Page 158 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“Maybe more so. He knew. He’s known since the spell came off what was there and didn’t tell me.”

“As if that would have made anything better,” Ethan said. “You told him you’d kill him the next time you saw him. Telling you then was a death sentence.” Then he added almost as an afterthought, “And…he isn’t the bad guy.”

“I don’t know. I don’t want to think about it.”

“That won’t make it go away,” Gen said softly.

“Yeah. What else should I do? We’re in the middle of…” She glanced at Ethan warily. She wasn’t accustomed to thinking of him as the enemy. “Work,” she finished.

Ethan blew out a breath. “What are you stealing now?”

Kierse’s lip quirked up at that. “Something fun.”

“You always think it’s fun,” he argued.

“Because it always is.”

“Maybe after, then,” Gen said.

“Which is when, exactly?” Ethan asked. “Because we should start training our magic togethernow. I have weekly private lessons with Lorcan on my growing powers and the abilities of a triskel. You know he was part of a triskel?”

“Yes,” Kierse said. “He told me.”

“Well, he’s the only person still alive who was part of one. He’s the only one who can train us.”

“That isn’t true,” Gen said automatically.

Ethan looked like he was going to argue, but somehow Kierse knew where she was going with this. “Niamh was part of it?”

Gen nodded. “A Druid, a High Priestess, and a wisp.”

“And Lorcan’s wife was a wisp,” Kierse said, letting the pieces fall into place. “They were a triskel until she was killed.”

“That’s why Niamh has been in Dublin. She finds it…difficult to be here, around Lorcan, after Saoirse’s death.”

Kierse imagined one of her two best friends dead for a hundred years and how she would still feel the pain of that for all the years to come. She couldn’t imagine that weight. Didn’t want to have to imagine it.

“So Niamh could train us,” Gen added quickly. “If Lorcan is the problem…”

“Why is Lorcan the problem?” Ethan asked in a huff. “He’s your soulmate. Shouldn’t you be like jumping for joy and moving into Brooklyn and shit?”

Kierse shot him a look, and Gen burst into laughter.

“When hasanythingbeen that easy with Kierse?” Genasked. “As soon as it looks too good to be true, she’s side-eyeing everything.”

Ethan breathed out with a small smile. “That’s fair.”

“We do need to train, though,” Gen said softly. She glanced up and met Kierse’s gaze. “It saved your life. Imagine what else we could do.”

“So much more,” Ethan agreed.

Kierse sighed. The last thing she wanted was a reason to spend more time in Druid territory. Her relationship with Lorcan was complicated enough without adding time spent in Brooklyn where she couldfeelhim under her skin at every moment. But Gen and Ethan were pleading with her, their eyes round and open. She wanted this with them more than she hated dealing with the discomfort of Lorcan.

“Fine,” Kierse said. Because they wanted it. And she had a hard time telling them no.

Gen leaned her head on Ethan’s shoulder, and he threaded his fingers through her hair like he always had back in the day. For all intents and purposes, everything was back to normal. Kierse knew this was a hesitant truce with Ethan, but her capitulation had brought them closer together again. Maybe that was part of the reason she’d done it. She missed him. She missed them all being together. Life had gotten much more chaotic since they’d left the attic.

When the M dropped them off, they left the platform and walked out onto the streets of Midtown. East 53rd Street was the sort of glam that Kierse avoided unless she needed some easy pickpocketing and was willing to put up with the mess of tourists. The subway exit let out in front of a chain store that sold luxury watches and somehow had survived the war, and across from a tech company that had overtaken a historical5th Avenue building.

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