Born of Fire

“What do you do for holidays?” she asked before she could stop herself.

He stopped the playback and looked up from the notes he was taking. “What?”

Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she cleared her throat before she spoke again. “I was just wondering what someone with your kind of money did on special occasions.”

His expression bland, he answered drily. “I drink.” He returned to his work.

Biting her lip, Shahara looked back at her food and realized she wasn’t hungry after all.

God, how she wanted to walk over to him and hug him. To let him know that he didn’t have to be alone like this. It would be so easy and yet it was far too difficult for her. She would never be able to give him that comfort.

After all, it wasn’t her place. They were strangers trapped in a desperate situation. She was nothing to him.

But as she watched him, she realized she didn’t want to be nothing where he was concerned. She wanted to be like her brother and call him friend.

She’d seen enough to know that he was the best friend anyone could ever have.

At last the calls stopped. Syn turned his back to her and began hammering away at an old-fashioned keyboard.

Shahara pushed her food around her plate while she looked around the room again. Her gaze paused on the piano. He must really like to play, given that he owned two of them. But that, too, seemed incongruous to her.

When had he learned it? Who had taught him?

“What’s your mother’s birthday?”

She looked back at Syn. “What?”

“Your mother’s birthday. What is it?”

Her defenses went into hyperdrive. “Why do you want to know that?”

He let out a sound of utter aggravation. “After all her questions, she won’t answer one simple one for me.” He shook his head. “I’m leaving a message coded for Caillen. I thought I’d lock it with something only he would know.”

Shahara raked him with a skeptical look. “Are you telling me that the great computer filch can’t find out a simple birthday?”

He snorted. “Yeah, I could access her medical records, but it’d be a lot faster if you simply gave it to me.”

“8510.25.3.”

“Thank you.”

Shahara carried her plate to the sink, then, taking her drink, she went over to the desk. “What are you doing anyway?”

“Nothing.”

As she scanned what he’d been working on, she gasped. “Is that your will?”

He darkened the page. “It’s nothing.”

Setting her glass down on his desk, Shahara was stunned by his actions. “Why would you leave everything to Caillen?”

Syn started to move away.

She reached out and grabbed his arm. “Why?”

“I don’t have anyone else to leave it to,” he said, shrugging her grip away.

“What about Nykyrian?”

“He doesn’t need any more money and neither does Darling.”

His features impassive, he moved to stand before the windows and stare out into the darkness. Shahara wondered how often he did that and something inside told her that he must do it a lot.

She ached for him. Ached for a way to ease the pain that must haunt him.

What would it be like to be all alone? To have no one to talk over problems with? No one to share birthdays with?

He’d lived that way most of his life. Yes, he had friends but they all lived independent lives.

Wanting to comfort him, she went to stand beside him. “Tell me about Kiara Zamir’s murder. How were you involved?”

His jaw turned to steel.

“I’m not accusing you of it,” she said quickly. “I just want to know how you got blamed for it.”

His jaw eased a little. “It’s simple really. We were hired to protect her. Because of his past with The League, Nykyrian has a lot of enemies out to kill him. One of them took the contract out on Kiara and Kip is just bonus pay.”

“Kip?”

“My nickname for Nykyrian. Anyway, we were keeping her at her flat when one of the assassins and his team showed up for them. We had to move her before her father could approve the new location. Needless to say, he overreacted to us moving her without his knowledge.”

“Where did you take her?”

“Nykyrian’s place. It’s where they both are right now, shacked up in suicidal bliss. Crippin’ idiots.”

She didn’t understand the problem, if that was all there was to it. “Why doesn’t Nykyrian return her?”

The look he gave her was chilling. “He would rather die than give her up. They are in love.” Could there be any more loathing added to his tone?

“And you’re caught in the middle of it?”

He nodded. “I signed the contract and took responsibility for the princess. In her father’s mind, I’m as guilty of kidnaping her as Nykyrian is.”

“What about the rape charges?”

“That one baffles me, but I guess in his mind we are low enough that if we have her, we must be animals enough to rape her. Cause let’s face it, we’re unconscionable scum.”