Page 230 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

Lorcan stopped at her back. His words were hollow as he asked, “Did he ever tell you how he killed my sister?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “But he’d never do that to me.”

“Would you even know if he had?”

Kierse clenched her jaw and turned to look at him. “Graves has not done anything to our bond, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“How would you know?”

“He told me that he’d kill you first,” Kierse argued.

Lorcan chuckled. “Of course he said that. Yet I’m alive, and the only thing that has changed is you. How you claim to feel about him. What yourchoiceis.”

“You just can’t accept that you lose, can you?”

“I can’t accept that in the entire universe, I was given exactly one person, and she was torn from me. Except then I find out I have a second chance, after decades of mourning. Someone who is made for me,” he said. He reached out and rested his hand on her breastbone, intensifying their connection. “Who I am made for. And you don’t even want to consider it. That’s not possible without his interference.”

It took her entire force of will to pull away from his hand. “I’m not Saoirse, and I can make my own choices.”

She turned away from his downturned face and headed toward the double doors. He’d said she wasn’t a hostage. Well, then she was going to leave.

“His entire job is to manipulate minds,” Lorcan said,stalking after her. “He has spent his life perfecting it to get what he wants. And what he wants most in this world is you. You think he wouldn’t use his power on you?” Lorcan grasped her arm and whirled her back around. “Do you think he’d even be able to help himself?”

She stood firm at those words. Glared up into his perfect blue eyes. Her anger a blur inside of her. “You weren’t there when he was using his powers. He refused to push me too far. He took care of me. He was teaching me how to keep my guard up against anyone who was in my mind.”

“Did it ever work on him?” Lorcan shot back.

Kierse narrowed her eyes. No. He’d always said that there was no way to keep him out. She’d always assumed he meant because he was so powerful. He was too good at it. “He was training me against someone else. Someone like you.”

Lorcan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have that power.Hedoes. So if he wasn’t training you to keep himself out of your head, then he wasn’t training you at all.”

“Ikept us from binding in this very room.”

“The binding that initiated without even a ceremony. That both of us clearly wanted. The universe wanted. But sure, Graves didn’t get in your head to stop it.”

“That isn’t what happened.”

“You won’t even look at the truth right before your eyes.”

“This isyourtruth,” Kierse argued.

She’d learned to trust Graves in those sessions in her mind. Learned to let her guard down around him. Watched him change into the person he was—who fed her information for free, brought her into his inner circle, learned to workwith others, and learned to love. He’d fought for her. He’d done everything in his power to be the man she deserved. She couldn’t be fooled into believing that.

Lorcan’s hand cupped her face, his eyes imploring. “You let a monster in your mind. You shouldn’t be surprised when he shreds it to pieces.”

Kierse shivered. “He wouldn’t…”

“Are you sure you’d know?”

She hesitated.

“That’s what I thought.”

She didn’t want to consider it, and now she had to. Would she know if Graves had fucked with her mind? Her gut said he hadn’t. That he wouldn’t do that to her. She had changed her mind about him all on her own. She’d trusted him to have her back. After seeing the memory where he helped her parents, she’d let him in. The rest had been a natural domino effect after her strong feelings last winter. It wasn’t… It couldn’t be… There was no way it was anything else. Right?

“The binding can stop it,” Lorcan said softly, reaching for her hand. His fingers entwined with hers. His eyes pleading. “We can keep you safe.”

She shivered at those words. “No.”

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