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For the second time that night, she awoke in an unfamiliar place.

She was lying on the ground with her cheek pressed against the earth.

The scent of freshly tilled soil and green grass and something that she could only ever begin to describe as Ireland.

Which made no sense. She was certainly not in Ireland.

It was the pulse of energy all around her that finally made her open her eyes.

She was lying on a blanket of moss. Her gaze lifted to see the Oak Throne in all its glory.

Seated on the throne was the irreverent Oak King.

She blinked, and that vision of him was gone, replaced by the ruler of the Druids sitting imperiously in his place.

The duality of Lorcan was not lost on her.

She had been reeled in by that glimpse of him, only to fall victim, once again, to who he truly was—the self-righteous ruler.

His eyes cast down upon her, and she shivered.

The force of that look was staggering, as if he could see straight through her, to the heart of who she was.

Their connection that had been growing was now an open tap.

All she had to do was turn the dial and the whole thing ratcheted up to dizzying levels.

“Hello, little songbird,” he said with a radiant smile. The one that should have won her over, but only made her stomach dip in warning.

She’d known he was an enemy. She’d known he would do anything to get what he wanted. She shouldn’t have forgotten.

“Let me go,” she rasped.

“You’re not a hostage.”

She pushed herself up onto her elbows. The pain in her arm was gone. She looked down to see that first, she was dressed in new clothes—a loose, white silk dress—and second, the bullet wound in her shoulder was completely healed.

“Niamh is extremely talented,” Lorcan said. “The process is draining, though, and you were already on reserves.”

Kierse reached for her magic and saw that what Lorcan said was true.

She was beyond low. She was nearly completely drained.

All that energy she’d gotten from stealing the cauldron had been used to phase out of her chair and blast aside the guards.

The little she’d had left, the healing had clearly tapped.

For a second, she considered the sacred tree that was not far from here.

The one that had been created out of the triskel.

But while it should have been easy to feel at this distance, it was like a block had been set around the room.

She could no more reach for that tree than anything else outside of this room. Great.

Standing before Lorcan on the summer solstice, at the height of his fucking powers, with her tank on empty. This was going to be…fun.

Slowly, she eased to her feet. The white dress fell to her knees, the material soft and comfortable.

Her feet were bare. All her jewelry had been removed, including her wren necklace.

She brought a hand to her hair and felt that the top layer had been braided into a crown around the top of her head, while the rest fell loose to the middle of her back.

She looked and felt…younger in the outfit.

Not like the hardened girl she was, but rather someone she could have been in a different time and place. Either way, it didn’t feel like her.

“What’s with the costume change?”

“Today’s important,” he said as he stood from the throne.

Despite her carefree summer vibes, he was still in a navy suit with a white button-up and leather loafers.

The crown was gone from his brow, but somehow he looked even more formidable, as if the magic swirling under his skin was threatening to unleash.

“Maybe for you,” she said. “But if I’m not a hostage, then I’m going to go.”

Lorcan slipped his hands into his pockets. “Back to him.”

It wasn’t a question. They both knew the first place she’d go.

“Yes.”

He tilted his head thoughtfully. “Have you wondered why that is?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why him? After what he kept from you at the last solstice, the way he used you, the pain he caused you,” Lorcan said, taking a step down from the dais.

“As if you haven’t done the same.”

“I came when you called,” he reminded her. “I kept you safe. Explain how that’s remotely similar to what he has done.”

“I’m not arguing with you about Graves.”

“Good,” Lorcan said with a deadly smile. “Because you were the one who bridged our connection without a binding ceremony. You reached deep enough into our bond to access me. You begged me to come.”

She flushed at the memory of doing just that. “I was being held hostage with iron. I would have done anything to escape that fate.”

“Still, I came at your command. I brought a healer with me. I saved your life.”

“I saved my own life,” she snapped back at him. “I managed to escape the Curator’s clutches. Who, mind you, is actually Cillian Ryan, who masqueraded for years as my thieving master, Jason. So forgive me if I don’t care about your self-righteous bullshit right now, Lorcan.”

“Cillian Ryan is alive?” he asked coldly.

“Yeah. Remember how you said someone killed him during the Monster War? That was me.” Lorcan’s eyes widened. “I put a knife in his back, but it paralyzed him instead of killing him. He got away just before you showed up.”

“How did you get out of the iron?”

Kierse hesitated. She didn’t know if she wanted Lorcan to know how she had done it, but there was no way around it. “I slowed time enough that I could push my body out of time and out of the chair.”

His eyes widened. “You phased. That is incredibly advanced. Only Saoirse had that power, and it took her a hundred years to develop.”

Kierse stilled at those words. A century. Meanwhile Kierse had discovered it out of necessity. Was it because she had Saoirse’s magic, or was it because she’d had no other choice?

“This makes sense to me,” Lorcan said quietly, almost to himself. “But you haven’t answered my question. Why do you think it is that you keep going back to him?”

“I don’t want to do this with you. I don’t know why I’m here or why you changed my clothes or what you think you can possibly gain from this. But I made my choice. In the end, it’s still mine.”

“Is it?”

“What does that mean?”

He prowled forward. “I’ve had some…musings over the last couple weeks.

Something felt off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

Niamh said you were adamant that you didn’t want to work with Graves again.

That you didn’t trust him. That there was nothing to worry about, and yet you were staying at his brownstone.

You were with him. And every time I saw you, your feelings toward him changed. ”

Kierse flushed. “There’s plenty of reasons for that— he changed.”

Lorcan laughed. Then his face fell. “Oh, you’re being serious.” He ran a hand back through his hair. “Fucking hell, how much damage has he done?”

“Damage?”

“Let me draw you a picture,” he said as he began a circuit around her.

“You leave for months and refuse to talk to him. He shows up unannounced and convinces you to come back to New York with him. Niamh mentions that you’ve lost some memories.

You mention to me that you’ve learned how to turn your absorption off.

Gen mentions to Niamh that she’s worried about you and Graves after what happened last time. ”

Kierse bristled at that. “Did she?”

“Yes. She said she’s worried he’s not telling you everything. Then Ethan comes to me and tells me that Graves is helping you remember your parents.” His hands clenched into fists. “He’s worried by what that means. That Graves could be in your head.”

“That is none of your business.”

Lorcan stopped at her back. His words were hollow as he asked, “Did he ever tell you how he killed my sister?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “But he’d never do that to me.”

“Would you even know if he had?”

Kierse clenched her jaw and turned to look at him. “Graves has not done anything to our bond, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

“How would you know?”

“He told me that he’d kill you first,” Kierse argued.

Lorcan chuckled. “Of course he said that. Yet I’m alive, and the only thing that has changed is you. How you claim to feel about him. What your choice is.”

“You just can’t accept that you lose, can you?”

“I can’t accept that in the entire universe, I was given exactly one person, and she was torn from me.

Except then I find out I have a second chance, after decades of mourning.

Someone who is made for me,” he said. He reached out and rested his hand on her breastbone, intensifying their connection.

“Who I am made for. And you don’t even want to consider it.

That’s not possible without his interference. ”

It took her entire force of will to pull away from his hand. “I’m not Saoirse, and I can make my own choices.”

She turned away from his downturned face and headed toward the double doors. He’d said she wasn’t a hostage. Well, then she was going to leave.

“His entire job is to manipulate minds,” Lorcan said, stalking after her.

“He has spent his life perfecting it to get what he wants. And what he wants most in this world is you. You think he wouldn’t use his power on you?

” Lorcan grasped her arm and whirled her back around.

“Do you think he’d even be able to help himself? ”

She stood firm at those words. Glared up into his perfect blue eyes. Her anger a blur inside of her. “You weren’t there when he was using his powers. He refused to push me too far. He took care of me. He was teaching me how to keep my guard up against anyone who was in my mind.”

“Did it ever work on him?” Lorcan shot back.

Kierse narrowed her eyes. No. He’d always said that there was no way to keep him out. She’d always assumed he meant because he was so powerful. He was too good at it. “He was training me against someone else. Someone like you.”

Lorcan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have that power. He does. So if he wasn’t training you to keep himself out of your head, then he wasn’t training you at all.”

“ I kept us from binding in this very room.”

“The binding that initiated without even a ceremony. That both of us clearly wanted. The universe wanted. But sure, Graves didn’t get in your head to stop it.”

“That isn’t what happened.”

“You won’t even look at the truth right before your eyes.”

“This is your truth,” Kierse argued.

She’d learned to trust Graves in those sessions in her mind.

Learned to let her guard down around him.

Watched him change into the person he was—who fed her information for free, brought her into his inner circle, learned to work with others, and learned to love.

He’d fought for her. He’d done everything in his power to be the man she deserved.

She couldn’t be fooled into believing that.

Lorcan’s hand cupped her face, his eyes imploring. “You let a monster in your mind. You shouldn’t be surprised when he shreds it to pieces.”

Kierse shivered. “He wouldn’t…”

“Are you sure you’d know?”

She hesitated.

“That’s what I thought.”

She didn’t want to consider it, and now she had to.

Would she know if Graves had fucked with her mind?

Her gut said he hadn’t. That he wouldn’t do that to her.

She had changed her mind about him all on her own.

She’d trusted him to have her back. After seeing the memory where he helped her parents, she’d let him in.

The rest had been a natural domino effect after her strong feelings last winter.

It wasn’t… It couldn’t be… There was no way it was anything else. Right?

“The binding can stop it,” Lorcan said softly, reaching for her hand. His fingers entwined with hers. His eyes pleading. “We can keep you safe.”

She shivered at those words. “No.”

“Kierse…”

“Let me just talk to him.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” he said, his head bowed. “I’ve lost too much. He’ll kill you before letting you go. I can’t risk it.”

His expression was determined when he looked back up at her. He took her other hand in his. “Tonight we’ll be bound.”