None of that was as important at this moment as his alarming attraction to Skye. No doubt she saw him as more experienced. But that experience was limited to the occasional fairy lovers whose teasing caresses were as cold as the Pacific Ocean in winter. None had her warmth, her innocence. Everything about Skye steamed with soft intensity.
He was actually inside her apartment. Kheelan placed his hand over the tangerine glow of her lamp, watched his skin appear red, and remembered the first night he stood outside her building, drawn to this lighted warmth. To Skye. He’d hoped to establish some kind of connection and get her help.
The reality was more than he bargained for. Kissing Skye was no longer a mere way to gain information; this was an unfamiliar descent into a mind-blowing, splintering delight. It was dangerous. If he wasn’t cautious, he could lose himself in her easy sympathy and human pleasures. He took a deep, bracing breath. No big deal. You temporarily lost your head because she’s human and you’ve never been intimate with your own kind.
A golden glint from a stone on the coffee table caught his attention. Curious, Kheelan picked it up.
“That’s goldstone.” Skye walked up behind him. “First invented by alchemists trying to make gold.”
Kheelan held it up to a lamp and its sparkle grew. “What exactly is it?”
“Copper specks suspended inside silica glass. Isn’t it awesome?”
Her face was animated. The girl really dug her crystals. Kheelan lifted the stone and held it against her orange hair. “Almost a perfect match for your hair color.” He moved to return the goldstone to the table.
Skye’s warm hands touched his own as she curved his fingers around the stone’s glittering surface. “You keep it. If someone is attracted to a crystal, it means they need the stone’s energy.”
An unexpected, unfamiliar pang of warmth shot through his chest. No one had ever given him a gift. Sure it was only a rock, but still . . . “What energy does the stone carry?”
“It’s said to remind you of your life’s dreams and gives you determination to reach your goals.”
Ah yes, his goals. Kheelan pocketed the goldstone. Time to get back to business. He opened the glass vial he kept on him at all times, put a drop on his index finger, then touched both eyes. After the initial tingle on his eyelids, Kheelan walked to the window and looked into the night. They were out there. Of course, they were. Once his sight adjusted to the darkness, Kheelan spotted a spriggan staring back at him.
No, not one. Hundreds of spriggans glared toward the window, their pukey, yellow-green eyes glowing like pinpoints of toxic waste. Small, grotesque creatures they usually traveled in bands, robbing and stealing . . . or worse. Their number, like the rest of the Unseelie creatures, increased near Samhain. But this year was different, more sinister. They were more aggressive, more vigilant, and he appeared their target. His breath caught, and he turned to Skye as she came toward him with her kind eyes and flaming red hair.
That. Red. Hair. He almost slapped his forehead in disgust. Took him long enough to figure it out. The Unseelies weren’t interested in him, a mere changeling. Skye was their target.
Dread consumed him. They can’t know she’s The One. If they thought she was, she’d already be dead.
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Skye tilted her head to one side, a teasing upturn in her lips. She touched his arm.
Kheelan scowled and turned away, jerking the curtain closed. “You need to keep these closed at all times.”
“Don’t lecture me.” Her voice cut sharp as scissors. “I know to be careful living alone. I’m not stupid.”
“They’re out there, Skye,” he whispered hoarsely.
“Who’s out there?” She reached past him to reopen the curtain and he grabbed her hand, but not before she’d taken a peek. “I don’t see anything,” she said.
He sighed, knowing what he must do. So far she’d only seen the cute pixies, the fairies of all the beloved children’s fairy tales. If she was going to help him, she needed to see the fae in all their myriad shapes and forms. It meant destroying her illusions.
Kheelan held up the vial. “You’ll need a drop of this on your eyelids to see them. The effect last several hours.”
Skye lifted her chin. “Let me see.”
Chapter 10
Out of the Shadows
The warm ointment prickled the thin skin of her eyelids. She opened her eyes and met Kheelan’s. He looked same as ever. She cast a quick gaze over the room. Everything appeared normal.
Skye wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. She always felt like such a failure in all things metaphysical. What came so easily to her family and best friend, Callie, eluded her.
Kheelan flipped off the light then nodded toward the drapes. “Ready?”