Shara had to swallow before she could find her voice. “Good evening, Kiril.”
Somehow she turned and walked away, blending in with the crowds. Her heart pounded in her chest with each step, and every fiber of her being urged her to go back to him. That was just her loneliness talking, however.
Shara walked four blocks, zigzagging around buildings as she did. When she was positive Kiril hadn’t followed her, she sagged against a building in an alley and gulped in air. How foolish she was to think she could handle a man like Kiril. He was as old as time. He had seen everything human and Fae could do to each other and the Dragon Kings, and he expected every one.
Shara lifted one of her hands before her to see it shaking. She’d thought he might demand she reveal who she really was after dinner when he had looked so intently at her. Her ruse had worked, and because of that, Farrell would expect her to play it again.
There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her family. Family was life in the Fae world. They had asked her to play a part in bringing down a Dragon King, and she wouldn’t fail them.
Shara walked to the end of the alley and turned right only to come face-to-face with Farrell’s livid face. She knew his hatred, knew how he sought to have all the glory so their father would favor him. At one time she had looked up to him, but that was a long time ago. Now, she could barely stand to be around him.
He shoved his forearm under her chin and slammed her against the brick wall viciously. “We had a plan. All you had to do was stick to it.”
“It was the plan,” she said as she pushed against his arm. Farrell had always loved to try to hurt her. It was his way, a way no one in her family thought twice about. But she had never been the meek female expected of a Dark. “I moved things along a little sooner. The idea is to capture a Dragon King. I don’t think Father cares how we go about it.”
Farrell peeled back his lips, his red eyes flashing in fury. “That wasn’t my plan. You need to learn to follow my orders.”
“Seduction can’t be done by orders. Things change, and I need to be able to adjust with them.”
He growled and spun away from her. “You seemed awfully chatty with him during the meal. Casual even. What did he say to you?”
“The usual things men and women talk about.”
Farrell jerked around. “Are you trying to be funny? You won’t ruin this for me, Shara. I won’t let you.”
“I may have been locked away for six hundred years, but for a thousand before that I was on my own, Farrell. I know men. I remember how to flirt, how to use my body. I did everything right.”
Farrell pointed his finger in her face. “You better hope you did a good enough job that he’s looking for you tomorrow night.”
“I didn’t plan on seeing him tomorrow night.” She hadn’t actually planned anything, but she knew if she saw him again so soon she wouldn’t be able to control herself. The failure Farrell expected would be all but his. “The night after will be time enough.”
“I knew you were the wrong female for this, but Father was adamant,” Farrell said with scorn and dropped his hand.
“When Kiril doesn’t see me tomorrow night, he’ll return the next night looking. The longer I keep him waiting, the more anxious he’ll be to find me.”
Farrell looked her up and down with disdain. “You think highly of yourself. Thankfully your glamour helped to add … something … to your looks, or Kiril might have passed you by.”
“I answer to Father, not you.”
“Out here you answer to me,” Farrell stated tightly. “I’m running this operation, and you’d best remember. Trust me, no one will miss you if you die.”
Shara stood in the alley long after Farrell walked away. But it wasn’t his words she was thinking about. It was Kiril and his shamrock-green eyes.
*
Kiril was cranky and on edge when he entered an Doras. He should have gone home after his meal with Shara, but if the Dark wanted to play, he was more than willing. He told himself it was because they had sent a female to entice him, but the real reason was his inescapable reaction to Shara.
He hadn’t wanted her to walk away. In fact, he had almost followed her.
Kiril wasn’t sure what he sought from her, only that he wanted to spend more time with her. And not just because he was spying on the Dark, but because he enjoyed her company.
A Dark Fae.
How his brethren would laugh if they knew.
Maybe it was the past weeks on his own, unable to shift that was making him lose his edge. Which was why he was enlarging the cellar beneath his house. If he couldn’t fly, the cellar would at least allow him to shift into dragon form and ease some of his frustration.
“No woman on your arm tonight?”
Kiril ground his teeth to keep from lashing out at Farrell. The Dark had a knack for approaching when Kiril least wanted his company. Which happened to be all the time.