Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)
So she pulled back and said, “You shouldn’t be here.”
He waved a hand around the closet. “No. I certainly had other plans tonight than to be stuck in a broom cupboard.”
“You’re the one who stuffed me in here.”
“You were caught,” he snarled like it was an offense.
And it was. After all, she prided herself on her stealth.
“I was doing fine before you interfered.”
He leaned back against the doorframe with that damn smirk on his lips. “You could simply say thank you.”
“I can handle myself.”
“Of that I’m certain,” he said with bite.
“What are you even doing here?” she asked again in exasperation.
“I was invited.”
“Invited,” Kierse scoffed. “There’s no way in hell that you would accept an invitation to a party like this without reason.”
She reassessed him. Graves was a master warlock with the ability to read the immediate thoughts of anyone he touched—except Kierse. He used that magic to make his business a network of secrets and blackmail to shape the world around him. If he was in Versailles on business, then he was here to get information.
“Who exactly do you want answers from?”
“Currently? You,” he purred, stepping into her orbit and tilting her off axis. “If your assessment of me is that I’m here on business, then should I expect that you are here to steal something?”
Her eyes locked onto his, and she knew. In his five-month absence, she’d tried to imagine that Graves wasn’t trailing her every move. That she was really on her own as she had asked to be. But no, of course not. She knew exactly how he worked. It shouldn’t have surprised her. And yet…
“You knew I’d be here.”
He slid gloved hands into his pockets as if he had not a care in the world. Answer enough. She wanted to swear at him, but arguing was futile. He would always think he was in the right. Wasn’t that part of the problem?
“Whatever you’re planning, it isn’t going to work.”
“Why do you think I’m planning something?” Kierse asked.
“Because you’re always planning something.” His words were sharp, but his eyes were amused. As if she was unaware that he understood her as well as she had believed she understood him.
“Pot meet kettle.” She pushed against him, reaching for the doorknob.
“Your skirt is ripped,” he said. “There’s dirt under your nails. One knee is red. Your hair is askew.”
“So?” she countered.
He reached up and moved a piece of her hair back into order. His finger lingered on the visibly round ear as if he was trying to see through the glamour to the pointed Fae ear.
“You’ve already stolen what you were here for, haven’t you?”
She released a harsh sigh. “It wasn’t there,” she finally admitted.
“And what was it?”
She ground her teeth together. “As if you don’t already know.”
“Does it please you to think I am omniscient?”
“I bet it pleases you.”
His smile was feral. “I never know what you are thinking.”
“Lucky me.” Kierse glanced away. What was the point of hiding it from Graves anyway? Maybe he knew of another place where the bracelet might be kept. His magic was knowledge, after all. If only every bit of it didn’t come with a price.
But she needed that bracelet. She’d been working all spring on a way to get into the market. This was the only opening.
“A goblin-made bracelet,” she finally said. “Silver with an amethyst at the center.”
Graves’s eyes lit on her. After a beat of silence, he began to laugh.
Kierse put her back up. “What’s so fucking funny?”
“Even you could not have succeeded.”
“Why?”
“Because, little thief, Queen Aveline is wearing that bracelet tonight.”
Chapter Three
Graves made it seem like a problem that the queen was wearing the bracelet. But it wasn’t a problem.
It fixed everything.
“Even better,” she said.
Then she jerked the door open and strode out.
Graves was hot on her heels as she navigated the never-ending corridors. “You cannot think you’ll take it from her.”
Kierse smirked at him. “And why not?”
“She’s one of the oldest living dryads, and you are in her domain. She is queen of this domicile.”
“And tonight is the night where every person at the party can have an audience with her. Which includes me.”
Graves shot her an exasperated look. “An audience is not a private matter. It is in front of the entire court.”
“Are you questioning my skills?”
“Not at all,” he assured her. “But you’ll never get close enough.”
Kierse ignored him as she trotted down the last set of stairs that led to the receiving room. Midnight was approaching and with it, the end of the public audiences and the beginning of the ball. She had to get to the queen before that happened.
A pair of guards stepped toward her with menacing glares but backed off at the sight of Graves. Well, at least his threatening energy worked in her favor.
She moved into the dwindling line that led to the throne room. But Graves grasped her elbow and jerked her out of it.