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“What are you doing here?” she asked.
Thea stepped forward, holding her hand out to Dozan. “Mr. Rook, thank you for joining us.”
“A pleasure,” he said. His gaze swept back to Kerrigan. “We should absolutely use Kerrigan’s name. Even if she doesn’t directly show her face in support, alluding to her involvement will give us a certain advantage.”
“We don’t want to harm her chances,” Thea said thoughtfully.
“Give her plausible deniability. Use her name to say that she’s working with us, but if it comes back to her, she can deny ever being there. We only keep her existence between us.”
“It’s a good idea,” Clover said.
Kerrigan frowned. “What if they don’t believe me? What if someone says they saw me here?”
Thea shook her head. “We’ll deny it to our grave.”
Kerrigan hoped it never came to that. And having Dozan here made it even less likely that it would stay silent. “You never answered me. What are you doing here?”
“How do you think they’re funding this little adventure?”
Kerrigan scoffed. “You’ve never spent a dime you didn’t think you could earn back ten times over.”
“Then, you understand why I’m doing it,” he said with an arched eyebrow.
She didn’t. This made no sense. Clover being here made sense. She was an idealist and always fought for those less fortunate. After losing her parents at a young age, she wanted to protect people. To not let others suffer.
Dozan had killed his own family to get ahead. He was the king of the Wastes. He did nothing without a direct return on investment. Including his investment in Kerrigan.
“Dozan has generously offered his services,” Thea interjected. “He has as much right as anyone else to want to see humans and half-Fae be treated more fairly.”
“You offered?” she asked skeptically. She stepped forward. “You never offer. What’s in this for you?”
“In case you haven’t noticed, princess, I’m human.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped at him.
“Why not? Doesn’t everyone know you’re actually a princess now?” he asked with a self-satisfied smirk.
Kerrigan didn’t know why, but Dozan always drew this side out of her. All she wanted to do was bury her fist in his too-pretty face. The insufferable bastard.
But Clover saw it coming and tugged her backward. “Why don’t we all try to get along? We’re here for the same cause, right?”
“Right,” Dozan said but didn’t drop the look.
Kerrigan breathed in deeply and released it. She was too tired to deal with this. To deal with him. Clover should have prepared her for seeing him. Nothing riled her up more than Dozan Rook.
“I need a smoke,” Clover said. “Come on. Let’s get some air.”
Thea nodded as Clover pulled Kerrigan back out of the room. She brushed past Dozan without a backward look and out into the entrance to the courtyard. Already, the garden was filling with attendees for the RFA meeting, and so they huddled together behind a large gargoyle structure. Clover tried three times to light up a loch cigarette, failing with the matches each time and cursing colorfully.
“Let me,” Kerrigan said. She hadn’t had magic training this afternoon, so she actually had a whiff of magic in her veins. She snapped her fingers and touched the flame to Clover’s cigarette.
She inhaled deeply, letting the addictive drug dull the chronic pain that lashed through her body. “Why do you have to let him get to you?”
“Why didn’t you tell me he’d be here?”
Clover opened her eyes and shot her a look. “You already didn’t want to come. Would you have jumped for joy if I’d told you Dozan would be here?”
“No,” she grumbled.
“Yeah. So, I thought this would be better. I don’t know. Maybe it isn’t. You two just need to bang again or something. The tension is… a lot.”
Kerrigan snorted. “Not happening.”
“Why not?” Clover winked at her. “Waiting for a prince to come to his senses?”
“No,” she muttered. “I don’t think that he will.”
“So, if Fordham has friend-zoned you, why not get some of that pent-up energy out with someone else?”
Kerrigan’s cheeks heated at the thought. It’d be as easy as breathing. Hooking up with Dozan wasn’t any different than fighting with him. The only time they both relaxed in each other’s presence was in the afterglow. Maybe a few rounds would help her get over the prince taking up all the thoughts in her head, but it didn’t mean it was a good idea.
After Clover’s cigarette, they returned to the room. Dozan still stood, poised and ready. Kerrigan made no further comments about him being there. She sat through the planning session until the sound of voices in the courtyard was loud enough to draw them away.
“If you do not wish to be a part of this, I would recommend keeping your cloak up,” Thea said. “Stay out of sight.”
Kerrigan nodded and tugged her hood back over her very recognizable hair. Thea retreated to the entrance to the courtyard and greeted the awaiting crowd.
