Kirev's Door Read Online Free PDF Page B

host, Kirev?” Dan asked. “Why?”
    That time when Kirev turned, he saw that Dan had noticed the direction of his stare. Kirev couldn’t extend his light, not without risking being seen, but he saw the faint frown that touched the human’s lips. Standing so close, he also felt the plume of jealous irritation.
    Kirev immediately softened his expression.
    “Yes, sir,” he said. “I was hoping I might.”
    Dan’s eyes grew slightly less hard. “Were you, now?” he said, his voice still holding a faint note of that irritation. “But you won’t tell me why?”
    “But of course I will,” Kirev said, surprised. “I would have thought the reasons were obvious. You told me he is a powerful man,” Kirev reminded him. “Is he not your employer, sir? Should I not know him, if he is so important to your life?”
    That time, Dan didn’t implore him to “call him Dan.”
    “Yes,” Dan said, only partly mollified still.
    His eyes followed the high-heeled steps of the female seer as she walked with her smug, blonde-haired human towards the balcony where several of them had once more gathered to smoke.
    “Are you not curious about this man as well, Kirev?” Dan said, his voice drier as he motioned towards the blonde man with his glass. “His name is Marcous. Despite his young age, you are looking at the Senior Vice President of Experimental Technologies at Black Arrow,” he said. His eyes flickered over the revealing clothes on the female seer. “And yes, I work for him. So do most of the people here…but definitely all of the lab rats, like me. He is one of the few direct reports to the old man.”
    Kirev fought not to follow his gaze, or his train of thought.
    Not with his light, at least.
    He found himself thinking that the arrogant blonde man might be more important than he’d realized, however. He hoped the female seer was safe with him, whatever Wreg had said. If this Marcous was that high in the Black Arrow hierarchy, then he likely had his own private security team here, as well.
    Dan turned towards him once more as Kirev thought it, taking a sip from his rocks glass as he frowned into Kirev’s face.
    “If you must know…Bilford is the one who gifted you to me.”
    Kirev nodded. Bilford was the owner of the house.
    Also referred to as the “old man.”
    “He chose me himself?” Kirev said, inserting a faint note of awe in his voice.
    Dan smiled for real at that, almost in spite of himself.
    Reaching up, he tugged at Kirev’s tie, straightening his coat once he’d arranged the knot more securely directly below his throat. Again, Kirev could tell it was more an excuse to touch him than anything. He felt the human’s desire that time, a flicker of his intent when he got him back to the penthouse apartment on Nob Hill.
    That time, Kirev almost pitied him.
    “No,” Dan said, quirking an eyebrow at him humorously. “That was me, I’m afraid. But he gave me an option to choose…from a particular number, that is.”
    Kirev smiled at him, hoping he looked significantly more flattered than he felt.
    “I did not know that, sir,” he murmured.
    “Well, now you do.” Dan frowned again, glancing briefly at the female seer by the balcony as he tugged again on Kirev’s coat. “Be careful about your curiosity, Kirev,” he said then, his voice softer. “It is understandable…but it could be taken the wrong way.”
    Kirev made his face blank, borderline puzzled, but only nodded. “Of course, sir.”
    “I understand you might miss interacting with your own kind,” Dan added, his voice a bit sharper. “But Marcous is possessive of his seers. He’s also not someone I can afford to make an enemy of.” Hesitating, Dan met his gaze, his expression strangely devoid of guile. “I got you for the work I did on the old man’s pet project,” Dan admitted. “I’m not as senior as most of the people here…and Marcous is more senior than any of them. Well, any but Bilford himself. He and Bilford…they