Warrick reached for another bottle of water. “I particularly liked Leonardo da Vinci. His ideas were extraordinary.”
Darcy watched his eyes take on a faraway look as if he were remembering something. “Da Vinci? The da Vinci?”
“Aye,” Warrick said, affronted. “I wouldna lie. I kept my distance for a while, but he was just too interesting. We struck up a friendship of sorts.”
“Did he know what you were?”
Warrick looked away. “He had a verra sharp mind. I didna realize that the times he seemed to ask mundane questions that he was actually learning me.”
Darcy’s eyes went wide. “Are you telling me he figured it out?”
“He guessed I wasna human,” Warrick said and sat in her office chair. “It didna take him long to figure things out from there.”
“What did Con say?”
Warrick laughed, his cobalt gaze meeting hers. “He didna know.”
“How many others did you get to know?”
His smile dropped as he sat back. “No’ many. With more and more humans populating the realm, it grew more difficult to hide who we were. Then when technology came and now with everyone walking around with a camera on their mobile phones, we really have to be careful.”
“You have Dreagan.”
“That we do. It’s no’ just our home. It’s our refuge.” He paused, his gaze intensifying. “It’s also one of the few places a Dark Fae can no’ get into.”
Darcy knew where he was going with this. Two days ago, she would have flat-out refused his offer. Now? Well, after the battle yesterday her mind had been changed about several things.
“Dreagan, huh?” she asked.
“You’d be safe. The Dark couldna reach you there.”
She nodded, knowing it was the only option left open to her. “What do we do?”
“You mean, you’ll come?”
The surprise on his face almost made her laugh. “Am I that difficult?”
“You just know your mind.”
“In other words, I’m difficult.”
His smile was back, making the corners of his eyes crinkle. “You doona hear me complaining.”
If he continued to be so charming, there was no way Darcy wouldn’t fall for him. A Dragon King.
A dragon!
She’d seen a glimpse of him in the dark, but she couldn’t wait to see him in the day.
“First,” Warrick said. “We need to get you to your flat.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-EIGHT
Rhi stood at the edge of the lake against a tree, but it wasn’t the water she was looking at. It was the cottage. Phelan was tending to a plant near the porch and had yet to notice her. Aisley was sitting in the sun reading a romance novel.
Rhi hated to disturb them, but she knew any more Dragon Kings in Edinburgh would mean an all-out war. As a Fae, she shouldn’t care if the mortals knew there were Fae and dragons on the realm or not.
But as an ex-lover to a Dragon King, it became ingrained in her to keep their secret.
Even when she didn’t want to.
Rhi pushed away from the tree and started walking toward the couple. She only got a few steps when Phelan’s head turned her way.
There was a flash of gold as his skin shifted as he released the primeval god within him until he recognized her. He sat on his haunches with a smile. “Rhi!”
Aisley lowered her book and got to her feet as she waved.
“Hey, stud,” Rhi said as she reached Phelan.
He stood and enveloped her in a hug. “I doona like that look on your face,” he whispered.
Rhi pulled back and met his blue gray gaze for a moment before Aisley reached them. Rhi gave the Druid a quick hug.
Aisley looked between her husband and Rhi. “What’s going on?”
“A few things,” Rhi said.
Phelan threw down the hand shovel so that it landed blade first in the dirt. “Does this call for liquor?”
Rhi’s shoulders dropped. “Probably.”
Aisley was the first to step up onto the porch. “I’ll get the glasses,” she said as she entered the house.
Phelan stopped Rhi when she tried to follow. “Are you all right?”
She knew he was asking because he cared. How Rhi wished she could lie without feeling extreme pain. “I’m working on it.”
“Is it Balladyn?” he asked with an angry twist of his lips. “I really hate that son of a bitch.”
“He wants me.”
“Of course he does. You’re a powerful Light Fae.”
Rhi licked her lips. “No, stud. He wants me.”
“I know that too,” he said softly. “Do you care for him?”
“I did. At one time, he was all that I had. He was my best friend.”
“But are there deeper feelings?”
Rhi shrugged, having asked herself that same question. “I’m not sure.”
“And your King lover?”
She looked away. Every time he was brought up, it was a fresh wave of pain all over again.
“Will you tell me who he is? I’d like to punch him. Repeatedly.”
Rhi laughed, even as her eyes filled with tears. “I think I’d like that.”
“You won’t tell me his name, will you?”
She shook her head and blinked the moisture away. “No.”