Read Online StrategicSurrender by Elizabeth Lapthorne - Free Book Online

quartz that has been bathed
in tears of a baby.”
    Kiera shuddered and even Hayden made a face at that
knowledge. Kiera closed her eyes, took a deep breath and calmed herself. She
held up a hand to stop Joshua, knowing he was about to speak and not wanting to
be interrupted. Carefully, Kiera took the memory of the sheet of paper and
mentally folded it up in her head and packed it far away down the back of her
mind.
    Keeping her eyes closed, Kiera spoke softly.
    “I’m going to forget what you just said as well as what I
read a moment ago. I will push it to the very darkest recess of my mind so I
won’t ever bring it forward into my conscious mind ever again,” she insisted as
she once again opened her eyes.
    For a moment they stared at the folder in front of them.
Kiera warred with herself. A part of her wanted to close her eyes again and
leave them like that until the guys had burned the manuscript fully, not even
wanting to have even the faintest possibility of reading more of the ritual.
Yet simultaneously a small part of her brain was tempted, whispered to her in a
dark voice she had never even heard before.
    What possible damage could it cause to know more? The
voice cajoled her. Knowing the ingredients and how to prepare them is
useless, surely you should read more of the ritual itself, understand how these
items are used. What use is having only a piece or two of the puzzle, when you
can see the big picture?
    Firmly she ignored the voice and instead focused on her
grocery shopping list.
    “Kiera? You all right?” Hayden asked gently. With a final
deep, cleansing breath Kiera shook herself visibly and smiled.
    “I didn’t want to be tempted to read more,” she explained.
“I think you are absolutely right. This thing needs to be destroyed. Completely
and utterly.”
    “You have that little voice urging you to read more?” Josh
said with studied casualness. Kiera compressed her lips unhappily and nodded,
her gaze rising to meet with her best friend’s. Josh had a look of deep
understanding and slight sympathy in his amber gaze.
    “Do you think I was wrong?” she asked in a small voice,
worried that maybe even just being in the same room as the manuscript might
have altered her in ways she could never have imagined. Josh shook his head in
the negative.
    “No,” he reassured her. “Your reasoning was solid, and based
in true worry and wanting to protect us all, to cover our asses. I don’t think
you were wrong. That doesn’t mean I like having this shit in my head now, but a
page each is not going to hurt us any.”
    Relief coursed through Kiera’s body.
    “Okay, let’s do this, are we ready?” Kiera asked as she
glanced from Josh to Hayden. Both men nodded the affirmative and Kiera grinned
almost wickedly.
    With a half bend down Kiera leaned and grabbed her handbag
from where it lay at her feet under the table. Bringing the large bag up and
placing it on the table, she rummaged around in it until she found the packet
of matches she always carried with her.
    “You don’t smoke,” Josh said with a faint frown. Kiera
snorted and eyed him with laughter in her gaze.
    “That doesn’t mean I don’t ever need fire. How many castings
and spells do we perform where we need to use flame as the integral catalyst?
Don’t you carry a lighter around with you?” she asked, certain she had seen him
many times with one.
    “In my kit,” Josh answered.
    “Ah, well I have a lighter and another packet of matches in
my kit, but I still carry them—and ionized salt and a few other bits and
pieces—in my handbag. You’d be amazed how often it comes in handy,” she
replied.
    Kiera replaced her bag at her feet, opened the packet,
removed three matches and handed one to each of them.
    “Shall we do this together?” she asked. “So no single one of
us can carry the weight of blame alone?”
    Josh and Hayden both nodded simultaneously. Kiera struck the
first match then handed the packet to Hayden who quickly