Page 192 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

She didn’t know what that meant.

But she’d known the city felt too quiet. The truce too perfect. After what happened this winter, she had been expecting bedlam. Not this cookie-cutter shit. As the heat of the city intensified, she felt the meddling underbelly boiling and ready to burst.

Kierse was well acquainted with the Broadway stop in Brooklyn now. And how her chest started to tighten the closer she got to Druid territory. Except today…Lorcan wasn’t here.

She had never walked into Brooklyn and not immediately known where Lorcan was. It was disconcerting. And considering the Druid acolytes had graduated today, she would have thought he’d be around…congratulating them. Or something.

So she actually felt light—and weirdly empty—as she walked down the street. None of the Druid patrols evenblinked at her. She even bypassed Declan giving orders. He glared at her but said nothing. She walked right into headquarters and found Ethan in his room.

“You came,” he said with a laugh.

“Of course.”

He looked behind her. “Where’s Gen?”

“She told me to tell you that she’s sorry, but she got caught up.”

“Oh,” he said, disappointment etched into his features.

She laughed. “Well, at least basic training didn’t remove your heart from your sleeve.”

He wrinkled his nose at her and grabbed a hat, slinging it on backward. “Doesn’t look like you’ve added one to yours.”

“Doesn’t sound useful,” she teased.

“Jerk.”

“Hey, you’re the one who stole all my magic and knocked me out.”

“Well, I didn’t mean to do that.”

“I know you didn’t,” she said, falling into step with him.

He pulled the door closed and tipped his head to the side. “Come with me.”

There was still distance between the two of them. She wasn’t sure if there always would be from now on. They weren’t holed up in the attic anymore, completely reliant on one another. But at least they were trying. It was better than when she’d first come home and they’d argued. She’d do anything to erase that.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” he said with a smirk and barreled down the hallway.

Kierse recognized the same route she had first takenwith Lorcan when she’d returned. Down a set of stairs and into the long hallway that bypassed his underground vault. Kierse paused at the sight of the thing.

“Think I can get inside?” Kierse asked, her fingers itching.

Ethan grabbed her hand. “Let’s not find out.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t particularly want all of the Druidic Order coming down on us.”

Kierse mock-gasped. “You think so little of me?”

“No. I think so highly of them.”

She laughed. “The brainwashing is intense.”

“Pot meet kettle,” he said, pulling her away from the vault.

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