Darcy didn’t realize how close she had gotten to Warrick until she looked up and into his cobalt gaze. He was mere inches from her. It grew difficult to breathe at his nearness.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her blood pounded in her ears. Then his gaze lowered to her mouth, and desire pooled low in her belly. She wanted his kiss with a desperation that made her knees go weak.
Then his eyes lifted. Their gazes clashed, held. There was no denying the sexual tension that filled the flat. It grew, expanded, with each breath leaving Darcy with chills racing over her skin.
Her lips parted expectantly when she saw his eyes darken, the desire blatant.
“I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” said a sensual female voice, with humor edging the words.
Warrick’s nostrils flared as he pulled back from Darcy. “Rhi,” he ground out.
Darcy whirled around to see a voluptuous raven-haired woman so gorgeous she could only gape at her.
Rhi lifted her hand from the back of the chair at the table and waved her fingers. “I’m guessing I did interrupt something. My bad,” she said with a knowing grin.
Darcy looked to Warrick to find him glaring at the woman. Darcy then looked at the front door to find it locked. Her spells were still in place, and none of the alarms were going off.
She turned back to Rhi and pieced it all together. Black hair, silver eyes, and too gorgeous to be real. She was a Fae. She was also the one Warrick had told her about who’d had an affair with a Dragon King.
“How the hell did you get into my flat?” Darcy demanded.
Rhi’s smile widened. She looked at Warrick and said, “Oh, I like her.”
“Rhi,” Warrick warned.
The Fae rolled her silver eyes and moved to the stove to sniff the soup. “Believe it or not, chica, I’m here to help you. What are you cooking? It smells delicious.”
“Take mine,” Darcy said as she handed Rhi the bowl. She watched Rhi take a bite and give an appreciative nod. Then Darcy said, “I need to know how you got in. I set up spells to keep the Dark out.”
Rhi paused with the spoon halfway to her mouth. She frowned and turned to Warrick. “Didn’t you tell her the difference between Light and Dark?”
“I did,” Warrick said between clenched teeth.
Rhi shrugged and looked back at Darcy. “You’ll need to forgive him. Warrick tends to keep to himself. In case he didn’t explain properly, I’m Light Fae. All Fae have black hair, but the Dark have silver in theirs. The more silver, the more evil they’ve done. Then there’s the eyes. Mine aren’t red.”
“Yeah, I got that.” Darcy took Warrick his bowl of soup since he was obviously not going to sit down. Their hands brushed, and her stomach quivered wildly. “It doesn’t explain why you’re here.”
“Doesn’t it?” Rhi took another bite of the soup. “This is really good.”
“It’s a family recipe.” Darcy didn’t know why she kept being so nice. She wanted to order Rhi out of her flat, but for some reason she didn’t.
Darcy reckoned it had something to do with Warrick being agitated at Rhi’s arrival, but not in battle mode.
“Am I some beacon to the Fae?” Darcy asked Warrick. “Why do they keep coming?”
Rhi set down the bowl and faced Darcy. “You thought you could help Ulrik and not have everyone focused on you?”
“That was almost three years ago!”
It was the way Rhi frowned, a mixture of concern and wonder, that had Darcy swiveling her head to Warrick who was looking at her as if he’d just had the answers to the universe.
“I’ll be damned,” Rhi said softly.
Darcy looked between the two. “Someone please tell me what’s going on.”
“It was you,” Warrick said and walked to set his bowl down on the table next to Rhi’s. “You’re the reason the Silvers moved.”
If Darcy was confused before, she was sinking in a pit of puzzlement now. “Human needs an explanation, stat.”
Rhi chuckled. “Oh, girl. We’re so going to have fun.”
Was it Darcy’s imagination, or had Warrick just growled at Rhi? Obviously the Light Fae heard it too because she laughed harder.
Warrick ran a hand through his blond locks and sighed. “After what Ulrik’s woman did—”
“What’s her name?” Darcy interrupted.
Rhi cocked her head to the side. “Ulrik didn’t tell you?”
“He refuses to speak it.”
“Not surprising,” Rhi said.
Warrick shrugged when Darcy looked at him. “Honestly, I doona think I ever knew her name. It wasna relevant.”
“Well. That answers that,” Darcy said, more to herself than the others.
Warrick cleared his throat and continued. “After the mortal’s betrayal of Ulrik, Con feared it might happen again.”
“Weren’t there already Kings mated to humans?”
Warrick shook his head. “One or two, all of which died in the battle that split up the friendship between Ulrik and Con.”
Darcy nodded in understanding. “So their mates died as well.”
“Exactly. The other Kings who had mortal lovers pulled away from them. We had just sent away our dragons and so many others had died. We needed to disappear for a while.”