“We’re supposed to be hiding, remember?” Noreen said as she caught up with him. “Going looking for whoever did this might not be a good idea.”
He glanced at her to see her gaze moving around nervously. “It’s better to know what might be here than no’.”
“It could be Moreann.”
Cain gave a half-hearted shrug. “It could be. But do you no’ think it’s to our advantage to discover if that’s the truth? It could be someone else entirely, someone who might be a friend.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
He bit back his smile at her begrudging admittance. They walked onward steadily, if cautiously. It would be better if he could take to the skies and fly over the area to see how large it was. It would certainly take less time than walking, but he wasn’t sure Noreen would be up for that yet. She needed more time.
“Why you?” she asked him.
He held back a branch of a shrub for her, then walked through himself. “Why me, what?”
“Why did you come find me, and not another King?”
“I got lucky, I guess,” he said with a chuckle. Then he twisted his lips. “I was the one who found your email. Ryder and his mate, Kinsey, hacked the CCTV in the café and found you.”
“The cameras,” she said to herself with a roll of her eyes.
“It wouldna have mattered. Ryder is a master at hacking all things. You did a good job of concealing your identity, and it would’ve worked with most anyone else.”
“Just not Ryder,” Noreen said with regret. “I wish I’d known that.”
“Would it have stopped you from sending it to us?”
Her red gaze met his briefly. “I’d been debating telling the Kings something for months. When I finally realized that I needed to do it, I’d planned to go to Dreagan, but I knew that wouldn’t work well.”
“Why?”
“It’s not like the Dark and the Kings have a great relationship,” she replied sarcastically.
He grinned. “Point taken.”
“Besides, I wanted to keep my identity a secret. I figured all you needed was information, not me.”
“So, you came up with the idea of the email.”
She sighed heavily. “I thought I’d done enough research on what the humans use, but apparently, I didn’t.”
“Doona blame yourself. Ryder is just that good.”
Noreen shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. And, honestly, I think it would’ve worked out this way regardless of what I did. I was a fool to think I could keep this away from Moreann and the Others.”
“You were no’ a fool,” he told her. “You were trying to find a way to do the right thing while keeping yourself safe. Most anyone would’ve done the same.”
She flashed him a grateful smile. “Thank you for saying that. That still doesn’t tell me why you came to see me. You found my email, but any of the Kings could’ve been sent.”
“That’s true, but since I found the message, I wanted to be the one to see this through.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything else.
They walked in silence for a few more minutes while his thoughts turned to what she’d told him about the Kings killing her parents. He wasn’t sure how to bring it up because he was certain it was a touchy subject. But he needed to know more.
“I’m sorry about your parents.”
She didn’t look his way as she said, “Thank you.”
“I know you probably doona want to talk about it, but I was hoping you’d answer a couple of questions.”
Noreen paused to look at some animal that’d disappeared in the foliage, but she still wouldn’t look his way. “What do you want to know?”
“The Fae Wars were chaotic, as all wars are. Are you sure it was a King who took your parents’ lives and no’ another Fae?”
“Positive.”
“Who gave you that information?”
“I was there.”
His brows snapped together. “You could’ve only been a child then. Did you really go to the battlefield?”
She halted and drew in a deep breath before turning her head to him. “My parents weren’t involved with the war. We were at home when the Dragon King came and scorched our house with his fire.”
“But you were no’ harmed?”
“I was spared.”
Cain shook his head. “I doona see how that’s possible. Dragon fire is the hottest thing on our realm. Anything that gets near it is incinerated.”
“That’s right. There was nothing left of my parents,” she stated angrily.
“Were you in the cottage?”
“Of course.”
Cain pressed his lips together as he tried to sort out what was missing from the story. “Then you shouldna be alive. The dragon fire should’ve taken you, as well.”
“It didn’t, but I was there. I watched as my father looked back at me with terror in his eyes. I will forever remember my mother running toward me, her arms outstretched as I reached for her. She never made it. The flames swallowed her up before she could grab hold of my hand.”
“Did you see the dragon?”
“I heard it.”
Cain wasn’t sure what to make of the story. There was no possible way that Noreen should be alive if a King had breathed dragon fire on the home. None.
Yet, here she stood.
“You don’t believe me,” she said with a hard look.
Cain lifted one shoulder. “Something doesna make sense. If you were in the home, and everything was destroyed, then you should be dead.”
“But I’m not.”
“Nay, lass, you are no’.”
Her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you saying? That it wasn’t a Dragon King who killed my parents and destroyed my life?”
“All I’m pointing out is that there’s no way you would’ve survived if it had been dragon fire.”
“I know what I heard.”
“But you didna see a dragon?”
She gaped at him. “You think I don’t know what you sound like? I do. It didn’t matter that we weren’t part of the war. The sound of your roars could be heard for miles away from the battle.”
“I realize that.”
“You still don’t believe me.” She snorted loudly. “I don’t need you to. I know what I heard. I felt the heat of that fire all around me. And I watched my parents turn to dust before my eyes.”
“No one should have to endure such a thing,” he said softly.
Fury burned in her gaze. “No. They shouldn’t.”
It made him realize that her coming to the Kings had been a huge step. “You hate us.”
Noreen shrugged and turned away, dropping her arms to her sides. “Does it matter?”
He wasn’t sure how to respond. Everything that came to mind sounded … lame and lacking. Cain stared at her profile. If he were her, he wasn’t sure he would’ve done what she had. She blamed the Kings for her parents’ deaths, and she had carried that hatred and loathing around for thousands of years. To put something like that aside took a great deal of effort.