by Anya Bast
“Where’s your date?” the mage asked before he swallowed down the rest of his drink.
“Please don’t call her that.”
Niall shrugged. “So where is she? I thought she was the whole reason you dragged your ass down here for the night.”
“She’s with Emmaline.”
“Emmaline? What are they doing?”
Kieran took a long drink of his vodka. “Shopping, primping. Girl stuff.”
“That’s good.” Niall nodded. “Emmaline will be able to protect her if anything happens before she’s back in your care.”
“That was the idea.” He glanced at his watch and frowned. They should be here by now. Emmaline was highly trained and he trusted her as a capable bodyguard. Hell, he couldn’t think of one other person, himself excluded, who he would trust more.
Still, worry niggled. Where were they?
“So, how’s it going, babysitting the fae-hater?” Niall fingered his empty glass.
He took another drink of the vodka and stared down into the clear liquid. “She’s not that bad.”
“Really?” Niall’s eyebrows rose. “She seemed pretty bad on the car ride in.”
“She—” He looked up, searching the crowd. By the door his gaze caught on a woman walking toward him. Drop-dead gorgeous.
She wore a black velvet sheath dress that hugged every one of her curves, slit in the front to reveal her long, mouth-watering legs and a pair of matching black velvet stilettos. Pearls draped her slender throat, one of her wrists, and hung delicately from her earlobes. Her black hair was swept up from her slender neck and twisted in a chignon at the back of her head. Her skin shone a shade of pearly pink-white that made his fingers itch to stroke. Full ruby red lips pouted from a pretty heart-shaped face and her eyes . . . her eyes were . . .
“Charlotte?” he asked out loud. Then he recognized the woman who walked beside her—Emmaline.
“Fuck me,” Niall breathed. “She cleans up a lot better than I could have imagined.”
Now that Charlotte had drawn closer, he was amazed he could have mistaken her for anyone else. She had that same uncertain glint in her eyes and that same lopsided smile. She stumbled a little and Emmaline caught her. Clearly she wasn’t used to being dressed up or wearing heels that high.
But, sweet Lady, if he’d thought she was pretty before, tonight she’d shot clear up to fuck-me gorgeous.
He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “I need another drink.”
Niall pointed at his glass. “You still have an almost full one in your hand.”
Kieran downed it in one swallow, letting the fiery liquid burn a pathway down his throat. He waggled the now-empty glass at Niall. “Like I said, I need another drink.”
He walked back to the bar, filled up, and then returned to where Niall stood. Emmaline and Charlotte had joined him and were laughing at something Niall had said. Kieran figured it was at his expense.
Now that she was near him, Kieran could see they’d done something to her hair. Did they call that highlights? They’d lightened it a little from her natural blacker-than-midnight color. It was pretty like this, but he preferred it unaffected.
She looked at him and smiled.
He studied her face. Someone had put makeup on her, covered her cute freckles, altered her porcelain skin. He frowned. “You’re different.” He liked this new Charlotte less and less, no matter that he’d almost swallowed his tongue when he’d first seen her.
Charlotte’s smile faded.
Emmaline hit him in the chest. “You have no idea how to act around women, do you? You might try offering her a compliment.”
He blinked. “You’re beautiful tonight, Charlotte. I picked you out of the crowd and didn’t even know who you were at first. I wanted to rush over, pick you up, and take you back to my apartment immediately.”
Charlotte turned bright red and Niall gave a bark of laughter.
Emmaline cleared her throat. “Wow, Kieran, you really ran with that compliment thing. That’s a little more information than any of us wanted.”
Kieran ignored everyone but Charlotte. He held her gaze. “But I like you better when your freckles are showing and your hair is pure black and loose around your face. You’re beautiful tonight, but you’re much more beautiful when you’re natural.” He couldn’t say where that burst of honesty had come from or why any of it had felt right to reveal.
Everyone went silent. Charlotte’s eyes had opened wide and her lips parted a bit as if stunned.
“Charlotte!” Risa came up on his side to join their circle. She wore a sleek green dress that set off her eyes and made her long, heavy red hair looked even more lustrous. “You look incredible!”
Charlotte inclined her head a little and smiled, clearly unused to receiving compliments on her appearance. “Thank you.”
Risa held a champagne flute in one hand and swept the ballroom with the other. “Welcome to the Ostara Ball.”
“It’s dazzling.” Her gaze met Kieran’s for a moment. Her eyes were more brown than green tonight. Beautiful.
“Would you like to dance, Charlotte?” He jerked his head at the dance floor.
“Uh, sure.” She gave him a tight smile.
He set his glass down on a nearby table and led her toward the dance floor.
“But you don’t even know how to dance,” yelled Niall from behind them.
“Is he talking to you or me?” Charlotte asked as he led her out onto the floor.
“Me. I don’t come to these things very often.”
“I don’t know how to dance either. I guess we’ll be bad dancers together.”
He didn’t care; he just wanted to touch her. It was a damned dangerous compunction to have, but he couldn’t help it. He slid his hand around her waist and she caught her breath. He wasn’t falling in love with her, but he had come to admire her. Tonight he lusted after her. Perhaps it was a dangerous combination, to be lusting after a woman he admired, but this was duty, not pleasure. He was keeping Charlotte entertained, as his queen had demanded of him. This was his job.
So he pulled her close and she came easily, molding her body to his and placing one hand on his shoulder and the other on his waist. She licked her lips and blinked a couple times in succession. He recognized the sign; she was nervous.
He swayed his body with the music, taking her along for the ride. After a moment, he understood that dancing was like sex and all he had to do was give himself over to it. Her hips moved with his and he decided he liked it.
“You said you haven’t danced much?” he asked. “I thought human schools had all those social functions. What’s that one event called, Sadie Hawkins?”
She laughed. “Yes, Sadie Hawkins. That’s the dance where the girl asks the guy. We had one at our high school, but I didn’t go. I was too shy to ask anyone.”
“I would think the boys would have been in a line waiting for you to get up the nerve.”
She ducked her head and shook it. “No, but thanks for thinking that. What about you? You can’t tell me a man as old as you has never danced with a woman. You must have done it at least a few times.”
“Sure, but love curse, remember? It doesn’t usually lend itself to romantic interludes. Dancing with a woman has been pretty rare for me.”
“Right. I forgot. Love curse.” She paused, pressing her lips together. “It must be so hard to live with that.”
“Sometimes. I see Aeric and Gabriel, friends of mine who have recently married. They have someone to share their life with and I have no one, will never have anyone. I’m old enough now that I want a woman to love and love me back. I have sown my wild oats and have been ready to settle down for centuries now.”
“That makes it even sadder.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is. I’ve had time to get used to the idea.”
“It’s wrong that you were punished for your brother’s actions.”
“Is it?” He shrugged. “Maybe not. Maybe I could have done more to sto
p Diarmad than I did.” Before she could pursue that line of conversation any further, he asked, “What about you? You’ve never had any serious relationships?”
She smiled tightly and glanced away. “I’ve been in several relationships, but only one of them could even remotely be called serious. His name was Charles and he was in advertising. I met him on the job, actually.”
“It didn’t work out?”
“I wanted children and he didn’t. He liked the city and I wanted to live in the country. Those are only a couple of the many differences between us.”
“Differences can sometimes complement.”
“And sometimes they can be insurmountable.”
“Not that I know much about it, but I suspect a strong enough love can surmount anything.”
She looked up into his face, holding his gaze. “Except a curse?”
“Probably not that.”
They danced deeper into the crush of people. Eventually she laid her head on his shoulder and he tried not to like it. The music lofted around them and they moved with it, the bright gowns of the women swirling around them and the sounds of laughter, conversation, and the gentle clink of toasts rising in the air like an embrace.
Charlotte raised her head and looked as if she were about to say something. Her lips were parted and her eyes were deeply green in that moment, full of unexpressed emotion. His gaze met hers and held. He had the crazy impulse to dip his head and press his lips to hers. Not just because he wanted sex from her, not in this exact moment, but because he wanted to share an intimate moment with a woman he had grown to respect.
His blood froze.
Charlotte must have seen something in his eyes because her expression went from inquisitive to concerned in a heartbeat. “What is it?”
Just then a man came up on their side. He had a head of long, wavy, bright yellow hair and black tattoos weaving their way over half his face. The man smiled and expression lines crinkled at his bright blue eyes. “I wondered if I could cut in? I would like to take a turn around the dance floor with your exquisitely beautiful partner.”
Kieran stepped back from her immediately. “Of course.” At the moment he couldn’t get far enough away from her.
Charlotte looked confused and he hated himself for causing it. Still, she let the blond lead her into another song and they melted into the crowd.
He whirled and went for the bar.
Aeric O’Malley came up on his side as he was downing another vodka. “I’ve never seen you pound drinks the way you are tonight. Something wrong?”
He resisted the urge to turn around and order another. “I remember coming upon you one night when you were five sheets to the wind.”
“Yeah.” Aeric rubbed a hand over his mouth. “And the reason was female-related. That’s why I’m asking, something wrong?” He glanced at Charlotte out on the dance floor.
“No.” Kieran scanned the crowd and saw Charlotte whirling around in the arms of the yellow-haired man. He held her close and she was laughing. An unfamiliar, very unpleasant, sensation curled through his stomach, and he didn’t like it. He tore his gaze away from the sight. “Where’s Emmaline?”
Aeric pointed her out in the crush. “Talking to the Quinn brothers.” She stood not far away with Ronan and Niall.
“Can you ask her to babysit Charlotte a little? I need some space.”
“Ah.”
Kieran glared at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Aeric held up a hand. “It meant ah. That’s all. Swear. Listen, man, if you say you need distance from a woman, I’m all over that. I’ll tell Emmaline.” He turned and walked toward his wife.
A woman’s scream sliced through the air.
“Sweet Danu!” It was Risa’s voice. “Charlotte!”
FOURTEEN
KIERAN dropped his empty glass and bolted across the room toward Charlotte. The blond guy had her wrist in his grasp. She yanked her arm, trying to pull away.
“Let me go, you psycho!” she yelled, landing a solid punch to the man’s jaw. Kieran remember her punch—it was hard. The yellow-haired man’s head whipped to the side, but he didn’t loosen his grip.
Kieran’s blood boiled white-hot with rage. He moved before he thought, fully intending to kill this man right here, right now. He raised his hand, feeling his unique brand of killing magick bubble up from the depths of him.
Nothing happened.
The yellow-haired man yanked Charlotte against him, weaving an arm around her waist. A knife glinted in his hand. It flashed upward, to her throat. The press of it against her skin made her gasp. “Your magick won’t work on me, Kieran Aindréas Cairbre Aimhrea. I’m a null.”
A circle had formed around the couple. Aeric, Risa, Emmaline, Niall, and Ronan had come to stand next to him.
“A fucking null?” Niall spat. “Why send a null? They’re useless.”
“They’re perfect for this.” Kieran kept his gaze on the man as he spoke. “Our magick won’t work on him; he can get her out of here and do whatever his boss wants him to do with her.”
“What is your name?” came an in-control female voice from behind them.
Everyone looked toward the sound. Queen Aislinn cut a path through the crowd, with her husband at one hand and her best friend, Bella, at her other. Heavy, expensive black and silver cloth made up her voluminous gown that harkened back to the Elizabethan era. A black and silver crown glittered in her upswept silver blond hair and silver jewelry dripped from her earlobes, wrists, and throat.
The yellow-haired man faced the queen. Charlotte appeared more pissed off than scared. “You can call me Doc, but that’s not going to tell you anything.”
Aislinn smiled. “I’ll be the judge of that. Who do you work for and what do they want?”
Doc jerked his head at Charlotte. “This one.” He paused and smiled. For the first time Kieran noticed that he had bad teeth. “Dead after we’ve had our way with her.”
Aislinn’s face grew stony. “I’m disinclined to grant your employer’s wish.”
“Doesn’t matter what you want.” He pressed the edge of the blade into Charlotte’s neck and a drop of blood welled. “And you’re not getting any information out of me either.”
“You know there’s no possible way you’re leaving here alive. It really was stupid to plan an attack right in the middle of a well-attended Unseelie ball. You have nothing but enemies here.”
“Oh, you’d be surprised how many friends I have lurking about. Anyway, I think we’ll get out of here just fine. See, Queen Aislinn, you get to choose; either you let me go with the girl, or you watch her die right now. The boss wants her alive for a time, but I tend toward flexibility on that point.”
“And the Wild Hunt?” Kieran asked loudly. “How do you plan to avoid them once the woman is dead? Do you want to join the slaugh?”
“She’s got exactly two drops of fae blood.” He snorted. “The Wild Hunt won’t bother for her.”
“Really? Are you so sure of that, Doc?” Kieran raised his brows and glanced at Gabriel, the leader of the Wild Hunt. “Let’s ask someone who knows for certain.”
Gabriel’s lips peeled back in a feral manner to show gleaming white teeth. “The Wild Hunt will come for you if you so much as draw a drop of blood from that woman.”
Niall whispered near his ear. “Stall this bozo. I’ll go do something to distract him.” Then he disappeared into the crush.
Doc made a hissing sound. “You and I both know that’s not how it works. The hunt hounds lead you, not the other way around.”
“Still,” Kieran broke in, “seems like an awfully big gamble to me. I’m not sure how the Netherworld would rule on a part-blood’s murder. I sure hope you’re getting paid enough for the risk, Doc, because all the money in the world won’t keep you out of the slaugh. And I’m betting your employer doesn’t care where you end up.”
“Enough chitchat.” Doc jiggled the knife, making Charlotte yelp. “You going to let me out of
here without any trouble or do you want to watch her die?”
Kieran stepped toward Doc, drawing his eye. He affected a calm, cool composure, even though all he wanted was to leap across the room and tackle this man. “So, let me get this straight. You’ll either kill the girl now or kill the girl later. You simply want us to let you go so we don’t have to watch you kill her? I don’t understand your logic.” He narrowed his eyes. “You do realize which court you’re in, right?”
Charlotte’s eyes widened.
Doc hissed at him. He pressed the knife in a little more and Charlotte stiffened, gasping. “Want me to do it now, then?”
Kieran took another couple steps closer to the man, getting ready for whatever Niall’s distraction would be. His heart rate had increased. This was a risky move. If he couldn’t get to them fast enough, Doc might take the opportunity to plunge the knife into her throat and be done with it.
“You really aren’t very bright, are you, Doc? Don’t you realize what a hard situation you’ve put yourself in? You’re surrounded by Unseelie who want to rip you apart. Not to mention you selected a victim who is more than capable of taking care of herself.” Kieran paused and caught Charlotte’s gaze. “Aren’t you, Charlotte?”
He was hoping to drive her out of her shock and remind her of the defense training he’d given her. Once things started to happen, she would need to get away from Doc as quickly as she could. She’d only had an afternoon’s worth of instruction, but it would have to be enough.
The ballroom plunged into darkness. Not just ordinary darkness, but pure, unrelenting black like the inside of a cave.
Amid the shocked gasps of the ball-goers, he heard a male grunt and the clatter of silver on the marble floor. Kieran leapt forward, tackling the man he hoped was Doc. Doc bellowed out a swear word and Kieran recognized his voice. Jackpot.
Doc’s fist connected with Kieran’s jaw. Pain exploded. They scuffled in the darkness, rolling over and bumping into people’s legs. Kieran punched blind in the black, connecting with what felt like Doc’s jaw and then the side of his rib cage. Doc howled in pain and doubled over while Kieran fought to hold on to him.
