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’m okay,” she told him, pushing back gently. “I’m okay.”
“Kierse,” Gen said with relief.
“You’re alive,” Ethan said, brushing aside a tear.
“You saved me. I don’t understand how. I was . . .” Kierse couldn’t say it. Dead.
“You joined,” Graves said. “Three became one like the three parts of the soul in Celtic heritage.”
“Three is our holy number,” Lorcan agreed. He looked to Graves. “It was a triskel. You saw it, too.”
“What is a triskel?” Kierse asked.
“It’s an ancient symbol of a triple spiral connected at the center. It was used historically to describe when a Druid, a High Priestess, and a wisp connect their magic.”
Gen choked on that.
Ethan blanched. “But we’re not . . .”
Kierse looked between her friends. At the magic that they’d had hidden beneath, just like her. How Gen had been able to find her and Ethan and save them. How together they had grown and healed and been stronger.
Always stronger together.
“Yes,” Lorcan said, looking at Ethan. “You’re a Druid.”
“And I’m a High Priestess,” Gen said in shock.
“You are my people,” Lorcan continued. “You belong with me. Only I can help and train you.” He held his hand out. “Let me guide you.”
Kierse barked out a laugh, surprised that there was no more pain. She rolled to standing, reaching for her spear, before helping Gen and Ethan off the floor.
“Like we would ever trust you after all that you have done.” She put herself between Lorcan and her friends. “You would have to go through me first.”
“I am not your enemy,” he told her.
“You will leave this place and never come back,” Kierse commanded.
Lorcan’s eyes roamed over her as if seeing something in her for the first time. His eyes widened, and his voice pitched low with emotion. “I have missed you so.”
Kierse whirled the spear around. “Leave, Lorcan.”
Lorcan eyed the spear and Graves still lying on the floor before looking back at Kierse. “We will meet again.”
“And if we do, then pray I let you walk away a second time.”
Lorcan grinned and nodded. “Until next time, a chuisle mo chroí.”
Kierse furrowed her brow, not understanding the words coming out of his mouth. She wondered what they meant. But then he just nodded and helped Aisling carry Niall’s body out of the library.
She waited until they were finally gone before turning to Graves, who had risen once more to his feet. “What did he say?”
“Pulse of my heart,” he said softly.
“Why would he call me that?”
“Wisps and Druids were aligned.”
She could tell that wasn’t the whole of it. Lorcan had gone from reverence when he found out she was a wisp to something else in that moment. Something much deeper.
“Do you need Gen to look at that?” Kierse asked, gesturing to his shoulder.
“I don’t know that I could do much more than get you a sling right now,” Gen muttered.
He shook his head. “I’ll . . . be fine. Fast healer.”
Gen and Ethan disappeared behind her as she stared at Graves. She had saved his life. He had tried to save hers. Nothing would change that. But nothing could change the betrayal she felt, either.
“Could you see the vision?” he asked.
“The wildflower fields by the lake?”
He closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. “You saw it.”
“Yes.”
When his eyes opened once more, he dipped his head. “Lorcan’s offer isn’t the only one. I can train you as well. You can learn from me here.”
“I think we’re going to make our own way now.” Gen and Ethan came up to Kierse’s sides, taking her hands.
Then, together, the three of them walked out, leaving the ruin of the library behind.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Five days later, no wrens died in New York City.
Kierse inhaled the crisp chill as snow collected in her dark hair. Wren Day. Her day. And she had survived it after all. If only barely.
Nate’s black car came to a stop before her. He rolled the passenger window down. “You ready?”
She touched the wren necklace at her throat. The legacy her parents had given her, whatever may have happened to them. She still didn’t have answers, but she was going to get them.
“All set,” she said.
She yanked the door open and slid inside. Nate took off like a bullet down the crowded streets. Christmas traffic had returned in force. Christmas markets had sprung up overnight. A tree at Rockefeller Plaza. She hadn’t seen any of it from the sanctuary of Five Points, but Colette had told her about it all happening. Like this season had redoubled its efforts to bring Christmas magic, cheer, and joy to the city.
After the events of the solstice, Kierse, Gen, and Ethan had gone to Colette, who had put them up in a different room. None of them could say it, but they weren’t quite ready to go back to the attic. When the wolves had woken up a day later, they’d returned to the Dreadlords. Nate had apologized a thousandfold for what had happened while he’d been on lockdown. But she couldn’t blame him. She wasn’t sure that Nate would have been able to succeed against Lorcan that night anyway.