Chapter 15
Adrian Westergren
Panic made Adrian impulsive.
And when he was impulsive, he did stupid things.
As soon as Adrian spotted Haru walking safely and calmly down the stairs from his meeting with Ruben Deinum, he knew he’d been dangerously impulsive and they needed to leave now.
Adrian peeled himself away from Amelia and a group of people talking on and on about skincare and charged halfway up the stairs to wrap his arms around Haru’s waist.
“What is wrong, my precious treasure? Did you miss me that much?” Haru chuckled. He leaned in for a kiss, but Adrian dodged his lips and pressed his cheek to Haru’s, allowing him to whisper in his ear.
“Gotta go. Fire.”
Haru jerked his head away and furrowed his brow at him as if he couldn’t comprehend those three basic words. “What? Did you—”
Adrian slammed his mouth over Haru’s. But it wasn’t a kiss so much as him moving his lips against Haru’s, trying to force the words into him. “Fire. We gotta go.”
The dragon pulled away and smoothed out his expression, smiling indulgently. “Very well, my treasure. You’re so eager for me. We’ll leave now.” One arm wrapped behind Adrian’s back, Haru ushered him out of the house, maintaining his sedate pace as if nothing in the world could hurry him.
Amelia Drost and her brother both called after them, trying to get them to stay, but Haru offered a lazy wave of his arm above his head. “No, no. I can’t stay a moment longer. My treasure needs me.”
Once they were outside and away from most of the prying eyes, they picked up their pace, locating Vitor and the rented black car.
“How did it—”
“Drive! Drive! Drive!” Adrian shouted, cutting Vitor off. The spy asked no more questions. He just stomped on the accelerator and rushed down the driveway before Haru had a chance to close the door.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
“It seems Adrian set a fire,” Haru announced. His tone was still the same relaxed, amused tone he’d used when pretending to be Yujian Visconti, and Adrian kind of hated it.
“What?” Vitor shrieked. “A fire was not part of our plan.”
“I panicked, okay? It’s my fault. I panicked.
” Adrian slid low in the back seat so he couldn’t see Vitor’s glare in the rearview mirror.
“It felt like Haru was trapped in that meeting with Ruben Deinum forever, and I was stuck outside with all those snobbish pricks who kept trying to grab my ass. I had no way of knowing if he’d been discovered, and—”
Haru cut off Adrian’s excuse by slamming his hand against the door Adrian was closest to.
He leaned over Adrian, nearly covering him with his entire body.
The expression on his handsome face was stark and frightening.
There was a coldness in his dark blue eyes Adrian had never seen.
All traces of Yujian were wiped away, and the man hovering above him was a ruthless killer.
“Who touched your ass?” He spoke each word precisely, sending a biting chill through Adrian.
“What? I don’t know. I can’t remember most of their names. None of the people Vitor told us to keep an eye out for.”
Haru didn’t take his eyes off Adrian as he shouted at Vitor. “Turn around. There are some people I need to kill.”
Adrian groaned and shoved Haru’s shoulder. “Stop it. This is serious.”
“My Adrian, I am being very serious. They touched you. Without your permission. I must shatter their bones and crush their hearts. They must not be allowed to continue breathing.”
And the terrifying—and maybe thrilling—part was that Haru was serious. Adrian could see it in his frigid eyes and the stark lines on his face. The dragon would return to the house and take every life, innocent or not, just to be sure no one lived after Adrian came to harm.
Drayce’s warnings that Haru was insane were making more sense now.
Yet, there was still the strange flutter in Adrian’s chest and the unexpected warmth in his stomach.
Something inside Adrian longed to pull Haru close and kiss him until they were both panting and desperate to fuck.
He wanted to do something else crazy to hear more dark threats tumble like sweet promises from Haru’s tongue.
The part of Adrian’s brain that was still logical screamed that this desire wasn’t normal, but he couldn’t worry too much. No one in his life had ever cared this much, had wanted to possess him so thoroughly. The more it happened, the more Adrian ached to hand himself over.
“There will be no turning around,” Vitor growled, sounding as if he were pushing each word out between his clenched teeth. “Someone started a fire.”
Yeah. The fire.
“Please tell me about the fire. Just a small thing in a wastepaper basket, right?”
Adrian gave Haru another shove, getting him to sit in his seat properly. “Not quite. It was in a broom closet. I might have set a mop on fire.”
Vitor’s hands tightened on the steering wheel, making his knuckles crack. “Were there a lot of cleaning supplies in there?”
“Yeah, there were quite a few bottles.”
The spy groaned and banged the back of his skull against the headrest of his seat a couple of times. “Okay. Assuming they find the fire fast and there isn’t some kind of explosion thanks to the chemicals.”
“Or deadly gas released because of the chemical cleaners mixing,” Haru chimed in, sounding far too happy about the possibility.
“Yes, assuming that didn’t happen as well, the servants working the party will discover the fire and put it out. It’ll be fine.” Vitor sounded calmer, but not happy.
“Sorry,” Adrian muttered. “These dirtbags were giving me a bad feeling.” He glanced at Haru and offered him a half smile. “I felt safer with those assholes who tried to jump us in that rundown apartment.”
“It’s my fault,” Vitor broke in. “I should have given you a better warning. Dealing with the extremely wealthy and powerful is often more dangerous and complicated than those who have less or came up from a poor start. Those people can be reasoned with. They aren’t as impulsive and unpredictable.
A small arms dealer will try to work with you if they’re sure they can profit.
A rich man will kill you because talking to you has become too much of a burden on their meager brains. ”
“While our exit might have been unexpected, I believe we made some good progress,” Haru stated, directing a reassuring grin at Adrian. “This Ruben could lead us to the people who have Shey.”
“Thank the gods.” Adrian sighed.
The corners of Haru’s mouth dipped. “But it will not be easy.”
“Of course not.”
The rest of the ride to the hotel was quiet. There was no point in relaying everything they saw and heard when they’d need to repeat it all for Caelan.
The moment they stepped into the hotel room, Adrian stripped out of his borrowed fancy clothes and into his own worn jeans and ragged T-shirt.
With every ring, bracelet, and earring he stripped off, he felt more like himself.
He almost wished he could slip into his royal guard uniform, as if that piece of clothing could wash away the insecurity that still plagued him.
It felt as if everything about this mission had gone wrong, and it was all his fault.
As a royal guard, he didn’t make stupid mistakes because he couldn’t.
Stupid mistakes put Caelan and Rayne in danger. That wasn’t allowed to happen.
He rejoined Haru and Vitor in the living room, which provided a view of the city from a set of glass balcony doors.
Haru lounged on the sofa wearing a pair of black slacks and a long black robe made of a thin, soft material.
The only thing that remained of his old disguise were the jewels and rings in his hair.
He looked like some foreign prince or glittering god descended among mortals.
Before he could even sit on the sofa near Haru, Vitor called Caelan. However, it was Rayne’s voice that cut through the room first.
“Have you found him?” Rayne demanded, his voice sharp and panicked.
Adrian cringed. Rayne was not only Shey’s ex-boyfriend, but he was very much Shey’s friend. “Not yet. I’m sorry.”
“How the hell have you not found him yet?” Rayne shouted. Anything else was muffled by soothing words from Eno that Adrian couldn’t quite make out. It sounded as if Eno was moving Rayne away from the phone and whispering reassurances to him.
“I’m sorry, Rayne. Really,” Adrian said. Haru’s hand came to rest on his leg and squeezed, but he wisely didn’t speak.
“It’s okay, Adrian, Haru,” Caelan cut in, his tone soft and weary. “None of us blames you. If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine. It’s clear that I underestimated the situation there. I truly thought this would be a quick trip to Damardor and that you would be back prior to Rayne and Eno’s return.”
“What’s happening in Damardor is…complicated,” Haru chimed in.
“What have you learned? Vitor mentioned something about meeting with possible sources of information today. Please, tell me there was some progress made,” Caelan prodded.
Adrian glanced over at Vitor, who sat in a chair opposite the sofa.
The man looked worn and exhausted. At that moment, it seemed quite obvious he was well into his forties or even fifties.
The youthful energy that appeared to wrap him like an aura had faded.
With a reassuring smile, Vitor motioned for Adrian to speak first.
He took a deep breath and began, giving the group in Stormbreak a concise but thorough rundown of everything they’d seen since stepping into Bellcairn up to when they’d left the party.
Haru didn’t speak until it was time to provide details of his meeting with Ruben Deinum, and then he confirmed these monsters were interested in finding and using people who possessed magic.
He concluded with Ruben’s request for crystal shards from the Isle of Stone and Caspagir Godstones.
“Fuck that!” Drayce snapped.
“Babe,” Caelan murmured.