Page 86 of Elven Crown

Why did he put so much effort into acting like he belonged here? That wasn’t like him.

No, it wasn’t like Rowan in his natural state, as himself. But when he wanted something, he could play any part required of him until he got what he wanted.

That was what Rowan did. He played along, he ingratiated himself, he made everyone else feel safe, and when the time was right to call in a favor or make his move, he pounced and caught everyone around him completely unaware.

Rebecca’s curiosity nearly drove her mad. She wanted to ask him what his endgame was. But calling a private meeting with Shade’s new elf would, first and foremost, alert her Head of Security about it. Then Maxwell would come to question her even more about it, and she didn’t think she could lie to him.

No matter what it was, anything she might try besides ignoring her own instincts would make the shifter just as suspicious of her, and they were just starting to make progress with learning to trust and rely on each other when necessary. She didn’t want to bring all that crashing down.

Correction, she couldn’taffordto let it all come crashing down around her.

Rowan might have once been her closest friend, but that was a long time ago. If she abandoned her responsibilities with Shade in order to treat him the same way she always had back home, she was more likely to lose Shade because of it and gain nothing from Rowan.

Nothing that could help her. He wasn’t here for her, anyway. He was here for himself.

Rebecca knew she’d stayed at this late-night party too long when Rowan extricated himself from a knot of operatives clustered around to hear another one of his stories. She fought off the urge to run just as he turned and locked gazes with her across the common room.

No, she hadn’t been trying to catch his attention. She didn’t want to talk to him. Now was not the time.

But suddenly, with all the thoughts jumbled up in her mind and all the unanswered questions holding a precarious balance for who knew how much longer, she wasn’t fast enough to come up with a good excuse for leaving.

For removing the temptation of letting Rowan walk toward her through the clustered groups of talking, laughing, drinking Shade members.

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Then he was right in front of her, that mischievous grin illuminating his face, and Rebecca still hadn’t come up with a new and inventive way to tell him no without making it laughably obvious that she didn’t want anything to do with him.

Now he stood in front of her with a drink in his hand, and the conversations continued all around them. Rebecca’s gaze darted about the common room because she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.

“I’ll give this place credit for one thing,” he said. “The magicals here sure do like to throw a party. Over a whole lot of nothing.”

She still couldn’t look at him and took a long swig of Shade moonshine from her cup. “If you’d been here even a week ago, you’d know what we did tonight at the docks was more than a whole lot of nothing.”

“So I hear.”

His gaze felt like fire on her face, but she still wouldn’t look at him.

“Who am I to dictate what others shouldn’t celebrate, though, right?” he added. “Honestly, the only reason I’m here is to collect on that debt you owe me.”

Huffing out a wry laugh, she finally forced herself to look at him. “WhatIoweyou? I don’t owe you a thing.”

“That’s up for debate. Specifically, though, I remember you promising me that private conversation, which I would now like to call in. I’ve played your games. Now it’s time for a serious discussion.”

Unbelievable. Did he really think trying to corner her like this would get him what he wanted?

It had never worked before, when they’d seen each other every day. Why would he possibly think it would work now?

She stared at him long enough to get the point across—that now was not the time for him to make ridiculous requests. Then she returned her attention to the rest of the party but didn’t process any of it.

“Tonight, Blackmoon,” she said, “you should focus on the celebration. Go enjoy yourself with the rest of the team. You deserve that much, after all.”

“Oh, I deservefarmore than that, all things considered. And you know it’s true. Come on,Kilda’ari. Let’s stop playing this game for two minutes and have a real conversation. You and me. About theimportantthings. About what needs to be discussed and handlednow. Not…all this.”

She was about to tell him that would never happen, that she wasn’t pretending. Not anymore.

But she didn’t get a single word out before an overwhelming tingle and warmth rose up the back of her neck, growing stronger and hotter and bringing another disorienting flush to her cheeks. She couldn’t say a word.

Damn this energetic thing, or whatever it was. She didn’t need this kind of distraction, which, if left unchecked, wouldonly continue until it popped up at the wrong moment and she made some irreversible mistake because of it.

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