Kierse froze into a statue, and Graves and Lorcan exchanged a look. She’d seen that on them only once before in Edinburgh when they seemed to be able to anticipate each other’s moves.
“Unfortunately,” Amberdash said, “we don’t allow party crashers.”
Graves straightened to his considerable height. “I was just leaving.”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.”
Amberdash looked past Graves and Lorcan to where Kierse still wobbled. He knew that she’d used magic to escape, but the look said he wasn’t sure how it was possible. But she’d seen that look a thousand times. She’d given it to every new object of value she’d stolen for him.
Oh, how much more valuable she had just become.
“Guards, escort the warlock to the party for me. He’s so eager to hear what I have to say that I think it’s only fair that we tell him.”