Then she noticed another figure in the shadows, just beyond the torchlight’s glow.
Sir Alaric.
Where Sir Cedric was golden and easy with his smile, Sir Alaric’s dark eyes fixed on the fire with a calculating intensity.The flames reflected in his irises, giving him the look of a man who had stared into danger far deeper than Finn’s act. He said nothing, but Mia could feel his attention heavy on her, a silent pull that made her pulse quicken.
After the crowd began to scatter, moving toward their next entertainment, and he’d finished answering questions and listening to comments, Finn motioned the women over.
“Well?” he said. “Did I impress you?”
“Impress? You nearly gave me a heart attack,” Mia said, but she couldn’t hide her smile.
“That’s the point.” He winked. “Come on, I’ll show you how it works.”
Behind the rope, he knelt by his equipment. “First rule. Never, ever try this, unless you’ve been trained. Second rule.” He held up the brass jug. “This isn’t oil from the kitchen, it’s a special fuel that burns cleaner and slower. Still dangerous, but safer than you’d think.”
“I will not be trying this,” Mia said with a shiver.
“Maybe I would and maybe I wouldn’t,” Lilly said. “But if I did, I’d never be doing this in public. The last thing a lady needs is for men to see her swallowing things in public.”
Finn laughed hard. “Indeed,” he said. “I’d be fighting the men off of you, if you did.”
Mia had turned pink at the turn the conversation and taken and was relieved when he prepared to demonstrate for them.
Finn demonstrated how he dipped the rods, how he kept the flame a certain distance from his lips, and even how he held his breath and angled the torch when swallowing the rod. “It’s all sleight of hand and timing,” he explained. “Make the crowd believe you’re in more danger than you are. That’s the trick.”
A smooth voice cut in. “Or you could simply fight with steel in your hand, and danger at your throat. Far less smoke and mirrors.”
Mia turned.
Sir Cedric had stepped closer, his tone teasing, his smile sharp enough to be a challenge.
Finn snorted. “As if what you do in the lists isn’t scripted. However, I’ll leave the swordplay to you, knight. Because fire,” he smiled. “Fire listens to me.”
A low voice joined them, edged with quiet warning. “Fire does not listen,” Sir Alaric said, stepping forward at last. “It devours. You’re a fool if you think otherwise.” His eyes flicked to Mia, and for a heartbeat, it felt as though his words were meant for her, as much as for Finn.
Sir Cedric’s grin widened. “Ever the poet, Sir Alaric. Do you brood over every flame, or only when a lady is watching?”
Sir Alaric’s dark gaze shifted to him, and the tension in the air thickened. “Some of us don’t need theatrics to impress,” he said quietly, the weight of his tone like steel drawn in the dark.
Sir Cedric’s smile sharpened. “And some of us know when a lady enjoys being dazzled.” He offered Mia a playful bow, his blue eyes never leaving hers.
Mia’s breath caught, torn between the warmth in Sir Cedric’s gaze, and the intense gravity in Sir Alaric’s.
The air between the three men crackled with a tension as potent as Finn’s torch. Mia stood caught between them. One knight’s golden charm, the other’s shadowed intensity. And Finn’s defiant pride. It left her feeling as if the sparks hadn’t quite faded with the show and at any moment might start a dangerous fire.
Finn, sensing the current between the two knights, gave a laugh. “Careful, gentlemen. You’re both standing too close to my torches. You might get burned.”
But it wasn’t the torches Mia feared. It was the heat gathering between the three men, as if a fight were brewing, and the way it seemed, somehow, to center on her.
Lilly said, “That was a great show, Finn. The crowd loved it.”
With her words, the building tension in the air eased, a little.
“Thanks, cousin,” he said.
“Come on, Mia, there’s a vendor booth I want to show you,” Lilly said.
“All right,” Mia said. “Finn, I enjoyed the show. Thanks for inviting us to the Faire.”
