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The tension released from his shoulders like a snake uncoiling.

Her breath caught as heat pooled in her core.

She could practically feel him pressing against her mind, offering her a glimpse into what he wanted from her.

How he wanted to take her. Or was that just her mind running away from her?

How quickly could she get him out of this room to ease the ache in her?

Graves stalked across the room. The crowd parted for him as if they could feel the weight of his oppressive gaze on them.

She shivered at his approach, wondering exactly how this was going to go down.

Graves had a charisma that she could not deny, but she had never seen him in this sort of situation.

Only in ones in which he was in command.

Here he was in her world. Not his.

His hand slid around her waist, and he pressed a possessive kiss to her lips, claiming her before the entire room. “Wren,” he said against her mouth. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Late,” she breathed, suddenly forgetting how words worked.

“I went to check out the door. It’s gone. Curator must have moved it.”

“Oh.” She brought herself back to the present. “You went into the market alone?”

“I met Vale,” he reassured her. “I had to pay him for his help last time anyway. I was planning to be here when Gen mentioned you would arrive, but I got held up.”

“Gen mentioned?”

“She gave me the information,” he said casually. A smirk on his lips said he’d wanted to surprise her. “I was invited, correct?”

“I have a plus-one.”

“You weren’t planning to bring anyone else?”

“I had another offer.”

His smile faltered. “I bet you did.”

“Didn’t take him up on it, though,” she said, threading her fingers through his tie. It wasn’t a flat black like she’d expected but instead was embroidered with holly vines. Apropos.

“I’m sure he loved that.”

“He didn’t, but I bet you do.”

Graves smiled. A real genuine smile that made her heart stutter. “I do, Wren. I very much do.” He gestured to her waiting friends. “Now are you going to introduce me, or should I take my gloves off?”

Kierse laughed, an emotion that made Graves almost glow. “I can do the intros.”

“About fucking time,” Maura said, nearly jumping up and down. “I’m so excited to meet you!”

Graves held out a gloved hand, and Maura put hers in it without hesitation. She could see that was a novelty for Graves. People didn’t touch him if they knew who and what he was. But Maura didn’t seem to care.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Graves said gallantly.

Nate rose to his feet. “You know,” he said, when he shook hands with him, “she normally dates girls. This is a huge downgrade.”

Kierse sighed heavily. “Nate!”

Graves smirked. “To be fair, I typically date men.”

Nate’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Well, she is special.”

“She is,” Graves confirmed.

With the tension defused, Nate and Maura pulled them into their circle of friends.

They sank into chairs and faced the couple as conversation resumed around them.

People still glanced over at Graves as if uncertain when the bomb was about to go off in the room, but otherwise, it was as if they were any other couple at the party.

The whole thing was a novelty. Having Graves at her side. His arm across the back of her chair. Their legs brushing under the table. Him listening intently to everyone’s conversations, though only speaking up when a question was directed at him.

With his general aura of command, she had never considered him an introvert.

But of course, he lived alone and had for years.

He didn’t like large crowds of people and wanted his silence and privacy.

Was this draining him to be around people he didn’t know?

A million questions she had never considered.

A million experiences she had never thought she’d have with him.

The possibility of each one as captivating as the next.

It was some time before Ethan and Corey reappeared in the speakeasy.

Gen had ditched Ronan at some point to speak with her mother.

And now all three of her friends rounded the table and took a seat in front of Graves and Kierse.

Ethan sat stiffly across the table from Graves, his chin held high, eyes watchful and alert.

Corey shot him an exasperated look before slouching back next to him.

As if they’d already had this conversation and Ethan was being ridiculous.

Kierse didn’t doubt they’d all talked about Graves’s appearance and decided in advance what to do about it.

But Gen had spent enough time with him now that she was almost…

not afraid of him. Corey looked as if he believed Ethan’s fear was overstated.

And Ethan…well, he looked like he’d rather be doing anything else.

“So,” Graves said, placing one gloved hand on the table. Ethan’s eyes shot to it as if it were an affront. “Are they still making you run miles at midnight during the full moon?”

Ethan’s eyes widened. “What?”

Gen furrowed her brow. “Who is?”

“The Druids,” Graves said.

Kierse glanced at him, wondering what his game was.

“How do you know about that?” Ethan demanded.

“So yes?” Graves said with a long-suffering sigh.

“That was the worst part. As if we weren’t already training our mind and body and magic from dawn until dusk—then to wake us up to run by moonlight.

” He looked at Ethan with a forlorn expression.

“’Course we at least got to run through Wicklow with the Irish wind whipping across our faces. ”

Ethan’s jaw dropped. “ You trained with the Druids?”

“What? They didn’t tell you that part?” he asked, knowing full well they had absolutely left that out.

“Don’t tease,” Kierse said. “Graves trained with Lorcan when they were both teenagers. They came up in the Druidic Order together.”

Ethan looked like his mind was going to explode. “But you’re not a Druid!”

“Not anymore,” Graves agreed.

“How could you have been a Druid?” Ethan demanded.

Kierse and Gen exchanged a grin. Well, that had gotten Ethan talking.

“The same way that you are,” Graves said. “My mother was a High Priestess.”

“How do you know who my mother was?”

Graves raised an eyebrow. Knowledge himself. He’d gone digging.

“I’m naturally curious,” he said.

“Cat,” Kierse muttered.

“No wonder Anne Boleyn picked you,” Gen said. “I had been wondering.”

“Anne goes where she will.”

Ethan chewed on his lip like he wanted to say more. Finally, Corey sat forward and put his arms on the table. “Can you just tell him about your training? Otherwise he’s going to torture himself all night wondering what it was like but refusing to ask.”

“Corey,” Ethan groaned. He ducked his head into Corey’s shoulder. “I’m fine.”

“There were fewer of us back then,” Graves said.

“Magic was still a big fear in the countryside, and we had to hide our existence. The Druids had a stronghold outside of Wicklow and another within Dublin. We switched between the two for training. There were five of us who were close at the time. Two Druids, two High Priestesses, and a wisp.”

Kierse stilled, enraptured as he spoke about a time that she’d rarely heard him discuss. Let alone to a table of people .

“Myself, Lorcan, Niamh, Emilie, and Saoirse,” Graves said like he had gone very far off.

“Saoirse and Niamh were best friends then. They’d grown up together.

Lorcan was in love with Saoirse right away, though that took much longer to develop.

Both Niamh and Lorcan were in love with the wisp at the center of their triskel. ”

Gen and Ethan glanced at Kierse, and she held her hands up. “I already have enough to deal with.”

They laughed. A sound that was so familiar it warmed her heart. She wanted to bottle it up so she could listen to it anytime she needed.

Graves looked like he was going to say something more about Emilie, but instead he kept going, describing the grueling routine they’d followed.

Ethan interjected now and then to explain the differences.

A picture built of the respite Graves had had in the countryside, with friends and a family she knew he’d never had before or since.

It was a glimpse into a different time and a different world.

“I can’t believe they had you get high on the full moon to unlock your magic,” Ethan said with wide eyes. “Like psychedelic mushrooms!”

Graves shrugged. “It was a different time. It calmed us down enough to let us reach further.”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Corey said with a laugh. “I cannot imagine you on psychedelics.”

Ethan started to argue with Corey about the idea.

Kierse leaned into Graves and smirked. He arched an eyebrow in response.

If he’d had his gloves off, she could have lifted her absorption and known exactly what was running through that mind, but as it was, she was pretty sure she already did.

He’d built a bridge. A small but necessary one.

The night continued on with laughter and joy. Ethan and Corey got up later to dance. Gen twirled the room with Maura and her nursing friends. Graves slid his hand into Kierse’s and surveyed the crowd, an almost contented look on his dark face.

Nate was slightly inebriated when he approached them late in the evening. “So, this is really happening?”

“It’s happening,” Kierse agreed. Graves nodded. “Actually, we have business to discuss with you, if you’re sober enough for it.”

Nate laughed. “I’m probably not.”

“You’ll want to hear this,” Kierse said.

Graves nodded. “We should go somewhere private.”

Nate gestured to the party. “Where exactly would that be?”

“I know a place.”

Graves came to his feet, offering his hand to Kierse to help her up. Then they headed across the room, dodging the drunk partygoers and bypassing the restrooms. Kierse glanced sideways down the darkened hallway. Gen had disappeared some time ago and had never returned.

Her eyes widened as she saw Ronan had her pushed up against the wooden paneling of a back hallway, their mouths connected and limbs entwined. As if they were trying to get as much out of this kiss as they could without shredding each other’s clothing.

Nate guffawed behind them at the display. Kierse grabbed his arm before he could say anything. “Leave them. They’ve earned it,” she hissed.

“Fine,” he grumbled.

Kierse didn’t know what was going on with Gen—if Niamh’s rejection had pushed her into Ronan’s arms, or if Ronan was what she really wanted. But Kierse had too many relationship problems herself to interfere where she wasn’t needed. Gen was an adult and could figure it out herself.

Graves turned to a hardwood door labeled cellar . He pushed against it, but the door was locked. Kierse grinned, stepping around him to pop the lock with one of the pins in her hair.

His eyes shot to hers. “You’re a little too good at that.”

“You like it,” she teased.

“Sure is handy,” Nate agreed as they started down the set of stairs.

Graves flipped a switch to reveal the massive cellar stocked floor to ceiling with fancy, vintage wines.

“Used to house old presidents’ and movie stars’ wine collections,” Graves told them.

He continued past the exclusive tasting table set for a dozen to an upper right corner of the shelving.

“Ah, here we go.” He removed a bottle the color of blood.

He plucked a wine opener from a nearby tray and began to uncork it.

“I left a few bottles here in the eighties,” he said as he poured a small amount into two glasses and passed them off to Nate and Kierse.

Nate gulped it back and frowned. “I’m too drunk to know if that was good.”

Kierse chuckled before taking a sip. “Whoa. It’s so smooth.”

Graves poured himself a glass and tasted the wine. “Ah yes, just as I remembered it. I’m not sure how many bottles are left of this.”

“Are you trying to butter me up?” Nate asked. “You could have started with this when you arrived.”

“I came to the party for Kierse,” Graves said.

“I came for business,” Kierse said, elbowing Nate and then took a refilled glass from Graves. She leaned into the table. “We need your help.”

Graves sighed. “‘Need’ and ‘help’ are probably the wrong words.”

“Wait,” Nate said after downing half a glass of the expensive wine, “are you bringing me into the inner circle?”

Graves shot him a look.

“We want you to help us with a heist to steal the cauldron,” Kierse said. “It’s going to be at Monster Con. We’re putting a team together. We know you have an invitation, and we need back up inside the Plaza.”

Nate looked between them for a moment, suddenly focused, his brilliant mind strategizing the way she’d seen him do so many times. “I have an invite. I assume you do, too?” Graves nodded. “How are you getting her in to steal it? No guests are allowed. Security is tight.”

“We’re still working on that,” Graves assured him.

“I’ll get in if I have to come through the vents,” Kierse assured him. “I’m not worried about the Plaza.”

“Hmm…how dangerous is this going to be?”

Kierse winced. “If we do it right, not at all.”

“And if we do it wrong?”

Graves shrugged. “We’d be going up against a room full of the most powerful monsters in the city.”

“Great. Sounds like a good time. Where do I sign up?” he asked sarcastically.

“If we succeed, I’m offering everyone the same thing,” Graves said slowly, swirling the wine in the glass. “A chance to use the cauldron once when we have it.”

Nate blinked from Graves to Kierse. “What does it do, exactly?”

“It has power beyond comprehension—healing, food, magic. It provides.”

Kierse leaned forward, resting her hand on Nate’s. “I asked Graves about the incubus curse, and he said there was no known cure.”

Nate slumped, deflated. “I knew, but…I still hoped.”

“But the cauldron might help.”

Nate didn’t pull back, but he looked at her in deep confusion for a moment before it dawned on him. “You’re sure? You’re not just giving me false hope?”

Kierse turned to Graves then. She wasn’t sure. Neither of them had ever laid eyes on the thing. But the legends hinted at the possibility.

“It’s not a guarantee,” Graves said. “But these are magical artifacts of the gods. The sword alone was able to break the spell put on Kierse. If I had it in my possession still, I’d see if it would also work to break an incubus curse.

However, it is no longer in my possession.

So, if you help me get the cauldron, we can see if it heals magical curses. ”

“All right. Yes,” Nate said automatically. He held his hand out to Graves. “Count me in.”