Page 149 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“Maybe Mafi is right. Maybe this is partially my brain holding back traumatic memories. She said we could come in whenever. Maybe we should go now?”

“Then let’s go.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Mafi met them at the back entrance to Covenant. Her hijab was a riot of sunset colors, and her eyes were dark and disbelieving as she eyed Kierse up and down. “Didn’t think you’d be back.”

“Didn’t really want to,” Kierse admitted.

In fact, she’d been chewing on it the entire drive to the hospital. She couldn’t ignore the stigma she felt was attached to needinghelp. Her. Kierse. As ifhelpwas something she’d ever been allowed to ask for before. She’d once had the flu and been bedridden when she’d been working with Jason. It was the most helpless she’d ever felt, and she’d reviled every second of it.

It was one thing to ask for help with her memories when she had thought they were a magical problem. It was another thing entirely to think she’d done this toherself. Hidden her memories from her own mind so she didn’t have to look at them. Objectively, she knew that wasn’t her fault, but it didn’t make it any easier to confront.

“But I’m here,” she said with a shrug.

“Guess you discovered that his powers aren’t endless,” she said, shooting Graves a look.

Graves arched an eyebrow. “Who said they weren’t?”

Mafi scoffed. “You never change.”

“I’m here,” Graves said. “With her.”

Mafi pursed her lips. “Well, come this way.”

Graves put his hand on the small of her back, and together, they followed Mafi into the hospital. Kierse didn’t know what exactly to expect, and she was jittery with nerves as they headed down a long, narrow hallway. It felt the same as when she was about to jump into a heist, except instead of excitement she only felt a foreboding sense of dread.

Mafi took them into a room that was less hospital and more therapist office. It was painted in soft blues with dim lighting illuminating the client couch, rows of low bookshelves, potted plants, and a tea kettle. It didn’t have the antiseptic smell of the rest of the place, but rather a warm sandalwood scent. It was meant to be inviting.

“You’ll wait here. Make yourself comfortable,” Mafi said.

Kierse took a seat on the couch, crossing and uncrossing her legs. Graves went immediately to the bookshelves. He scoured the shelves with a neutral expression.

“Anything interesting?” she asked.

“Lots of self help.”

“That makes sense, considering…”

He tilted his head as he explored the next shelf over. “This one has books on how to improve your sex life.” His eyes lifted to hers, and a smirk played at the edges of his pretty mouth. “I don’t have any of these in my library.”

She flushed. “Pretty sure we don’t need any help in that area.”

A knock at the door interrupted whatever was going to come out of his mouth next. The door opened, and Dr. Carrión entered the room. She wore a knee-length skirt with a blue blouse tucked into it and her white coat overtop. Her black hair was curly and shoulder length, framing her light brown face. She wheeled forward in her wheelchair and held her hand out. “You must be Kierse.”

Kierse stood and shook her hand. “Hi. Yes, that’s me.”

“I’m Dr. Camila Carrión. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m glad you decided to come back to the Covenant and apologize that I was back home in Peru when you were last here.”

“That’s all right,” Kierse said.

“And you must be Graves.” They shook as well. “Nice to meet you, too. Mafi speaks quite highly of you.”

Surprise flickered across his face for the span of a second. Kierse had literally never heard Mafi say so much as a kind word to Graves, let alone about him.

He held out his gloved hand. “Correct. How was your trip to Peru?”

“Productive,” Carrión said with a smile. “I’m glad to be back in the city, though. As Dr. Mafi might have mentioned, I’m specifically studying monster mental health in a post-Monster War New York. Though my practice is much broader than that, and I’m happy to have you here today. I’ve reviewed your file, Kierse, and Dr. Mafi filled me in on your history with memory issues.” She turned to Graves. “It was nice to meet you, but I’ll continue the rest of the meeting with my patient.”

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