Page 69 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

But she hesitated, even knowing the answer scared her.

“I need help with my memories,” she said finally.

“I thought you didn’t want me in your head.”

“I don’t, but we did it my way,” she said truthfully. “I didn’t get half as much as I wanted out of this bargain, and I risked my life more than once to get it. So it’s time to do it your way. However,you’rethe sticking point.”

“Ah,” he said slowly. “Because you still hate me after what happened this winter.”

She crossed her arms. “I certainly don’t trust you. But I’m resolved to believe that you are part of this journey. After all, with all the memories I could have plucked out of my mind, the one that appeared was about you. Convenient, isn’t it?”

Graves’s eyebrows rose. “Are you suggesting that Ichanged the direction of your memories?”

“That’s what you do, isn’t it?”

He blew out a breath. “I can’t touch your mind. Not unless you let me.”

She knew that to be the truth, and yet…she couldn’t let it go. Not after what he had done to her. She didn’t know how to let him in. She didn’t know how to need him without giving him everything. But the truth of the matter was that she did need him. How else would she get her answers? She couldn’t go back into the market. That much was a fact.

She met his gaze. “How do we do this? How do I get past what happened?”

The question hung in the air between them. Kierse had always been fiercely independent. It was something Jason had loved and hated about her. It was what had kept her alive. But if she was going to work with someone like Graves, who kept his own company and his own secrets as close as she did, then how could they carry on?

“I would earn your trust back,” he said finally after a moment, his voice hoarse and full of sincerity, “if you’d let me. I know where I went wrong the last time, and I will do better. Let me prove it to you. I am here foryou, Wren. For you.”

“Not the cauldron?”

“A convenient excuse,” he admitted. “While your skills are valuable, I would do everything in my power to prove that it is the woman that I want and not just the little thief.”

Kierse tilted her head. There was no way to ensure that he kept his word—no sacred vow that she knew of that would make him do what he said. And would she trust him if he had to vow to be true to her? No, there was a measureof faith here.

Their eyes met. The weight of the tension between them turned warm and inviting.

“Fine. Prove it to me, then.” She lifted her chin. “My help with the cauldron for your help with my memories.”

“Sounds fair,” he said, offering his hand.

She swallowed hard, staring down at his outstretched hand with apprehension. Was she making a mistake? Putting her faith in someone who had already betrayed her? Someone who had kept secrets, hid his motives, and worked against her? She didn’t know. But she felt as if she had no other choice.

“Trust me,” he said like a death toll.

“Okay,” she said and took his hand, hoping she was making the right decision to enter another bargain with her winter god. “Time to go home.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Spring weather in the city was erratic at best. Graves insisted it had been in the fifties when he left, but somehow it was in the high eighties when they landed. Kierse stripped out of her jacket as they exited Graves’s jet into the balmy heat, the sun alighting on her dark hair and pale skin.

“Feck,” Niamh said, holding her long, burgundy hair off her neck. “It’s hot as the devil’s tit.”

Gen covered her mouth. “It’s not normally this hot in May.”

“It’s usually variable,” Kierse said, “but not like this.”

“At least you have air con,” she grumbled.

Graves said nothing, just glanced at Kierse as if she could discern what his stubborn silence meant. Was what happened on the winter solstice responsible for the unseasonable weather? Was that even possible?

A limo pulled onto the tarmac, and George opened the back door. “Sir.”

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