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)
“Fuck,” he whispered.
“So, I planned to find the people who did this and get answers.”
“You never mentioned this.”
“I know,” she said, letting him see the desperation in her expression. The vulnerability that she so rarely showed anyone. “I don’t talk about her. Not with Nate. Not even with Gen and Ethan.”
“And yet you’re telling me,” he said slowly as he realized the implications of this.
“I want you to understand.”
“Tell me.” But it wasn’t fierce; it was reassuring, as if she could talk to him, as if it could always be like this.
“I found the vampire who stole her. I killed him.”
Graves’s smile was dangerous. “Good.”
“You don’t judge me for it?”
“Why would I? He deserved it.”
“Yeah,” she said, breathing out. It wasn’t her first kill. No, Jason had claimed that honor, but she had always fought to stay out of those situations. She had never gone looking for trouble like that. “Yeah, he deserved it. I’d do it again.”
“I’d do it for you.”
She nodded, mutual understanding settling between them. “He told me Torra was alive. I saw her at the brothel. She’s working for King Louis.” Fire sparked in her eyes as she let him see her fury. He met it with his own need of vengeance. “I promised to get her out. I promised to find an exit for her. And I promised to fucking kill him in the end.”
Graves was silent for a moment before nodding. “He’s earned it.”
“Yes, he fucking has.”
“And you?” he asked, taking that last step forward toward her.
“What about me?”
“Are you going to be all right?”
Her fire extinguished at that look in his eyes. Not pity. Not that horrid word that she could never accept. But understanding, acceptance, vulnerability. An instant where they both let their guard down in the wake of unequal tragedy.
“I don’t know,” she admitted.
“Come here.” He held his arms out toward her.
And for a moment, she couldn’t process the offer. Couldn’t put together this Graves who was offering her comfort with the hardened monster she had first met. Couldn’t believe that he could change this much for her, as she had changed this much for him.
She wanted it.
She wanted it every bit as much as the sex.
So she stepped forward into his embrace. She flinched at the first touch, but once his warmth enveloped her, she released the last wave of tension holding her upright and settled into his arms.
Then she began to cry.
Chapter Forty-Four
Three trips into the dark market, and Kierse had found nothing. No way out that wasn’t controlled by one of Walter’s checkpoints. No concealed exit. Not even gossip about how to get in. She’d followed people through three other checkpoints, but that hadn’t been any more help than the one Graves knew about. The extra card she’d filched that first time had proven useless as well.
And they were running out of time. The winter solstice was in four days.
At least while she was within the walls of Third Floor, she could confirm that Torra was still alive. Even if it was torture that she couldn’t get her out. And if she couldn’t find an exit in time, then all the plans were fucked. Graves couldn’t come with her, and Torra couldn’t get out of that hellhole.
Which was why she was back in Graves’s library, trying to find a way to make this work. The door creaked open behind her, and she smelled the cinnamon before she looked up.
“What is that?” she gasped.
“Sustenance,” he said with a small smile that she recognized as something specifically for her. She didn’t know when she’d started to judge them for herself, but she knew them.
“It smells like heaven.”
He set the parcel on the table, next to the map she had been scouring. It had every entrance and route that Graves had discovered into and out of the underground. She glanced inside and saw the cinnamon babka. Her stomach rumbled at the same time her heart flipped.
“Babka?” she asked.
“Your favorite.”
It was. But she hadn’t suspected that he was going to get her any. Even if he’d been mad about Lorcan sending her some. Even if she’d had a complete breakdown on him and felt the warmth of him as a balm. She could hardly believe it.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she broke off a piece and popped it into her mouth. She groaned at the taste of it. She’d thrown away the loaf from Lorcan before she could try it. And it was better than she even remembered. “So good.”
Graves ate a small bite of his own and nodded with approval. “I see why you like it.”
“Best in town.” She ate a few more bites as she looked over the map. “That poor man.”
“What do you mean?”
She glanced back up at him. “Hopefully you didn’t scare the shit out of him like Lorcan.”