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)
Then Torra grabbed her and dragged her out the door.
Kierse flew out of the bedroom in Torra’s wake. The brothel was in chaos, much the same as the night of the gang raid at Colette’s.
“This way,” Torra told her.
Kierse followed Torra to the stairwell that Kierse had taken to find her. They hurtled down the stairs past other panicked workers. No one looked at Kierse twice when she was with Torra. But she knew that it was only a matter of time before a vampire started rounding the workers up, and Kierse would look out of place.
“Here,” Torra said.
They took a separate landing from the rest of the rush and came to a side exit. Bless Torra for having another exit.
“Now go.”
“I’ll come back,” Kierse promised.
“Thank you,” Torra said with tears in her eyes.
She took one last look at her ex-girlfriend. The tear that tracked down her cheek, the red in her eyes, the terror on her face and trembling of her too-thin body. She memorized what Torra looked like in this moment. Because this was the true cost of King Louis’s power.
This was his real villainy. She had wanted to get the spear for many reasons. For money, for the safety of her chosen family, for Graves’s collection, to keep it out of the hands of monsters who would start a new war with its power.
But this . . . this was the real consequence of him ruling.
She had wanted the spear to finish the job.
Now, she wanted it to slit King Louis’s fucking throat.
Chapter Forty-Three
Kierse evaded the vampire guards that put Red Velvet on lockdown. But the rest of Third Floor seemed to continue as if nothing had happened. What was one dead vampire in a place that served fresh meat and blood on every corner? She was shaken up, but she needed to make sure she had covered her tracks at least.
She didn’t have any blood on her. The alleyway had been dark, and her hood had been up. If there were cameras, she might be caught, but she hadn’t noticed any in the gloom. In fact, she hadn’t noticed them anywhere except on the gates of Louis’s residence. As if the only thing he really cared about in his lawless world was his own well-being. Fucker.
Once everything seemed to calm down, she texted Graves to let him know she was on her way and backtracked down the long corridor that led to the checkpoint. She rescanned her card, passed through the wards, and was on the other side.
Graves waited for her at the mouth of the tunnel. “Well, how did it go?”
“Not to plan,” she said. She couldn’t seem to get her hands to stop shaking.
He took one look at her face and her trembling body and asked almost gently, “What happened?”
“Not here,” she said.
But she could barely get the words out.
Graves just nodded. He understood the need for secrecy more than anyone else she’d ever met. More than herself, even. So, when he guided her away from the tunnel, she followed mutely.
She needed to get it together. She could not have a breakdown. She could not lose control. She had to get back to the library, back to the safety of Graves’s home. Back to the safety of . . . Graves.
When had she started to think of him as a safe place? Hadn’t he been just another monster? But now he . . . wasn’t. That much, she knew.
She trusted him. Not just with her body the other night, but with her safety, and now her . . . secrets. She could trust him with her secrets about Torra.
“This is far enough,” Graves said, pulling her to a stop. “You’re shaking. Tell me what happened.”
Kierse leaned back against the tunnel. She was still shaking, and she couldn’t get herself to stop. “A year ago, I was dating someone. Her name was Torra.”
“Okay,” Graves said uncertainly.
“We met through the Dreadlords, and things got serious fast. She wanted me to move in. She wanted a relationship. A real life together,” she told him, remembering it like it was yesterday. “I was still . . . not ready for that. She thought I would never be ready. We had a huge fight and broke it off.” She met his gaze. “And then she disappeared.”
“Disappeared?” he asked.
“Into Third Floor.”
Graves stilled. “And you found her?”
“I thought she was dead, Graves,” she said around the knot in her throat. “I thought she was gone forever. Vampires raided her apartment and stole her. I only found the information after the fact, but Nate couldn’t get into the underworld. He couldn’t get in because he was a human sympathizer. We didn’t know about the wards. He lost a wolf trying to get below, and he had to stop. We both had to stop.”