Burning Desire (20 page)

Farrell bowed his head, his shoulders shaking as he cried harder.

“Now who’s the one that doesn’t belong?” she bent over and asked.

Shara was disgusted with the entire scene. She straightened and turned to walk out when her mother stepped in her path.

“Where are you going, dear?” her mother asked sweetly.

Sweet and her mother were never mixed in the same sentence. There wasn’t an ounce of kindness in her mother, or forgiveness for that matter.

“None of your business,” Shara stated and tried to go around her.

Her mother remained in her way. “We have a ceremony to prepare you for. Balladyn wants to claim you immediately.”

Shara hid her frown. She’d expected to spend the day explaining her absence to Balladyn to cool his anger while Kiril rescued Rhi. It wasn’t part of Kiril’s plan, but someone had to occupy Balladyn. As soon as Kiril and Rhi were out of the compound, Shara planned to leave as well. Kiril wanted her to go to Dreagan, but she still had reservations about that. It wasn’t something she was going to think about until their plans came to fruition.

“Balladyn came here last night,” her mother continued in her silence. “He wants you as his immediately.”

Shara just bet he did. It might have taken her awhile, but she had figured both Balladyn and her brother out. For that matter, she had figured out her family as well. One more regret that she realized too late after having put herself in such a position.

She looked around, comprehending that it was a show everyone was playing. The “trial” Farrell was on was just for appearances. He would be dead within a few hours.

And he knew it.

Her mother’s tight smile was an appearance of trying to become friendly with a daughter she had scorned now that Shara was set to be claimed by the second most powerful Dark and Taraeth’s right hand.

The rest of the family was following her parents’ lead.

Shara pivoted to look at her father. He watched her with eyes now filled with interest and a hint of respect. Of course he would. Balladyn wanted her, and in his mind she had to be something special to get a man such as Balladyn to stake his claim.

She wanted to roll her eyes. But she wouldn’t. She would play the game with them. She had learned from the best, after all.

“The Claiming will have to wait. We have a Dragon King to find,” she stated to the room at large.

Her father’s eyes widened. “I thought Balladyn was going after Kiril?”

“Oh he is,” Shara said with a grin. “I’ll be joining him. I did all the work, after all.”

Her mother’s cold fingers wrapped around her wrist as she used to do when Shara was younger. It was her way of putting Shara in her place. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Shara looked down at her wrist before she lifted her gaze to her mother. She waited a heartbeat to see if her mother would release her before she purposefully, determinedly removed her mother’s hand from her arm. “Don’t touch me again.”

Her mother took a step back, a look of fear flashing in her red eyes.

Shara turned her back on her mother and looked to her father once more. “Do you have anything else to say?”

“Will you return to us?” he asked.

She considered his words, drawing out the silence to stretch to an uncomfortable length. “I’ve not decided.”

“We’re your family, Shara,” he said calmly. “It wouldn’t look right if we’re not with you at the Claiming. Besides, you’re my only child out of nine left.”

She glanced at Farrell who sat huddled in a ball. “You have other things to worry about. There were many who witnessed what Balladyn did to Farrell, and what is done to one of us is done to the family. The Blackwood family appears weak now. I’m not sure I want to be a part of such a family.”

Her father frowned. “You would disown us?”

Shara turned and walked out of the room saying, “I’m considering it.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Kiril dozed as he waited to hear the voices of the Dark above him. Hours went by with nothing, yet he lingered in the cellar. The house remained as silent as a tomb, and Kiril began to feel that it might very well end up that way for him. He closed his eyes and drifted back to his night with Shara.

Despite the wonderful hours spent holding her in his arms, nothing had changed. He knew she would never come to Dreagan with—or without—him. He knew it with the same certainty that his carefully thought-out plan was somehow going to go wrong.

He went over every detail of the plan and tried to determine where things could go wrong. The problem was there were too many places. Kiril limited Shara’s involvement just in case she had a change of heart, or—even worse—Balladyn got ahold of her.

With nothing to do but wait, Kiril continued to doze while thinking of ways he wanted to take his anger out on Balladyn for what he had done to Rhi—and what he might do to Shara if Balladyn discovered she was helping him.

If Rhys were with him, Kiril knew his friend would caution him about trusting a Dark. He knew the chances, but if there was even the slightest chance that Shara really did want to help, then he had to take it.

Kiril wasn’t senseless, and though his body yearned for her with a passion that couldn’t be explained, he knew there was still the chance that Shara could be luring him into her well-crafted web.

It wasn’t just the all-consuming desire that drew Kiril to her. It was her smile, her sharp mind, her soft touch. It was her eyes that gave away her every emotion, it was the strip of silver in her coal black hair.

It was the way she’d made him feel whole since his dragons were sent away.

Please doona let me be wrong about her.

*   *   *

Shara felt … free. It was the only word that came to mind as she stood outside of her family’s home in the back garden. Never in her wildest dreams did she dare to talk to her parents as she had.

She wasn’t sure what had come over her.

Yes, you do. Kiril.

There was no doubt. Kiril had changed her, and not just by the way her body reacted to him. He altered the way she thought and the way she saw things. He made her take stock of her life and how she saw her future, of how she wanted to live.

He was the one who accepted her for what she was and didn’t demand anything from her or of her. He let her be herself, right or wrong. That had shown her what kind of person she could be—what kind she wanted to be.

The confidence she’d always had disappeared while locked away in her room, and somehow she had found it again in Kiril’s arms. She remembered she was strong, smart, and resilient.

Shara breathed deeply, a smile on her face. Any moment now Kiril would arrive so she could take him to the doorway to Balladyn’s fortress. He didn’t know it yet, but she was coming with him. He would put up a fuss. In the end, however, she would get her way because he would realize he needed her.

A frisson of something cold and foreboding ran down her spine. Balladyn wasn’t going to be as easy as her parents. He would have his entire army with him, but he had no idea what she had in store for him.

Like most powerful Dark, he would assume he could punish her for her so-called indiscretion. Shara wanted to laugh. As if she would allow that now. No one would ever again hold her prisoner.

Balladyn had enjoyed her spirit. She would wait for the right time and kill him. Dark like Balladyn would never think a female could hurt them. She didn’t want anyone coming after her when it was all over—not Balladyn, not her family. No one.

She would be the one in control of her life. She would be the one to decide if she took a husband and who.

Shara could hardly contain her excitement for the dawning of a new era in her life, but before she was able to grasp it, she would have to put herself in peril. She was scared, but if Kiril was willing to risk his own life for Rhi, Shara would do the same to help Kiril.

It was frightening how much she was willing to do for Kiril. He had no idea the hold he had on her heart or how, without even trying, he made her see the true path she was destined to take.

“Just wait,” she whispered.

“Wait for what?” asked a deep, menacing voice behind her.

Shara was frozen with shock. This wasn’t the plan.

Thick fingers bit into her skin as Balladyn’s hand reached across her and clamped on her jaw. He slowly turned her until she faced him. The coldness she had glimpsed while he terrorized Farrell was now directed at her, and it iced her veins.

“I asked you a question. You will answer.”

Fear kept her silent for a moment, then she remembered who she was. Shara narrowed her gaze on him. “I’m not yours yet, nor will I be if you continue this.”

“According to your family, you’re mine,” he said and leaned close, squeezing her chin until tears burned her eyes.

Balladyn might be the right hand to Taraeth and a famed warrior. But he was just a male like every other Dark Fae who thought they could rule the females. How she loathed him. What made her ever think to use him? How stupid she’d been to think he was the answer to get out from beneath her family.

“I’m not yours until the Claiming,” she said tightly, refusing to let the pain show.

He loosened his grip a fraction and pulled her against him so that his mouth was even with her ear. “You will be mine. Don’t even think of fighting the inevitable.”

Shara didn’t think she could hate anyone as much as she hated Farrell. How wrong she had been. She envisioned lopping off Balladyn’s head or cutting out his heart. Instead of telling him to go fuck himself, Shara held her tongue. One way or another she needed to buy Kiril time to get to Rhi.

Kiril was smart. He would figure out a way into Balladyn’s fortress. Shara wouldn’t be able to show him the doorway, but she would ensure Balladyn’s attention was focused solely on her.

She jerked her head out of his grasp and raised her chin. “Convince me you’re the male worthy enough for me.”

“Oh, I’ll convince you,” he said and yanked her against him.

It was all Shara could do not to shrink away in revulsion as she felt Balladyn’s arousal.

Dreagan

Lily dusted off her knees and stood from restocking the twelve-year-old Scotch, Dreagan’s bestseller. She rotated her left wrist that still ached. It had been three months since the break had healed, but she feared it would always pain her.

The bones that had been snapped in half throbbed agonizingly a few hours before the rain came. It was like an early warning sign.

She glanced at the clock with the Dreagan logo of two dragons back-to-back, announcing it was well past time to end her shift. It was an early closing day for Dreagan, which meant she had the rest of the afternoon to herself. She grabbed the empty box and brought it behind the counter so Rhys or one of the others could take it to have it filled again.

There was very little wasted on Dreagan, and Lily found she liked the concept. It also helped that she could relax there. Relaxing hadn’t been something she’d thought she would ever do again.

With all the tourists gone for the day, she filled a pail with water and headed through the open door outside to water the rosebushes set in huge clay pots on either side of the door.

Lily watered the first bush and leaned in to smell the fragrant creamy orange blossom. She turned to the second pot when she stilled as she caught sight of Rhys.

He was dressed in black jeans that looked light gray on the thigh as if they had been sanded. His button-down shirt was white and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. The back of the shirt had black wings embroidered and spread across his wide shoulders. The ensemble was completed with black boots, a black leather cuff at his right wrist, and a watch on his left.

Lily couldn’t take her eyes off him. His dark brown hair was left loose, the long waves falling to brush his shoulders. From the distance she couldn’t see his eyes, but she knew the color by heart—aqua ringed by navy.

He was smiling, his steps purposeful. Lily was about to call out a hello when he jerked to a stop and whipped his head around as someone said his name.

As soon as Lily saw Constantine she knew she should go back inside the shop, but she wanted just a few more minutes to gaze at Rhys with no one watching her. She lifted the pail to water the second bush when Con’s voice reached her.

“Wanted to let you know that I heard from Kiril.”

Rhys’s smile widened. “I’m guessing it’s good news, then?”

“Aye. He’ll be home soon. I gave him until noon, but I suspect he’s wanting a last farewell with his woman.”

Rhys’s smile vanished as he looked at his watch. “You spoke with him at dawn, aye?”

Con slapped him on the arm, his eyes crinkling in the corners from smiling. “Be happy, Rhys. Kiril is coming home. He’s no’ reckless as you are. If he says he’s going to do something, he’ll do it. Besides, I’m giving him another hour before I contact him again.”

“You’re right,” Rhys said grudgingly.

Lily felt something wet hit her toe in her sandals. She looked down to discover she had overflowed the pot. “Oh, dang,” she mumbled and quickly stepped back.

When she looked up, Rhys was no longer in the same spot. She let her gaze quickly roam, but she didn’t see him. With a sigh, she began to turn to enter the shop when she heard his voice filled with merriment.

“Ladies!” he shouted.

She gradually turned her head to find two women leaning on Rhys’s red convertible Jaguar F-type. The women were drop-dead gorgeous, both tall, with long legs, slender bodies, and plump breasts. Both were blondes and had long, full hair. They stood, all smiles, as Rhys walked up.

Suddenly conscious of her dour, plain clothes that were several sizes too big, Lily glanced down at herself. She pulled on the oversized top and grimaced.

Rhys put an arm around the women before kissing each of them fully on the lips. He then walked them around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. “Buckle up,” he said with a grin as he closed the door and strode to the driver’s side.

Lily swallowed hard as Cassie walked up beside her, her head shaking from side to side in displeasure. “That car only fits two. He can’t have two women in one seat,” she said in her American accent.