Chapter Eight
The following morning, Sera dragged herself out of bed at seven and dressed for work. Seth continued to snore, contentedly wrapped in his plants like she had once cuddled a doll made of old clothes.
Seth was younger than her by over a decade. He had been Cole’s shiny new replacement for her. A Summer Fae with no family and a gullible heart. Perfect target.
Sera was determined to make better decisions because of her love for him. But first, duty called.
A cart waited in the hall outside her door, loaded with a tray of warmed pastries and steaming coffee.
One mention that she preferred coffee over the standard tea a few days ago and Mrs. Tarley, the head of house, must have ordered some for her.
Sera was still not quite used to the idea of servants bustling about and seeing to her needs.
It seemed… wrong somehow. Though, she supposed it was a job with pay same as any other.
And, from what she had seen and heard, Kieran was hardly a demanding boss.
The idea of Mrs. Tarley making sure that Sera had coffee filled her with a cozy warmth.
She smiled as she took the cup, added the sugar and cream to her liking, and breathed in the rich aroma.
Kieran waited for her in the main hall. His posture was perfect and not a seam askew. Sera nursed the cup close to her chest, not sure where to put her eyes.
He sniffed the air as she approached, eyes drawn to her hands. “Is that coffee?”
She nodded.
He said nothing further, only furrowed his brow and stalked ahead of her. Sera rolled her eyes. She wouldn’t have been surprised if a separate carriage awaited so he wouldn’t be forced into such close proximity to her. Which suited her just fine. She didn’t want to be close to him, either.
There was no second carriage, but he did sit as far from her as the space allowed and said nothing the entire ride. Once they reached the office, he left her at her desk without a word.
This was exactly what Sera wanted. After everything, the emotions, the drama, the way too real reactions of her heart, having him keep her at a distance was the ideal situation.
Then why did she hate it so much?
She was miserable. Bored. Lonely. More than usual.
A part of her missed trying to figure him out while he continued to surprise her.
It took all of five minutes to sort through Kieran’s waiting messages, a small pile growing that she was hesitant to deliver in the current tumultuous atmosphere.
On the top was a missive from her brother—written in Rachel's handwriting, if Sera had to guess—and she intended to give it to Kieran when he bothered to come out.
Which left her with exactly… nothing else to do.
—
Sera sighed as she placed a pen on the growing tower of perfectly balanced office supplies.
The tower had grown higher than her head, with objects set in precise placement so that their weight created the exact counterbalance to gravity.
She carefully lifted another pencil, threading it carefully and then easing back while she made sure nothing was disrupted. Success!
She grinned, pumping a fist in the air as her chair spun until she was facing… Kieran North.
When did he emerge from his isolation?
Kieran’s stoic stare clouded her good-humor and she slumped back into her chair.
“What is it? You didn’t come out here to stare at me, did you?” She gave him a sarcastic wink.
He stepped forward and carefully put a stack of papers on the far corner of her desk—maneuvering around her tower.
“These are important plans for a restructuring of the city’s park amenities.
I’m in need of outside help to nail down necessary changes.
Make inquiries to find someone with a background in some sort of structural application who can assess the proposal. ”
Sera glanced at the papers neatly stacked on her disordered desk. Restructuring, huh?
He started to return to his office, when she held up the note from Gideon between two fingers.
Body stiff, he considered her hand, as if deciding if it was worth the risk of potential skin contact if he took it from her.
Sera huffed. “It’s not poisoned. Just take it. There are others, but I thought this would be the highest priority since it’s the quickest way to be rid of me.”
His eyes narrowed a fraction, almost imperceptibly, except that she had stared into his eyes enough to notice the change. He plucked the note from her hand, deftly avoiding contact. He also didn’t rise to her bait. Which was… disappointing. She missed getting under his skin.
“Your brother wants to meet at his apartment after we finish here.”
Sera reached around her structure to the stack of papers he had set down, flipping through them.
“Why? What does he want?” These were plans to replace the iron in the city parks with fae-refined steel.
Seth was always griping about the iron in the city, how it gave him the worst headaches. Which was so… what kind of… shoot.
Pursing her lips, even she had to accede it was a noble initiative.
She couldn’t find fault except maybe the fact he would benefit too, but that was a stretch and she knew it.
Damn it. She only needed one single clue to prove that he wasn’t the perfect, ideal, man of her dreams and make him just a fraction less appealing.
“He secured a meeting with Mr. Harrow,” Kieran said, his voice pulling her back to the moment after she’d been side-tracked trying to find a reason to hate him.
“That was fast,” she said.
“Well, time is of the essence.” His tone sounded less certain than a second ago, almost hesitant rather than apathetic. “The sooner this ends the better.”
Her breath steamed from her nose. “Yes, the sooner the better.” The words were forced, even to her ears.
She spared a glance up, catching his gaze lingering on her.
The awkwardness that descended felt very juvenile.
He opened his mouth, like he was about to continue their conversation, and her heart flipped, hopeful that the icy wall that had formed in that bedroom had melted a bit.
But he sealed his lips closed without a word. When he turned away and shut the door behind him, a heavy, unwelcome disappointment filled her chest. Sera leaned into her chair, her head falling back at a sharp angle. How was she supposed to follow common sense when her heart kept betraying her?
Kieran stared at his hand, fingers stretched out on the wood of his office door having just clicked it into place.
For the first time in his life, Kieran feared his control was precariously close to slipping.
Regaining his emotions, tempering reactions, all that had become second nature was now a conscious challenge requiring all his concentration.
The world, the problems that faced the city, his own responsibilities were nothing compared to the singular devastation of Seraphina Blair.
The sooner the better.
He had not spoken those words lightly. It was in her own best interest that they neutralize Cole’s threat immediately.
Sexual desire alone, he could handle, but it was becoming clear that pure desire was not the sole source of his attraction to her.
There was a real danger of his interest in her blooming into the disastrous territory of fondness or admiration. Affection, caring.
All of these threats hung very real over his association with her. No one had ever come close to drawing even a fraction of emotion from him in all the years since those last terrible hours that claimed half his family.
His assignations in college had all been fleeting, superficial, and nowhere near as potent as the desire Sera inspired.
Willa had tried, when she was first elected, possibly as a conquest or even for the challenge, but Kieran hadn’t been tempted by her bold flirtations and resisting her had been comically easy.
He would never associate with a co-worker, though that was only a small part of his reasons for rejection. That had been…
Ten years ago.
He stared at his traitorous hand, where he could still summon the sensation of Sera’s skin. His mind drifted to those memories unbidden if he didn’t purposefully focus his thoughts elsewhere. The simplest solution was to give in, to allow her flirtation to succeed.
Simple, and yet, impossible.
His own fear of growing too fond of her aside, he refused to use her for selfish gains. The guilt from the stolen kiss still simmered in his chest. A helpful reminder, that, unfortunately, grew less persuasive with each passing day.
However difficult, he had to resist her. No more games, no more indulging her whims, no more personal exchanges. Not even ten minutes ago he had sat at his desk, attempting to lose himself in his work, when he distantly wished for the distraction of Sera’s Game. Of course, unacceptable.
His workday ended with very little to show for it aside from a few perfunctory signatures. Now the meeting with Captain Blair loomed before him and the carriage ride, on top of however many hours it took to achieve their goal with Harrow awaited.
It was futile to predict potential challenges Sera might throw at him. Her behavior and the resulting fallout was almost mystical in nature.
He rose from his desk and steeled his thoughts. As he stepped from his office, Sera jumped from her chair. Their eyes locked.
“Oh!” She then scrambled to gather a mess of papers sprawled across the desk and stuff them into a drawer.
“What are those?” He asked, not because he was curious about her or how she spent her day, but because it appeared work related.
“Nothing. Just stupid doodles.” She snatched up the last of the pages.