Page 199 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

She turned to leave, but he followed her down the dais and across the moss-carpeted ground.

“He’s doing it again,” Lorcan said with a snarl. “He’s ruining it like he did with Emilie.”

“He’s not doing anything. I’m making a choice that Emilie wasn’t allowed to make.” She reached for the doorhandle. Lorcan slammed his hand onto the door before she could leave.

“Emilie didn’t make any choices, because he killed her.”

Kierse shot him a pained look. “I’m sorry about your sister. That doesn’t change what happened between us.”

“I suppose it doesn’t.” He loomed over her, and she lifted her chin, meeting his look with a dark one of her own. “But I’m certainly not going to sit around and wait for him to kill you, too.”

“He’s not the same person he was when you first knew him.”

“No, he’s worse,” Lorcan argued. “When I first met him, he was as close to me as a brother. Now, he’s a fucking monster.”

“We’re all monsters,” she told him. “Now, let me leave.”

Lorcan’s arm dropped from the door. She wrenched it open, and he reached for her instead. “Hey.”

“Lorcan…” she said, retreating to that place in her mind. Fear that she’d lose control again coursing through her.

“Just…be careful. Okay?”

She nodded once and then slipped through the door.

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Kierse was still rattled and angry when she made it back to Graves’s brownstone. The team meeting was supposed to start any minute, and she was surprised that it was so quiet. Maybe she wasn’t the last person to arrive.

“Oh Kierse, you made it,” Isolde said with a smile as she came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of drinks.

“Let me take that,” Kierse said.

“Thank you. Oh! Do you want to see the cake?”

Kierse grinned and followed her into the kitchen, where a stunning, multilayered cake sat on the counter. It was several layers of white buttercream with a wave of roses falling down one side like a river of blood.

“It’s stunning.”

“Ready for my delivery tomorrow,” Isolde said with a wink. “Now, let me grab the snacks.” She hefted a second tray into her arms. “Here we are. Let’s go to that meeting.”

“Has everyone already arrived?”

“I believe they were still waiting on Mr. Schwartz,” Isolde said.

Kierse smirked. Mr. Schwartz sounded like Schwartz’s father. The thought of calling him that almost jogged her out of her bad mood. But it didn’t explain why the library was so quiet. With that many people, she should have been able to hear with her enhanced abilities.

They had begun their climb to the library when the elevator dinged and Schwartz appeared.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said, catching up to them. “Allow me.”

He took the tray from Isolde, and she kissed his cheek as she headed upstairs with them.

“Of course,” he said with a short bow.

“Busy?” Kierse asked.

Schwartz huffed. “Purchasing explosives last minute raises flags. I had to call in some favors.”

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