Free Smoke and Fire: Part 3 by Donna Grant Page B

conversations around her.
    “We’re getting close,” Ryder said to a man on the other side of Arian.
    “Can you work faster?” the man said.
    Thorn grunted next to Ryder. “You’re welcome to join us anytime, Laith.”
    Laith laughed. “I’ve got a pub to run, remember?”
    A pub? That shouldn’t surprise Kinsey. They did sell the finest Scotch in all the world. Why not own a pub? She was beginning to think there wasn’t anything Dreagan didn’t have its fingers into in some way.
    Lexi leaned over and asked, “You overwhelmed yet?”
    “Does it show?” she asked, praying she appeared as calm as she wanted to.
    Lexi grinned and took a drink of wine. “Not at all. You’re doing a good job. I think the first time I sat at this table I’d been at Dreagan a month.”
    A month?! And Ryder had only given her a few days?! Kinsey was going to have a serious talk with Ryder when they were alone.
    “Even during that time I’d met over half of everyone,” Lexi continued. “Still. It was a tremendous amount. You’re doing terrific for only a few days.”
    Kinsey smiled tightly at Ryder. “I think I’m going to kill him.”
    Lexi laughed so hard she had to cover her mouth with her napkin. “I’d like to see that.”
    “Be at my room at midnight.”
    Lexi elbowed her with a wink. “You do know that’s Ryder’s room?”
    Oh my God! What else was she going to learn? Maybe she shouldn’t ask that. It was tempting the universe to throw something else at her.
    Lexi turned to the woman on her other side and began talking, leaving Kinsey to once more eavesdrop on other conversations.
    A few minutes passed before Arian looked at her and said, “How are you finding things at Dreagan?”
    “Beautiful, intriguing, magical, and welcoming.”
    “You sound surprised at the last part.”
    She looked into his champagne eyes and nodded as she swallowed her bite of food. “I am. I’m not sure what I expected when I arrived and realized this was where Ryder lived.” She glanced at Ryder to find him deep in conversation. “When I understood I was surrounded by Dragon Kings, I imagined…” She stopped, unable to find the words.
    “The worst,” Arian supplied for her.
    Kinsey set down her fork and wiped her mouth with her napkin. “Yes. I do believe I did. Though, until I prove my innocence, I’ll keep expecting the worst.”
    “Ryder willna allow anything to happen to you.”
    Arian said it with such conviction, as if everyone could see it but her. Kinsey put her hands in her lap and looked at her plate. “Why do you say that?”
    “Open your eyes, Kinsey. It’s right there for you to see, if you’ll allow yourself.”
    She turned her head to him. “I assume you know my past with Ryder.”
    “I do,” he said with a bow of his head. “Doona consider us gossiping about you, but rather a group worried about one of our brothers.”
    She raised her hand to stop him. “Of course. There’s no need to explain. You’re a family, and families protect their own. The thing is, I thought he was The One.”
    “And now he’s no’?” Arian asked with a frown.
    Kinsey glanced around the table at all the faces talking, laughing, and enjoying life. “He left me.”
    Arian blew out a breath. “Can you no’ forgive him?”
    She didn’t know why she felt the need to confide in Arian. Having only just met him, she shouldn’t be telling him anything, and yet she opened up to him. “I’m afraid to.”
    “You’re afraid he’ll hurt you again, aye?”
    She nodded.
    Arian shifted so that he was turned toward her. “Ryder is a good man. We all make mistakes. Immortality doesna mean we’re perfect. In many cases, we make more mistakes than mortals.”
    “I couldn’t handle another heartbreak like that.”
    “I was never in love before my Grace, so I can no’ pretend to know what you’re feeling. Although, I can tell you that you’re no’ the only one sitting at this table who’s been hurt in the past. There’s