tenderness. It caught him completely off guard. Turning back to Claire, he reached out and she laid The Scepter in his hand. She watched him nervously as he turned it over in his hands, inspecting it.
Kieran looked from The Scepter to Claire. His eyes were like ice. He dropped The Scepter on the ground and lunged at Claire. Grabbing her by the neck, he walked her backwards until she came up short against the desk. He whipped his knife up and put the blade against her throat. Claire gave a startled yelp and he heard Annika gasp.
“Try again, Claire,” Kieran said with venom dripping from his words. “That is not the real scepter.”
“Kieran. Calm down,” he heard Annika say. “You must be mistaken.”
“I’m not mistaken, Annika. That’s a fake. Ava gave me an amulet so that I could detect the real scepter. That’s not it.”
He heard Annika whisper, “Shit.”
He looked at Claire and she had tears pouring down her pale face. She was terrified. Good. He was going to use that to get the real scepter so they could get out of here.
He leaned forward and pressed the knife a little harder. It didn’t cut her skin but she cried out in fright. “I am going to give you to the count of three, and if you do not tell me where the real scepter is, I’m going to slit your throat. Then I will tear this place apart for it, and I will kill anyone that gets in my way.”
Claire choked out a strangled sob.
“One….two….”
“Stop!,” he heard Annika yell. “I have The Scepter, Kieran.”
Not releasing Claire or the blade against her throat, he looked over his shoulder at Annika in disbelief. Surely he heard her wrong.
She was standing there with worry on her face, wringing her hands together. She spoke again. “Let Claire go. I have The Scepter.”
Kieran felt like he’d been punched in the gut. He stumbled backwards from Claire, never taking his eyes off Annika.
“No,” he said in denial.
“Yes, Kieran. I took The Scepter. Claire was just holding it for me until I could claim it.”
“Annika… no,” Claire exclaimed. “I have the real scepter. I’ll give it back to you. Just don’t harm Annika.”
Kieran shook his head. He looked between the two women, who were staring at each other with resignation and sorrow.
“Somebody better tell me what the fuck is going on here,” Kieran bellowed. He saw Annika flinch but he could give a shit.
Annika stepped toward him. “I’m so sorry, Kieran. I never meant to hurt you.”
Kieran held up his hand and took a step back. “Stay the fuck away from me.”
He saw hurt and pain flash across her face. He sighed. “Just tell me the truth.”
“She took it on my orders,” Claire started.
Annika held her hand up. “Be quiet, Claire. No more lies.”
Annika moved to sit in a chair. She took a deep breath, looked down at her hands and started.
“I’ve known Claire since we were kids. I used to come visit Mary when she lived here in Balvraine with her new husband.” Kieran’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Claire is my best friend. She’s like my sister. She knows about…Mason.”
Annika stole a quick glance at Kieran but the hard look on her face caused her to look back down at her hands.
“Claire is in a lot of trouble with her kingdom. Rebels are threatening to overtake her, and she needed The Scepter for protection. It was my idea to steal it for her. She had nothing to do with it. But I swear…she would never have harmed anyone with it.” Annika’s voice grew quiet as she looked at Claire. Kieran saw a wealth of love in her eyes. “Claire doesn’t have a bad bone in her body. It’s just not in her nature.”
Kieran looked over at Claire who was crying and cursed under his breath. This was just fucking great.
“But I do have bad bones in my body, Kieran,” Annika continued. Kieran turned his attention back to her. “I’ve been stealing things since I turned eighteen and left Vyronas. I mean, what’s a girl with a great glamour to do, right?” Her voice pitched high and was quivery. But she held her chin up and stared him down.
“I steal from people Kieran. It’s what I do. The night I agreed to help you retrieve The Scepter, I went out and stole $500,000 worth of jewels from a woman on Park Avenue.”
Kieran didn’t think she could shock him any further. “Tell me you’re kidding, Annika. About