Page 197 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

He glanced up at her as if he could sense her change in mood. “You actually want to know?”

“I guess I do,” she told him.

“There was a troll revolt today. The trolls all abandoned their posts in the subway at once. The entire group of them worked as one and left. Men of Valor logos were spray-painted over a ton of the entrances. The whole time it’s been quiet in the streets, they’ve been consolidating power in the background.”

“I saw the spray paint and a missing troll at the 72nd entrance,” Kierse said as she tried to comprehend it. Trolls were singular in nature. They rarely, ifever, worked as a unit. It was why each of the various gangs had been able to have a different troll guarding their entrances. “So the trolls are where, then?”

“No one knows, but I would wager they’re working with the Men of Valor now.”

“What are they hoping to gain? The end of the Treaty?”

Lorcan nodded. “That was always their aim. There’s a convocation coming up to discuss the Treaty, and delegates from each side are going. Apparently two are chosen at the Monster Con this weekend. I would bet good money that they’re putting their representative up then.”

Kierse’s head swam.“Fuck.”

“Yeah. So that was what I was dealing with while you were gone.”

“Are you coming to the conference, then?”

“Yes,” he said flatly.

She needed to get home. Graves likely already knew this, but it was going to change things for the heist.

“I need to make sure that my people will survive the fall out,” Lorcan said, his finger slipping into the center of her crown and swirling it in a circle. “The last thing I want is another war.”

“Same.”

“So, if you need to go, then you should go. I have shit to do.”

But she physically couldn’t move. The connection in this room was almost overwhelming. She had been trying to ignore it while they talked, but there was no denying that she felt rooted to the ground.

When she didn’t leave, Lorcan’s gaze shifted up to her again. “What is that look?”

“I’ve never seen you like this.”

“Like what?”

She shrugged. “You’re not trying so hard.”

Lorcan lifted an eyebrow. “Are you saying you…like me more like this?”

“I didn’t say that.”

He shifted to sitting again. “You do.”

She bit her lip. “I mean, you wereintolerablewhen you were trying to win me over.”

“I just needed to be an asshole this whole time?”

“As if you could be an asshole,” she said with a laugh.

“Hmm,” he said and then stood from the throne.

He took a step toward her, bridging the distance smoothly, his frame towering over her. The crown was still in his hand, and he set it on her head. The weight was almost a comfort. It had been made for her, after all. His hand moved to her chin, tilting her head up. She shivered under that gaze, the touch igniting under her skin.

“Do you feel that?”

“The…the magic?” she breathed.

---