Burning Desire

by Donna Grant

  “That’s all you’re going to impart?” Con asked, irritation deepening his voice.

  “I took her to dinner. Mostly because I wanted to see what she might reveal.”

  “But,” Con urged when he paused.

  “I think I might try to flip her to our side.”

  “Kiril, you’re no’ known for being reckless, but you’re deep in Dark Fae territory. We’re a long way from you. Be sure about this before you try anything.”

  “Warning heard, Con. Shara is our ticket. By the way, any news about Rhi? I’ve no’ heard anything since the night she was taken.”

  “Nay.” The word was filled with fury.

  Kiril almost felt sorry for the Dark who had taken her. Balladyn was his name, and he was going to rue the day he ever brought down the wrath of the Kings. “I’ll keep listening around. Something about her will have to surface soon.”

  “There’s something else,” Con said softly.

  “What is it? Did you find more clues pointing to Ulrik as the one trying to reveal us to the world?”

  Ulrik. He was a Dragon King who had been betrayed by a human and retaliated with war. Ulrik wouldn’t relent, and Kiril and the other Kings had had no choice but to bind his magic. Though part of Ulrik’s rage was due to the fact they had killed his woman for her betrayal. It had been done out of love and friendship, but Ulrik hadn’t seen it that way.

  “The Silvers moved again.”

  Kiril paused as he reached for his mug of tea. Again. The Silvers moved again. The implication was tough. The Silvers were Ulrik’s dragons. The four of the largest Silvers had been captured and caged after Ulrik’s dragon magic had been bound.

  Then the rest of the Dragon Kings had used their magic to put the Silvers to sleep deep in the mountains on Dreagan. As long as the Dragon Kings remained on Dreagan, the magic surrounding the Silvers would hold.

  “The first time the Silvers moved Hal fell in love,” Kiril stated.

  After the betrayal to Ulrik, Con had ensured that no other Dragon King would feel deep emotions for another human. It had taken millions of years, but it had happened starting with Hal and Cassie.

  A few months later Guy had fallen for Elena, then Banan for Jane. A year after that Kellan had tumbled head over heels for Denae, and then Tristan followed suit with Sammi, Jane’s sister.

  The movement of the Silvers had been like a bell tolling the coming apocalypse. The fact they moved again wasn’t good news.

  “You’re the only King no’ on Dreagan,” Con pointed out. “I know why you’re putting yourself in the middle of the Dark, but I doona believe it’s worth it. Come home, Kiril.”

  “Worth it?” he repeated in disbelief. “Kellan was kidnapped by the Dark. Tristan was tricked into coming to them because they had Sammi. And now they have Rhi. You still doona think it’s worth it? They’ll take another of us, Con. How many more times can we come to Ireland and rescue our brethren before we’re seen? How many more times can we get away before the Dark get smart and capture more of us?”

  “They took two of us during the Fae Wars, Kiril. I know you remember that. Do you want that to happen again? We might be immortal, but they broke the minds of those two Kings and had them attack us. I doona relish killing our own, even if it is a mercy killing.”

  “I’m no’ leaving Ireland. Shara is my way deeper into the Dark world.”

  “Let me send Ryder or Darius over. They can watch your back.”

  “No. It’s too chancy. The Dark watch me constantly. I can no’ have another King here that could be taken. They know what I am, but they doona know that I know. I’m going to use that to my advantage.”

  “Doona make me regret this,” Con warned.

  “Until tomorrow,” Kiril said before he severed the link.

  He stared at his mug of tea and the steam rising from the liquid. The Silvers moving made him think of his own dragons. Kiril often went into the cavern that held the Silvers to see them. There was a chance he might never see his own dragons again, never see the burnt orange of their scales glistening in the moonlight.

  Kiril shook his head and closed off those memories. He had to focus on the Dark Fae and their obsession with capturing a Dragon King. It would help if he knew what it was they searched for, what it was that they believed the Kings hid. There was little doubt that Con could have hidden something away if he felt it would cause other beings to gain the upper hand on another race.

  The Dragon Kings had been charged with keeping the humans safe. Even with the dragons gone, the Kings kept to their mission—despite how difficult it was at times.

  The Kings went out of their way protecting the humans for millennia, fighting wars they never knew about, and yet if the humans discovered them, they would capture the Kings and dissect them.

  Kiril often wondered if it might not have been worthwhile to let the humans destroy themselves so the dragons could return and Earth would once more be the beacon of light in the universe.

  Though his appetite was gone, he ate the plate of food and drank two cups of tea before he made his way to his office. It was going to be a long day waiting for night to fall so he could see Shara again.

  * * *

  Shara puffed out her cheeks and blew out a breath of air as she tossed aside the book she was trying to read. The hours crept by slower than a slug. It was worse now that night had descended, because she wondered what Kiril was doing. Did he go back to the place they’d first met? Did he walk the streets looking for her? Did she stay on his mind as he remained on hers?

  The questions were driving her insane. She rose from her bed and paced the confines of her room. She was no longer locked inside, but there was nowhere else in the grand house that she wanted to go. Unlike humans who struck out on their own as soon as they could, Fae families—both Dark and Light—tended to remain together.

  However, this was one time that Shara wished she didn’t reside in the same house as her brother, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It wasn’t just crowded, but everyone’s eyes were on her, watching what she did—or didn’t do.

  Shara looked around at the walls of her spacious bedroom. They were painted a deep red, as was the rest of the house. The Dark Fae preferred darker colors, shying away from pastel colors because they associated weakness with such colors.

  She walked to the mirror hanging on her wall and looked at herself. The red eyes staring back at her didn’t hold the cruelty or the malice that her brother’s did. Not yet at least. They would eventually if she continued on the path her family had set before her.

  It was a path she hadn’t thought twice about as she was essentially forgotten while her parents and older siblings played the game of politics and joined in the never-ending wars. Shara had been born nearly a century after Farrell, and her parents quickly thrust her into the care of a nanny.

  Shara remembered those days of freedom. Not a care in the world touched her. She was good at her studies, which gave her ample time whenever she wanted. She spent the majority of her younger years right there on Earth soaking up the different cultures and all they had to offer.

  She honed her magic, making her tutors proud, even if she never received so much as a message from her parents. They rarely returned to their home on Earth as they schemed the family higher and higher into the social hierarchy of the Dark Fae world.

  An already powerful family, the Blackwoods connived and plotted their way right onto the council of the king of the Darks. Now the name Blackwood struck terror in many Dark, though Shara hadn’t known that. All she knew was that she never wanted for anything.

  She had human friends, and as she grew older, human male lovers. Her tutors taught her the code of a Dark Fae, and the few Fae friends she had never understood why she befriended the humans. Shara hadn’t thought anything about it. Until her parents returned.

  For over a thousand years she had been ignored, overlooked by the accomplishments of her elder siblings. Shara woke each day hoping it would be the day
her family returned to her and took her with them. She hadn’t realized how much independence she had until her wish was fulfilled.

  Five of her elder siblings had been killed in a war, and their family had returned to Earth to grieve and regroup. Shara had sat excitedly in her mother’s parlor waiting for her to finally bring her into the fold.

  She had been beside herself with joy to receive her first assignment. She hadn’t blinked an eye when she was ordered to kidnap five human males. That night she completed her task and saw her eyes change from silver to red.

  The assignment was easy enough that she was eager for more. Shara had even sampled one of the men herself when prodded by her cousin. The sex had been good, but she hadn’t understood why her friends wanted the humans so desperately.

  Her second task was to bring five human females to their home on the Fae world. As soon as she brought them through a Fae doorway, the thick lock of silver appeared in her hair.

  She knew what was done to the females from her studies, but she had never watched before. After she delivered the humans, she tried to leave, suddenly sick at what she had done. Farrell stopped her, making her watch. It repulsed her to see the souls drained from the women so quickly.

  Shara tried to tell herself it was no different from what the female Dark did to the males, but it was. She was so disgusted by what her male family members did that when they finally left the room, Shara snuck inside to release the women. But it was already too late for them. Their souls were all but gone, and their minds were shattered.

  Her only choice had been to give them death. She hadn’t hesitated in killing them to end their suffering. There had been a measure of relief in what she’d done. But her family hadn’t thought the same.

  Farrell had demanded her death, as had many others of her family. Her father disagreed, and handed down her punishment of solitude to think about her crimes. For six hundred years she was kept chained in her room. It was only two weeks ago that she had been released. With a new assignment—Kiril.

  This was her chance to prove she was part of her family, a valid member who would carry on their ways. A loyal Dark who embraced their ways, taking from the humans because it was their right.

  It was also the only way they would ease up on their control of her.

  No matter how appealing Mr. Sexy was, she wasn’t going to mess up again. She valued her freedom too much. She wanted to come and go as she pleased, and that wouldn’t happen until Kiril was delivered into her father’s hands.

  She flipped the long strands of her hair over her shoulders. It was the use of the black magic full of evil that caused the red eyes and the silver in the hair of Darks. The more silver, the more evil a Dark had done. Her mother’s and father’s hair were completely silver, and Farrell’s was gaining by the day.

  Shara didn’t fit in with just the single thick strand of silver that ran along the left side of her face. She was a weakness to her family that needed to be smothered out.

  If Farrell had had his way, she would have died the night she killed those human females. He hated her, and told her often that she weakened the family name. One wrong move, and she knew Farrell wouldn’t wait for the family’s decision on her fate.

  He would kill her.

  She couldn’t remain in her room anymore and let such thoughts fill her. When she opened her door, a distant cousin stood guard. Even now she had only so much autonomy.

  He raised a brow. “Going somewhere?”

  “I want to get a look at Kiril’s home while he’s gone for the night so I’ll know the layout.”

  Her cousin thought over her words before he nodded. “I’ll take you there.”

  Great. Would she ever be alone again?

  That’s when Shara realized the only way to get away from the Dark Fae for a few minutes was to be with Kiril. Alone.

  In his home.

  She bit her lip to keep from smiling as a plan began to take root.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Shara’s black sandals didn’t make a sound as she walked the woods behind the home Kiril purchased. The entire estate encompassed fifty-three acres. It was a magnificent mixture of mature gardens, manicured lawns, and flower beds. She walked along a quaint path next to a stream with an abundance of wild shrubs and trees. Even in the dead of night, the place was enchanting.

  The number of Dark Fae that were scattered about the estate surveying Kiril shouldn’t have been surprising, and yet she felt sorry for him—because she knew what it was like to be watched so closely.

  Shara faced the house and spotted the pool through the trees. She had the insane urge to strip off her clothes and dive in. What would Kiril do if he came home to find her in the pool? Would he throw her out? Join her?

  Kiss her?

  She pushed aside such thoughts and glanced at the sky. The sliver of moon afforded her the cover of darkness as she followed the path to the house.

  None of the other Dark would bother her. They knew her mission, and her family had kept her indiscretions from getting out to the others. Only the one guarding her knew how tight the rein was.

  At least Farrell wasn’t there to dog her every step and question her every move. That’s how she knew Kiril wasn’t at home. Farrell was always near him, always within easy reach of taking the Dragon King.

  Shara stepped from the wooded brush onto the manicured lawn. She walked around the pool. Small lights were set in planters around the water and hidden by the flowers and greenery.

  She went to the double doors that led to the pool and put her hand on the wood feeling for the locks or security sensors. A smile pulled at her lips when she felt neither. Kiril was either foolish or knew it would take a supernatural being to dare to enter his domain.

  That gave her pause, because from what she knew of the Dragon King, he was anything but foolish. What if he knew the Dark were watching him? To come to Ireland where the Fae—especially the Dark—had claimed it as their own was pure insanity.

  Which meant … he knew he was being watched.

  The fact he left his home unlocked revealed that he didn’t care who entered. And knew that someone would.

  Shara wondered if any of the other Dark had dared, or if she was the first. She hoped she was the first, because it was an invasion of privacy. The others would likely destroy things or use them against Kiril.

  Isn’t that what you plan to do?

  Shara didn’t so much want to use anything against Kiril as she wanted to learn more about him so she could carry out her mission.

  Same damn thing. Lying to yourself isn’t going to make things better.

  She really hated when she was right. After a deep breath, Shara opened the door and stepped inside the two-story house. Inside was as immaculate as she’d expected. The furniture was simple, nothing flashy or too modern. Dark colors, clean lines. The pictures were those of landscapes or buildings. It was the same from room to room, only the colors changed.

  She paused when she reached the foyer. The floor was gray marble and a huge chandelier hung above her. The staircase curved elegantly to the second floor.

  His bedroom.

  Shara slowly walked up the stairs and stopped at the top. She looked to the left down the hallway and saw several doors. The estate had eight bedrooms, but the master suite—the one Kiril would have claimed—would be by itself.

  She turned to the right and followed the rug down a short hallway and around a corner. Another set of double doors sat closed. Kiril’s room.

  Both anxious and nervous, Shara hurried to the doors and opened them. She stood there gazing at the enormous room. It was almost Spartan in appearance. The king-sized bed was set off to the right with a perfect view through the large window to the back gardens. Shara moved to the bed and ran her hand over the black comforter, imagining what Kiril would look like in his bed.

  The mental picture flashed of him naked, his chiseled muscles shifting in the moonlight. His shamrock-green eyes focused on her, his wheat-colored hair i
n disarray.

  Shara jerked her gaze away from the bed and swallowed as she tried to get her body under control. Kiril was dangerous—dangerous to her body and her mind. It was something her family could never know.

  She walked away from the bed and looked around. The walls were painted a soft cream with the baseboards and crown molding a rich, dark chocolate wood. The colors were soothing and complemented the wood floors. Once more the few pictures on the walls were all of landscapes.

  There was a small Chesterfield couch in black leather off to the side in front of the fireplace. The table by the bed, and one near the couch were the only other pieces in the room. Shara did a complete circle where she stood, looking for anything she might have missed. And found a sword in the corner leaning against a wall.

  She knelt in front of the double-edged broadsword. Her fingers glided over the two-handed hilt wrapped in leather. It almost seemed like any other sword until she spotted the top of it. The pommel was a dragon’s head with ruby eyes that looked toward the ceiling.

  The blade was clean and sharp with nothing marring the steel until she reached the top where she spotted Celtic knotwork and some language she didn’t recognize.

  “Dragonnish,” she whispered.

  She had never heard of the dragons putting their language into a written form, but she wasn’t surprised. The words flowed elegantly, with a flourish that bespoke an ancient race and a plethora of wisdom.

  Shara wanted to know what the writing said and the meaning of it to Kiril. There wasn’t anything in the house that remotely looked like a dragon except for the sword. The sword was left in plain sight. So obvious most people would have glanced right over it and not thought twice about it. But she had been searching for something that was his.

  He resided in the home, slept in the bed, ate at the kitchen table, and dressed in the clothes that hung in his closet, but the only thing that was Kiril was the sword.

  * * *