Sera couldn’t recall his name, but she offered a half-hearted wave as she was peeled off North. Sera assumed the position: arms behind back, spreading her legs, keeping her head turned and facing down. This was all standard procedure.
North’s eyes never left her as she was manhandled from the room, his expression unreadable.
“We’ll take her in and get her processed, sir.” The officer leaned to add in a stage whisper, “Unfortunately, Miss Blairis rather well known down at HQ.” Sera frowned.Asshole. “Here’s a card with the case number so you can come in when convenient for the statement and charges.”
At least Sera was nearly free of this place, her disgrace, and whatever non-attraction had just happened between her and North. Good riddance. But then his voice carried far enough for her to hear.
“No, I’ll follow you there.”
“That’s not necessary, sir—”
Sera glanced over her shoulder as North pushed past the officer and followed the one hauling her to the stairs.
Fucking great. What else could go wrong?
Kieran North was often labeled a soulless monster. He felt nothing. He was ruthless. Cruel. A villain. One look from him could freeze your blood.
But, mostly, he was exhausted.
The rumors didn’t bother him. The opinions of others hardly mattered in the grand scheme of the world. Whispers were not what weighed on him over the years. It wasn’t gossip that threatened to be the one-too-much that toppled his carefully controlled life. At present, the beautiful intruder—Sera Blair—was in danger of becoming that final straw.
Kieran had watched Miss Blair whisper to herself for a good ten minutes, giving him ample time to dress and alert his valet to the… well, he was hesitant to refer to Miss Blair as ‘danger.’ An unanticipated delve into the absurd was more apt and was, for a brief moment, equal parts arduous and entertaining. Kieran was not easily surprised.
He initially intended to pass her off to the Watchmen and be done with this burdensome little aside. Entertaining Miss Blair may be, but he preferred to resolve this incident quickly and neatly. He had countless obligations that required his full attention. It would not be prudent to draw out this debacle.
But then he saw her fear.
Clearly, this was not her first arrest. Kieran hadn’t needed the officer’s commentary to detect that she was intimately familiar with the process. She seemed to have a rapport with the officers, so her fear was not for them. Who was Gideon? Surely, she wasn’t referencing the Captain of the Watchmen? Kieran couldn’t recall the man’s name directly, but he knew the captain to be a flirt who chased women more than he chased criminals. It wasn’t unheard of for those in power to prey on those they deemed beneath them. Perhaps the captain’s preferences were more insidious than the rumors claimed. Kieran wouldn't tolerate placing someone in such a situation.
Miss Blair’s novelty had reached its limit. Now he was obliged to follow her. Now he was honor bound to ensure he hadn’t sent her into some lion’s den to be accosted or worse.
Perfect.
Obligation. Honor. It wasn’t chivalry that prompted him to follow Miss Blair, but rather an ingrained need tohelp. To serve. He served the city as a politician. His Court as a leader. And women he inadvertently put in harm’s way, even when that woman had been found snooping around his home in the middle of the night.
Kieran rubbed his temple. He had finally reached his carriage and his first chance to sit after the trek through the Winter Court. The four faery Courts were delineated from the rest of Unity by a stream slicing through the brick and mortar infrastructure on the city’s south-eastern border. The courts were meant to mimic their counterparts from before the FaeWilds had become wasteland, abandoned in favor of cities long before Kieran’s time. To discourage the other races from entering, the courts were only passable by footbridges. Still, the brisk hike refreshed what fatigue lingered from the sleep Miss Blair’s antics had interrupted.
A newssheet sat on the seat next to him while his driver set off for Watchmen Headquarters. Normally, this would be delivered at a proper hour, closer to morning, and at his residence. But why not read it three hours early? He held little hope that he’d be returning to bed after this excursion. He skimmed the words. Another article about the city’s masked vigilante. Mentions of this or that debutante's latest string of eager suitors. An announcement for the elopement of Yarrow Graves to Cordelia Wilde, though the couple were only news worthy because of Graves’s position as alderman and for the simple reason that they were the first mixed union between two nobles. Miss Wilde was human, while Graves was Night Fae. Their engagement had been spectacle enough, but now that the deed was done one could hope the novelty would would die down as well.
Their destination was not a far ride from the Winter Court, though Kieran had appreciated the quiet solitude of his carriage for as long as it lasted. And the cold. In the commotion, he’d overlooked the fact that it was currently summer. The climate of Unity was moderate, but any weather above chilly was pushing comfort for a fae designed to thrive in snowy mountains. While not powerless in higher temperatures, he found them draining.
Kieran stepped from his carriage, eyes casting over a glaring juxtaposition of buildings. On one side of Watchmen headquarters lay the clean brick and overlarge colored glass of a Garrison Cathedral, a place for humans and guardians to worship the Divine. The other side, however, held a windowless hostel. Where blood donors and thralls could liaison with theirimmortal hosts without entering the Sanctuary, the territory of immortals.
Kieran entered the HQ, a gaping warehouse of a building with multiple tiered floors and ceilings that rose well into the rafters three stories above.
Open windows were the only attempt at cooling the air and Kieran already felt like he was trudging through cement.
Here, heat contended with iron as to which was the most cumbersome. These older buildings were riddled with the stuff. Humans and guardians didn’t have aversions to iron. To a fae, however, the material caused a variety of symptoms from headaches to nausea and could be lethal in large, direct doses. This part of the city was never meant to accommodate other races. However, now that they were meant to mix and mingle without prejudice, there were unseen barriers that maintained divides more than any bigotry.
In his haste, he had neglected to grab a shard of glacite, an element from the Wilds that emanated cold. He kept a few pocket-sized fragments on his person whenever he ventured into the main city, but he would have to go without tonight. There was no practical way to minimize the effect of iron and the headaches were standard in older buildings that hadn’t seen proper updates to fae-forged metals.
Kieran waited to be escorted to the arresting officers and Miss Blair—maintaining a cordial tone despite his rising agitation—and locked his arms behind his back while his eyes vaguely studied a bulletin board overflowing with tacked up posters. A missing cat. A wanted poster for some vigilante dubbed simply ‘The Rogue.’ He had hoped to pass the few minutes in relative peace, but alas, that was not his fate. A familiar face nearly collided into him in her attempt to exit the building.
“Alderman North…” Miss Miranda Wilde greeted, breathless and seemingly just as shocked by his uncharacteristic presencehere as he was by hers. However much he’d like to ignore her introduction and let her on her way, societal rules demanded he respond. How tedious.
“Miss Wilde,” he returned, casting his gaze out for his escort with the hope that he might end this conversation quickly. There were steps, however, steps that must be followed no matter how inane and presently frustrating. “What a surprise to find you here.”
“I could say the same thing,” she retorted, and there was an edge to her voice that drew his focus to the conversation. She was dressed in the full, black leather of a guardian’s uniform. Guardians being a sub-race of humans, though stronger and more resilient due to Divine blessing, or something to that effect.
