Page 86 of The Robin on the Oak Throne

“Are you saying that you don’t trustme?” she asked carefully.

“If you’re working with him again, maybe I can’t.”

Fire ignited in her stomach. The fucking indoctrination that the Druids had put him through. Five months with nothing but an echo chamber had taken her sweet friend and made himthis. He had always been a zealot—first for the church, then their friendship, and now the Druids—and it shouldn’t have surprised her. But that didn’t keep it fromhurting.

She jerked her arm back. “You do not want to be my enemy.”

Ethan straightened. “Well, I guess I should get back.”

“Ethan…”

“I have more training,” he said. “Good little soldier shit.”

She sighed. “Wait…”

He held his hand up and jogged away, leaving her there on uneven footing.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kierse didn’t know how it had gone so wrong. One moment they were laughing and hugging and the next ripped apart by a distance she couldn’t even explain. Maybe it was a mistake coming here without Gen. She had always been the peacemaker, the healer. Kierse couldn’t see a way to bridge the divide.

So she watched him walk back to the very people who had poisoned him against her.

As Ethan rejoined the group, Lorcan returned to her side. “I’m guessing that didn’t go as planned.”

“You guessed right.”

She would have to deal with it later. She couldn’t look at it too closely right now or she would get angry. Or worse, upset.

“Whatever he said, he didn’t mean it.”

“Did youhearwhat he said?”

Lorcan gestured for her to walk ahead of him, away from the acolytes. “Look, I don’t have to hear what he had to say. I’ve seen hundreds of acolytes come through these halls. I’vebeenhim. I know what it looks like.”

She clenched her jaw. “I don’t find that comforting.”

He stopped before an exit out to the street. “It’s boot camp. There’s a reason we don’t let anyone in or out.”

“Because you’re indoctrinating them.”

“It’s boot camp,” he repeated. “They eat, shit, and breathe this place. That’s how it has been done for thousands of years. They’re young and impressionable. They haven’t found out who they are yet. They all find their way eventually. Just give him some space.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “You haven’t lost your friend.”

She wanted to tell him not to touch her or try to comfort her, but somehow his wordswerecomforting—the touch especially so. Like drinking cool water on a summer’s day. She heard Colette’s insidious words about using this to her advantage, but she didn’twantthat.

She shrugged his hand off. “You can justify anything, can’t you?”

“We have that in common.” He pushed the door open to another bright, unseasonably hot spring morning. Brooklyn had come alive in the time she’d been cloistered in with his little army. People and monsters wandered the streets, a little market on the corner full of fruits and vegetables had thrown its doors wide, a fire hydrant had been opened, and kids ran through it like a sprinkler. It was peaceful. A world she might have had with her parents.

“Did you know my parents?” she asked softly.

He tilted his head. “I might have. What were their names?”

“Shannon and Adair.”

“Ah,” he said softly. “Shannon Cairan.”

Kierse stilled. She hadn’t known her mother’s surname.

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