“Careful, little human,” Erik smirked, placing a steadying hand at her hip before crunching his fangs into a ripe green pear. “You never know who you might run into in here.” His jawworked as he chewed, juice shining on his full lips. “You looking for something in particular?”
Xenia’s chest constricted. She couldn’t get a read on Erik. He’d seemed kind the other night when he’d found her outside Arran’s office. But he’d also seen Cael marching Xenia toward his bedroom the other day. The High Gods only knew what assumptions Erik had made aboutthat. Best to be careful around him.
“Not looking for anything. Just…taking a stroll.”
Erik regarded her with a bemused expression as she cleared her throat and rubbed at her neck. The movement drew his attention to her scar. He brushed her hand away, then trailed light fingers across it. Goosebumps pebbled across her skin. He was just as handsome as Cael, and Xenia couldn’t help her reaction. When an attractive, powerful Fae male touched one’s throat, it was hard tonothave a reaction.
“Such a barbaric practice,” Erik muttered, taking another bite of his pear. “Does it hurt?”
“Not anymore. Though I’m not sure why you would care? You don’t know me. And I’m ahuman. Your father has made it quite clear what he thinks of us.”
Erik smirked again, offering her a bite of his pear which she waved away. He shrugged, then lowered his voice. “Not everyone in this household shares my father’s disdain for your kind. Though I will admit, I certainly thought my brother did.”
From the gleam in his chocolate eyes, she knew precisely which brother he was talking about.
Xenia held his penetrating gaze, aware that he could hear her accelerating heartbeat. “He’s been nothing but indifferent toward me. Not sure why you would assume otherwise.”
“Do you know that I intercepted the most interesting letter today? It was from Ohan Stolia. And it was addressed to Cael, of all people.”
Xenia’s stomach plummeted, but she tried to keep the shock off her face. “Oh?”
“It’s a good thing I found it before my father had a chance to pry it open.” Erik finished off his pear, then sent the core floating on a gust of wind toward a trash bin at the end of the aisle. “It mentioned that Cael had lost something in Rhamnos. And that Ohan had orchestrated its return to him. I wonder what he was referring to?” He grabbed her hand with sticky fingers. “Come. I want to show you something.”
Xenia barely had a chance to protest before Erik dragged her past the stacks and into a dim corner between two shelves.
Erik muttered something, words Xenia didn’t recognize. Not Aramaelish, and certainly not the common tongue.
A plain wooden door with a brass handle materialized in the bare wall, and Xenia emitted a tiny gasp.
“Concealment spell. My father thinks he’s the only one who knows the incantation, but he underestimates just how sneaky his waste of a fourth son can be when he puts his mind to it.” Erik winked, then pressed the tab atop the handle and opened the door. “Have fun in there, little human.” He leaned down to whisper in her ear. “If I were you, I’d start with my father’s journals. Enlightening stuff.” He dipped his fingertips under her shirt sleeve, tapping on her hidden cuff. “Call me on this when you’re done and I’ll come let you out.”
Xenia pulled her head back, searching Erik’s gaze for any hint of why in Ethyrios he was helping her. “Why would you show this to me?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” Erik said, softly. Wistfully. “As if you’re the warmest ray of light parting the clouds of his lifelong gloom.” He nodded toward the open door. “My brother could use some sunshine.”
She turned toward Erik, but he was already gone. She’d barely felt him move.
Xenia took a deep breath, then crossed the threshold into the hidden section of the Zephyrus family library.
And after several hours of pouring through Arran’s journals, Xenia could say two things with absolute certainty.
First, they were just as enlightening as Erik had claimed.
And second, Cael and Xenia were going to need amiracleto have any chance of freeing that dragon.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
“So, how did your research go today?” Cael asked, holding a glass of whiskey on his knee. A crackling fire warmed his room, enough that Cael had shed his jacket and left the top few buttons of his shirt undone.
Xenia froze at his question, nibbling her shortbread biscuit. Even his distractingly handsome presence—the tiny sliver of muscular chest, the messy hair, the relaxed smile—couldn’t chase away her disappointment at what she’d learned in that hidden room.
“How didyourresearch go?” she asked, trying—and failing—not to sound as petulant as she felt over his afternoon with Elodie.
Cael smirked, then took a sip of his whiskey. “Do I detect a hint of jealousy? From the unflappably positive Xenia Cirillo?”
She scoffed, then choked on biscuit dust and waved him off, coughing.
Real smooth, Cirillo.
