Seared

by Bethany Adams

  Chapter 6

  Ralan’s gaze followed Cora much more intimately than his body did. He was making a mess of their first meeting, but not even his vision had prepared him for seeing her in person. Could she feel the connection between them? The potential? He’d flustered her and possibly upset her, but he had no idea if he attracted her.

  She more than attracted him.

  As his feet propelled him along with the group, his eyes lingered on her delectable ass, highlighted by the long black hair tangling around her waist. She appeared to be a size eight or ten. And all curves. His body came to life at the thought of touching her, and he had to force his attention to the clothing racks to avoid embarrassing them both. Good grief, he was 833. Where was his control?

  Cora led them into a side room and closed the door behind them. As soon as she did, he detected a shield forming around them like a blanket. A quick probe revealed its simple purpose—keeping their words secure from mundane or magical listening. Smart move for someone who often worked with the fae.

  She gestured at the table in the center. “I suppose we should sit for whatever you’re about to tell me. I suspect it’ll be a doozy, especially if Delbin’s involved.”

  “Hey!” Delbin protested, though a laugh slipped free.

  She really did know him, then.

  Ralan waited until Delbin plopped into a seat and Inona sat more sedately next to him, leaving the chair beside Cora. As he settled in, he almost grinned. A move worthy of a teenager, but it had gotten him as close to her as possible. A gentle blend of vanilla and flowers wafted over to him as she shoved her hair out of her face.

  Her brown eyes pinned him. “You’re quite good at casting a glamour, you know. I’ve seen recordings of you on the runway at the end of a show, and I’ve never caught a hint that you aren’t human. I’ve seen others slip under the pressure and attention. Why choose such a high-profile career?”

  His earlier disappointment came storming back, twisting his insides. His fame was what interested her, not him as a person. “Most people only see what they expect.”

  Could she see beyond his fame? Her next words gave no answer.

  “I suppose.” Her gaze flicked to Delbin and back. “So what are you doing here? Chattanooga isn’t exactly a fashion capital, and I doubt our friend has been raving about my designs.”

  “Not fair,” Delbin retorted. “I’ve sent you three clients.”

  Cora’s lips twisted. “And you forgot to mention Roland Morne was your friend, so…”

  “He wasn’t.” Delbin leaned back in his chair, one arm draped casually over the back. “I’ve only known him a few days.”

  She paused, a frown wrinkling her brow. “And you brought him here? You know—”

  “I’m not trying to break your trust,” Delbin said. “Things have happened you need to know about. For one, there’s a guy who’s going to confront you outside your shop. He’s bad news.”

  “Another one?” She huffed out a breath. “Some creep pestered me last night when I was leaving.”

  Ralan’s heart skipped a beat. Had Megelien shown him something as it occurred, or was there more than one of Kien’s minions lingering in the area? “Surely you can open up for a special kind of guy,” he murmured.

  Cora stiffened, her eyes going wide. “You’d better explain before I show you the door.”

  “That’s what he said.” Ralan leaned forward. The spark of helpless anger he’d felt the night before flared again, and he did his best to keep it from showing. “I had a vision of you standing in front of your shop. Has it already happened?”

  Her breath hissed in. “A vision. Sure.”

  “He’s from my home world, Cora,” Delbin interjected. “My prince and a powerful seer. He showed me his memory of the vision, and I recognized the jerk. We want to help.”

  “If it would help, I could send the memory to your mind, as well,” Ralan said.

  She shook her head, and that odd sense of disappointment filled him once more. “I’ll keep my thoughts mine, thank you,” she said. “I can take Delbin’s word. He might be a rogue, but he’s the best kind.”

  Delbin chuckled. “Thanks.”

  Cora relaxed against the back of her seat. “What is going on? The guy said he was searching for someone. One of you?”

  “My brother, I’d wager.” Ralan’s nostrils flared at the thought of Kien. “He’s an enemy to our people, and he has several half-blood fae working with him. They are certain to cause trouble wherever they go.”

  Her lips pursed. “I know a huge chunk of the Other community, and I haven’t heard of anything like this. Maybe a bit of sickness here and there, but that’s it.”

  “That’s Kien’s doing.” Ralan held her gaze, though he wanted to look away. “He’s been poisoning the Earth just to get to me. Two of our people disrupted the spell, but one of them was injured. My brother got away during the confrontation. Then a few days ago, Delbin and Inona almost captured him in a cave not too far from here, but he escaped again. I’m not sure what he’ll try next.”

  Her frown returned. “Poisoning the Earth? You mean the entire planet, not just sickness in one area? Sounds farfetched.”

  “Nevertheless, it’s true,” Ralan said. “My brother would do anything to kill me.”

  “What, did you mess up the clothes you’d designed for him?” Cora scoffed.

  Ralan let out a surprised laugh. “No. It’s a longstanding feud, but he didn’t find me again until recently. His hatred runs far deeper than my latest career.”

  His jaw clenched around the rest of the explanation. He wanted to tell her about Kien’s betrayal, the event that had driven him from Moranaia, but that involved Kenaren. The woman he’d loved. How could he explain that to his soulbonded? He’d tell her eventually, if he had the chance to spend time with her before his death.

  But he couldn’t bring himself to talk about it today.

  Cora peered at him. “And?”

  “I recently returned to my home world.” There was one fact he could offer. “My daughter was ill. It was in the press, but she didn’t have cancer as stated. The energy poisoning affected her. I had to take her home for healing.”

  “Oh, yeah, I remember reading that. Is she okay?”

  Ralan nodded. “She’s doing well, but I didn’t dare bring her back. Not until I stop Kien.”

  Cora’s brows rose. “You’d better keep a low profile if you don’t want to answer questions about her absence.”

  “I’ll handle it if I have to.”

  She stared at him again, and in the silence, he finally thought he caught a hint of interest in her eyes. What would it take to bring it out? Ralan wasn’t certain if he should mention their potential bond. Were soulbonds recognized where she had been born? Not all realms had learned how to bring like souls together even if their spirits resonated correctly. Her energy wasn’t human, but there was nothing in her appearance to tell him where she might be from. Her hair was midnight black like a Dökkálfar, but her tawny beige skin could come from many types of fae. With hundreds of other dimensions to consider, it would take time to puzzle out.

  “So, uhh…” She pulled her gaze from his. “How am I supposed to help with this? I have no idea who the guy is. I can feel around for information, I guess, but I don’t have much to go on.”

  He made her nervous. A good sign if it was caused by attraction. Satisfaction had Ralan sitting taller. “I came to ensure your safety. There is no need for you to get involved.”

  Three knocks sounded on the door. A pause. Then two more.

  Cora shot to her feet. “Maddy needs me. That’s the sign for a potential problem customer.”

  Delbin lifted a brow at Ralan. “Patrick?”

  He didn’t answer. His concentration shifted to the future strands. A bleary image took shape of Patrick arguing with a young, red-headed woman out in the storeroom. What was the best path forward? If Ralan stood now, his chair would scrape loudly, and the noise stood a fair ch
ance of startling Patrick into leaving. But sitting wouldn’t help. If—

  A poke on his arm broke his concentration.

  “What’s your problem?” Cora asked.

  Ralan grimaced. “I’m a seer. I was trying to help.”

  “You can help by not stalling. My friend is out there with that weirdo.”

  Quiet Inona finally spoke up. “Is there a back way out of this room? Delbin and I can go make sure he doesn’t get away.”

  Cora paused to gesture at another door beyond a small counter. “Go through there, then cut right. The back entrance is that way.”

  Then she opened the other door and walked through without looking back.

  As a half-Sidhe, Maddy wasn’t helpless, but they’d created the panic code for good reason. Plenty of humans patronized Cora’s shop, it was true, but any number of Other creatures, some of them dangerous, did, too. And the code was never used casually.

  Sure enough, her friend was lingering close to the door when Cora emerged. Maddy’s fair skin was ghost-pale, and a glimmer of light shimmered around her hands from power barely constrained. Beside her, the red-haired man who’d stopped her outside her shop stood scowling.

  “May I help you?” Cora asked, her tone cool but professional.

  Some of the frustration eased from his face, but she wasn’t reassured. “I decided to return when you were open. Please forgive my rudeness yesterday. My friend is missing, you see, and—”

  “I believe I advised you to go to the police.”

  His jaw firmed. “We both know there are things the police can’t help with.”

  “What I know is that you’ve been bothering my employee while I was with a client.” Cora’s palm heated, though the flame she gathered was not yet visible. “I will not be bullied. See yourself out and do not return.”

  “We seem to have started off on the wrong foot,” he persisted. “I mean no harm, and I don’t want to make any trouble.”

  Cora’s nose tipped up. “You reek of death magic. Go. This is your last warning.”

  The Sidhe studied her and then Maddy, no doubt considering his next move. But whatever it might have been, Ralan’s sudden presence wiped it away. When the prince followed her into main shop, Patrick’s mouth gaped, and he took a step forward.

  “Lord Kien!” Then he froze, his brow scrunching with concern. “Or not. Gotta go.”

  Before Cora could blink, he fled. She stared after him for a moment before turning a questioning look on Ralan. The prince shrugged as the bell signaled Patrick’s departure. “Aren’t you going to stop him?” she asked.

  “Inona is a scout,” Ralan answered. “She’ll track him, and she and Delbin can capture him. It might be a few minutes here in the middle of the city.”

  “Well.” She swallowed down a sudden lump at the glint in his eyes. “I suppose you don’t need to stay, then. Mission accomplished.”

  His lips curved up as he ambled her way. “Oh, no, Cora. My mission is definitely not accomplished.”

  Beside her, Maddy choked on a laugh, but Cora didn’t glance her way. She was too busy trying to calm her raging heart as the prince halted within touching distance. Suddenly, her palm wasn’t the only thing heating up.

  She almost groaned at the breathy note she couldn’t keep out of her voice. “What’s left?”

  His smirk widened. “You.”

  “I can’t believe you just said that.” Somehow, her tone sounded amused. She hoped. Inside, she was melting like a candle in her fire’s grip. “I think you’ve watched too many movies.”

  Ralan’s low chuckle filled the space between them. “Probably.”

  “Are you seriously going to flirt with me while the bad guy you’re supposed to catch is on the loose?” She tucked her hair behind her ear, unable to resist teasing him. “Because it works for me, but I don’t think your friends would agree.”

  His gaze grew distant. “He’ll make it another block before Inona and Delbin trap him in an alley. I might as well spend the wait doing something pleasant.”

  Maddy shifted, and Cora almost laughed at the sight of her friend trying to sidle around them. “I’ll just…go to the back or something.”

  “No need,” Cora said.

  But Ralan’s eyes focused on her again, and she lost the words to keep her friend near. Suddenly, she had an intense urge to touch him, and not a quick poke to snap him out of a trance. She’d love to run her thumbs across his gorgeous cheekbones and tug him close for a kiss. Fire was her power, and there was enough simmering between them to sear them both.

  Great Divine, how glorious that inferno would be.

  She heard his breath catch, and he took a step closer. “Cora. If you keep staring at me that way…”

  “What?” Her mouth watered even as her throat squeezed tight. “You’ll do what?”

  Ralan’s hand lifted toward her face, but before his fingers made contact, he flinched. “Dammit.”

  Confusion flared quickly into anger. “If you aren’t interested after all, it’s fine.”

  “No, I—” Then he bent over, bracing his hands on his knees. “Delbin. Dammit.”

  Cora’s mouth fell open. What did Delbin have to do with this? “I don’t understand.”

  “He’s hurt.” Ralan shoved himself to his feet, his expression now filled with fury and pain. “I was wrong again. Dammit. That mental blast… I have to go.”

  Before she could offer to help, he hurried out the door.

  The sound of the bell echoed through the room and then fell into silence.

  “What just happened?” Maddy finally asked.

  Cora shook her head to clear it, but the motion didn’t help. “I have no idea.”

  But she was certain of one thing—she had to have Ralan as her own.

  Daylight brought a glorious kind of pain as it heated Vek’s pale skin and sliced into his eyes in a constant stream. Like a well-placed whip to flesh, the sensation made him shiver. His home was dim, the false sun lighting his underhill a weak one. Every time he walked the surface of true Earth, he became more convinced that there was no substitute for the real thing.

  After all the time he’d spent outdoors today, he was certain to have a sunburn. Even traveling to that shop in search of human clothes and money had exposed him to more natural light than he’d seen in years.

  Vek strode down the forest path, giving a pair of hikers an absent wave as they halted to stare. At his smile, one of the females blanched. The other simpered. Ah, the life of the Unseelie. Humans were either drawn or repulsed by the dark energy his kind wielded like breath. They never figured out that the beguiling Seelie were the true danger.

  Too bad he didn’t have time to explore either woman’s reaction. Without pause, he wiped the memory of his presence from their minds and kept going. Fun and games would have to wait until he’d seen to Fen, his nephew. The idiot would be killed by the king, his own grandfather, if he couldn’t make up for what he’d done.

  Following the tug of their blood connection, a link no shield could ever hide, Vek slipped off the trail and into the forest. The hills and mountains in this area held more than a few caves, some of them huge. If Fen wanted to hide, he’d choose one of those, although the proximity to the source of sick energy that still lingered like a bad smell was a surprise.

  It made his nephew all too easy for anyone to find.

  Scowling, Vek shoved a low branch out of the way and cursed his sister. Why had Ara been so foolish as to leave her half-blood son unattended? Their line was ancient and powerful, their magic dangerous. Intimate. Now the boy was barely into his twenties and full of justified resentment for being abandoned on Earth while the rest of his family lived in luxury.

  Ara was a cold bitch.

  When he reached the entrance to the cave, he paused to strengthen his magical shields. Fen would sense his identity as surely as Vek could do the same, but that didn’t mean the whelp wouldn’t be prepared to attack. Whether the kid greeted him or lobbed a ball
of death magic depended entirely on his current mood.

  The air chilled around Vek as he started down the tunnel, and he took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the comforting cool. The sun might be a welcome novelty, but it was not home. Not like the dark and shadowed places. But the shadows ended abruptly as the tunnel opened into a small but brightly lit chamber, mage lights dancing between the stalagmites and stalactites spearing the air at random.

  Between two stalagmites on the far wall, his nephew huddled. Vek tensed at the boy’s pallor, and a quick probe revealed the youth’s low energy. “What have you done?”

  “Fucked up,” Fen answered succinctly.

  “You have no idea how true that is.” After a quick scan to ensure they were alone, Vek stalked across the cavern floor. “I told you to leave off with that group of renegade half-bloods when last we met.”

  “Yeah, five years ago.”

  Vek didn’t miss the bitter tone of his nephew’s voice. Anger deserved. “Why the hell would you poison the energy fields? Affecting the Seelie is one thing, but it’s started to sicken our people, too. The king has commanded your presence.”

  Fen’s lips twisted. “You mean I finally get to see my mother’s home? How nice.”

  “You won’t see it for long.” Vek paused, and his fists tightened with grief barely repressed. “Our cousin died from the poison, Fen. He was only forty-seven.”

  “No way,” Fen said, though he’d gone paler than Vek would’ve thought possible. “Kien shielded the Unseelie. He swore it would only enter the Seelie realms.”

  Vek’s hand darted out to grab Fen’s shirt. “If you believe that, you’re a fool.”

  The fight fled from his nephew’s eyes, and the kid slumped in Vek’s hold. “I was a fool. But I’m not with them anymore.”

  “You think that matters?” Vek let his nephew drop against the stone wall. “If I take you home now, I’ll be taking you to your death.”