Page 49 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“He’s the child of a warlock,” Graves corrected. “Managed to get some magic of his own. Otherwise human.”

“Okay. And does he hate you?”

Niamh snorted. “I really like her, Graves. You should keep her around.”

“I intend to,” he said, holding her dark eyes. “We have a complicated relationship.”

“You and I? Or you and Vale?”

“He has a complicated relationship witheveryone,” Niamh said.

“Is he your kid?” Kierse asked bluntly.

Niamh went still, either shocked that Kierse would ask or surprised she hadn’t considered it herself.

“No,” Graves said flatly.

He glanced down to his phone and sent out another message, clearly done with the interrogation. Kierse was tempted to press her luck. He was actually giving her information, and that was so unlike him that she wanted to see how far she could go.

But before she could open her mouth, a man in black leather lumbered over to their table. He had to be at least part troll, because he towered over them. His skin was a green-gray, and he had so many muscles that he looked part rock.

“Graves?” he grunted.

Graves came slowly to his feet. “Can I help you?”

“This you?”

He dropped a tablet down with a fuzzy picture of Graves on the screen. Underneath the image was an identification number of some sort and a price of two million goblin marks.

“Fuck, is that a bounty?” Kierse asked, scrambling to her feet. “A for-real bounty?”

“What did youdo?” Niamh asked. She rose to stand as the rest of the bar turned to stare at them. Real inconspicuous.

“I didn’tdoanything.”

Kierse shot him an exasperated look.

“We can do this nice and easy,” the man said, producing particularly ancient-looking metal shackles. “You come with me.”

Graves plucked his gloves off one finger at time. The fact that the gesture didn’t terrify the bounty hunter meant that the bounty didn’t include information on Graves’s particular power. The guy saw an easy score, probably assuming he was a human who had done something bad to someone important. Not a magic-wielding warlock.

“This is inconvenient,” Graves said. “Does it even say who wants me dead?”

Niamh shot him an exasperated look. “As if it isn’t your life mission.”

“Don’t care who is paying as long as I’m paid,” the bounty hunter grunted.

“An entrepreneur,” Kierse said. “You have to appreciate the gall.”

“Sounds like your kind of business strategy,” Graves said.

“Then justpaythe guy.”

Graves arched an eyebrow. “I’m not paying him two million goblin marks to leave me alone.”

“Maybe he’ll settle for half.”

“Cease,” the man rumbled. “I’ll take you in however you prefer. Don’t much care.”

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