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He clicked the door to her new room open and gestured for her to enter. She did on a wave of shock and something like euphoria.
“How much magic is there in this world?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Have I been interacting with it my entire life and never known?”
“That is entirely possible,” he admitted, his accent crisp. “Something we will discover together. Good day, Miss McKenna.”
She watched him walk away, his hands clasped tightly behind his back. She should have let him go. But somehow, like there was a string between them, she felt a tug to stop him. Just once before he left again.
“Graves,” she called.
He stilled in the darkened hallway and then faced her once more.
“Are there others who can do what I can do?” she asked, the only hopefully hopeless question she could. Maybe she had family. Maybe they were out there. They just didn’t know about her.
“I have never met one in all my years,” he said solemnly, almost . . . kindly.
She recoiled from the tenderness in his expression. As if she were naked before him.
She locked her jaw and returned her expression to neutral, refusing to let him see how affected she was. “And how long is that?”
Graves shook his head, walking away again, but she still heard his barely uttered, “A very, very long time.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kierse awoke with a start, reaching for a knife that wasn’t there.
She was instantly alert. Her breaths came out heavy as she inspected her surroundings in confusion and horror. Then it dawned on her. It all came crashing back. Everything that had happened in vivid detail.
The Druids. Five Points. Taking Graves’s job.
She checked the time and saw that it was early afternoon, then flopped back down onto the decadent four-poster bed. She had been so exhausted that she hadn’t even bothered to look at her surroundings. Just went from the door to the bed and collapsed. Now, in the absence of her adrenaline-fueled rush, she was drained. Her ribs were tender. She winced as she felt along the careful stitches Maura had administered. She’d have to see if Graves had anything for the pain.
Probably best to wash up first. With sunlight streaming through the windows, she gaped at the room as she slid out of bed. The room was elegant, with light-blue paint and cream-and-gray wood furniture. The bed had almost been too soft to sleep in compared to what she was used to back at Colette’s. The navy duvet was fluffy with goose feathers and a dozen throw pillows that she’d haphazardly strewn onto the floor.
She headed into what she assumed was an adjoining bathing chamber. It was bigger than Colette’s entire bedroom, with a full sunken tub with jets and trays of oils, petals, and salts. The shower was a large, open stone room with three heads and another waterfall that fell from the ceiling. The chamber also had two sinks, a vanity, and a separate room just for the toilet.
Then she found the closet. It was easily twice the size of the bathroom and, as far as she could tell, completely empty. Empty space was the epitome of wealth. A whole room of nothing. Was he planning to fill it? Had it originally belonged to someone else? Just . . . why?
But she didn’t have those answers, and she had more important ones to get today.
First, a shower. If the rest of the house was any indication, this would be nothing like showering at the brothel or Five Points. She removed her clothes and her prized wren necklace before stepping into the stream of water. She thrilled at the instant heat on her skin and luxuriated in the fanciest bottles of shampoo and conditioner. She scrubbed herself with a lavender-and-honey-scented soap, careful with her injured ribs. She even opened a razor and shaved just for good measure. The water never got cold or ran out. She could have stayed in there for hours. She might have if her stomach hadn’t started rumbling loudly. Those biscuits from this morning hadn’t been enough to replace all the energy she’d burned through.
Kierse turned off the shower, which she was convinced was her favorite part of the house, and exited the bathroom in a fluffy white towel. Her dark hair was wrapped up beneath another towel. Maura’s clothes were still scattered across the floor of the room, but she didn’t exactly want to get back into dirty clothes. So, she headed into the closet and opened drawers. Empty, empty, empty. There really wasn’t a scrap of clothing in here. Not a thing. Then she heard a knock on the door.
Kierse rushed back out and gently pulled the door open an inch. “Yes?”
Isolde smiled at her cheerily. “Oh good, you’re already up. I thought you might want these.”
She held up a bundle of clothes.
