“I’m joking, of course. Belvedere is perfectly fine. Thanks so much.”
The waiter slipped away without another word.
“That was such a funny joke,” Crys said drily. “You’re a regular comedian.”
“Sorry, I got a little carried away with the act,” he lied. “Too bad he didn’t want to play along, it would have been a lot more fun.”
The waiter returned soon with their drinks and the vegetable tempura appetizer they’d ordered.
“Sorry about that,” Farrell said, pressing the C-note into his hand. “No hard feelings?”
“None at all.” The waiter nodded, finally losing the peeved expression as he turned back to the kitchen.
Farrell raised his glass. “We should toast to something.”
“Like what?” Crys asked.
“The start of an amazing new friendship.”
She clinked her glass against his. “Do you befriend all the random girls you meet on the street?”
“Only the ones who help me tackle muggers.” He took a sip from his glass and tried not to let the fact that he hadn’t gotten his way continue to bother him.
“You get in a lot of fights?” she asked.
“No, I’m very peaceful. Zen-like, actually.”
“Really? Have to say, I did a little online search for you last night, and I happened upon a very interesting video of you pounding the crap out of a drug dealer.”
Oh, right. That.
How should I handle this? he thought. “Well, I’m Zen-like unless you mess with my family. That guy gave my kid brother cocaine. That’s not okay. I may have lost control, but I swear my heart was in the right place. I’m sure you’d want to protect your sister at any cost, right?”
He heard the clink of her ice cubes in her glass when she took a sip. He could also hear her heartbeat—fast and fluttering. She put on an air of calm, but underneath that T-shirt she was nervous about being out with him. Or maybe she was excited.
Either way, her biology proved that he had a definite effect on her.
“Of course I would,” she finally replied. “My sister means more to me than anyone.”
“Right. I don’t want my brother to walk the same path I’ve walked,” he said, wanting to impart a bit of personal wisdom to draw her even closer to him. “I’ve made mistakes, I’ll admit it, and my older brother tried to look out for me. I always gave him a hard time. But Adam, he’s more innocent than Connor and me. I can’t explain it. Despite the family he’s in, he’s so naive to the evils that lurk behind every corner. I know I have to be there to save him, even if he doesn’t want to be saved.”
“I totally understand.”
He watched her carefully as she bit her lip and reached for a tempura-battered asparagus, sliding it through some ponzu sauce, before bringing it to her mouth.
Who knew fried asparagus could be so sexy?
Farrell drank the rest of his vodka and signaled for another. It arrived with the rest of their meal: a salmon roll, seared scallop nigiri, and sea urchin sashimi. Crys busied herself with unwrapping her chopsticks and mixing a concoction of soy sauce and wasabi into a thin greenish paste. He did the same before he ate a piece of the salmon roll with mock enthusiasm.
He hated sushi.
“We were talking about magic the other night,” he said.
“We were.”
“Such an interesting subject, isn’t it? I’d love to know more about your personal experiences with it.”
She traced her finger along the edge of her square-shaped plate. “Have you ever heard of Obsidia?”
He blinked. “Obsidia?”
“Apparently, it’s a magic language.”
“Can’t say I have.”
She continued on eating and chatting as if they were having a normal dinner conversation, but Farrell leaned in with perked-up ears, regarding her with increased interest.
She’d finally said something important.
Something Markus would want to know. Perhaps this was why he’d been concerned about this girl who was, otherwise, as ordinary as they came.
Satisfaction swelled within him. It wouldn’t be long before he’d earn his third mark.
“This language is found only one place on record,” she continued.
“Oh yeah? Where’s that?”
“In a very special book,” she said without more than a moment’s hesitation. “If you know how to read the language, it sounds like you’d be able to channel the magic from the book to use however you like.”
“That is fascinating.” He was entranced now with every word she spoke.
“Fascinating?” she repeated. “I suppose. But it sounds scary, too. All that power up for grabs, and this book is just out there somewhere, waiting to be used. Who knows what kind of monster could get