Dragon King: A Dark Kings Novella (1001 Dark Nights) (12 page)

Chapter Twelve

The tears dried quickly as the numbness took hold. It was worse than the day her mother left. Even worse than when her father died.

She had trusted, as she always did, and it had once more come back to bite her. She should’ve known Arian was too good to be true.

A man like him who was too gorgeous to even look at, immortal, and a Dragon King didn’t choose someone like her. It had always been about their secrecy.

If only he had been honest with her from the beginning. But why would he? They were in the middle of a war. Not even that thinking could stop the hurt from spreading.

“Can I get you anything?” Con asked.

She closed her eyes. How could she have forgotten she wasn’t alone? Grace blew out a breath and shook her head as she looked out the window. She wrapped her arms around herself while the clouds dissipated and the sun came out. “No, thank you.”

“I did what had to be done. I’ll no’ apologize for that.”

“Then don’t.” She’d had enough of Con. He and everyone else needed to go step on a Lego and fall in a hole.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Con push away from the desk and stand. “Remain here, Ms. Clark. I’ll return in a moment.”

As soon as the door closed behind him, Grace turned and stuck her tongue out. It was immature, but it was either that or cry some more.

Grace couldn’t believe Arian had manipulated her fear in such a way. Then again, she could. If her very way of life was threatened, there was no telling what she would do. She recalled vividly the extremes she went to in order to save her father from his heart failure.

On one hand, she didn’t blame Arian, but on the other, she did. They’d shared something personal and beautiful together, and she felt manipulated.

Grace glanced at the door. She was supposed to wait for Con. If she were braver, she would take her chances and make a run for it.

She looked at the door again, her heart kicking up a notch at the thought of making a run for it. But that’s exactly what she was going to do.

A look around Con’s office didn’t show her keys or her laptop. But that wasn’t going to stop her. She didn’t care if she had to steal a car, she was getting out of there.

Grace didn’t hesitate. She hurried to the door and quietly turned the knob. When the door cracked open, she looked into the corridor. No one was in sight. She opened the door wider and poked her head out, looking both directions.

There was a small voice in the back of her mind that reminded her something terrible could happen if she got caught. But she wasn’t going to get caught. She had been used enough. It was time to leave Dreagan.

Grace slid into the hallway and quickly closed the door behind her. She remained against the wall and half-ran, half-walked to the stairs.

She paused when she reached the steps because once she was on them, anyone could see her. Grace took in a steadying breath and then held her head high as she descended the stairs.

At the bottom she had a moment’s fear since she didn’t know where to go. Then she decided it didn’t matter. She turned left and found herself walking down a wide corridor with windows on one side letting in tons of light. On the opposite wall were paintings and tapestries of dragons of numerous sizes and colors. She came to a door and peeked inside to find it was a library.

Grace pivoted and retraced her steps since it didn’t look as if she was going to find a way out in the direction she had been going.

She found the stairs again easily enough. This time she went to the right. After a bit of maneuvering around open doorways with others inside what appeared to be a parlor, Grace found the front door.

As soon as she was outside, she breathed a sigh of relief. She faced forward and saw her rental car parked right in front. Grace ran to the vehicle and got inside. There she found her keys in the ignition, her purse and laptop on the seat beside her. Her hands were shaking as she started the engine and threw the car in reverse.

It wasn’t until she was driving away that she felt something heavy in her chest, as if her heart were breaking in two. All that she had shared with Arian was gone. She thought he was different than other men, but she had been wrong. He was a man who cared more about Dreagan and the Dragon Kings than he did about her.

Grace pressed the accelerator. The car gained speed as she turned onto the main road. She didn’t have a clue where she was going. All that mattered was that she left the Dragon Kings behind.

Something fell on her cheek. Grace swiped at her face, infuriated to find that it was a tear.

“I’m not going to cry for Arian,” she told herself. “He’s not worth it.”

The sad part was that he was
definitely
worth it. He was the type of guy she had been writing in her novels for years. The type of guy that she only thought existed in her mind. Not once did she ever believe she would find him.

But she had found him. That’s what hurt so much. He had been in her arms, real and so wonderful she hadn’t been able to stop touching him.

Kissing him had been mind-blowing. So much so she hadn’t ever wanted to stop.

He had been kind and gentle, tender and sweet. All while having an air of danger and mystery that made her so hot for him.

His immortality made her a bit wary, but how could she be afraid of a Dragon King who made love to her like he was worshipping her?

She hadn’t expected anything of Arian. Well, that wasn’t true. She knew what she wanted from him, and she had hoped he wanted more from her as well. Knowing what he was and the war he was part of would’ve made things difficult, but it didn’t deter her.

Arian hadn’t just touched her physically. He had changed her. She always thought she had an open mind, but discovering his secret had forced her to challenge herself and her thinking. She had accepted who he was, as well as his story. Grace yearned to help him any way she could.

The few hours with him had altered her mind, her body, and her heart. Now she looked at the world entirely different because she knew there was magic and dragons, Fae, and Druids walking around.

How wonderful she had felt being with him.

Then Arian had to go and ruin it by using her fear against her.

Grace shifted gears and found the signs leading back to Inverness.

* * * *

Warrick stood with Con at the front of the manor, watching Grace Clark drive away. “Are you sure this was the right thing?”

“She wasna lying. She’s no’ working with Ulrik,” Con said.

Warrick raised a brow as he cut his eyes to Con. “That’s no’ what I’m talking about, and you know it.”

“Is it no’ enough that one more King has chosen a mate? Arian just woke. He needs to be focused on the war.”

Warrick crossed his arms over his chest and faced Con. “You saw how Arian reacted. I believe Grace could be his mate.”

“Perhaps.”

“Perhaps?” Warrick repeated. “Just what lengths will you go to in order to keep a King from his mate?”

Con turned his black eyes to him. “If I think there could be another repeat of what happed with Ulrik—anything and everything.”

“Grace isna that type of woman.”

“You doona know her.”

“Neither do you,” Warrick pointed out. “The only one who knows her at all is Arian. And I tell you, he’s no’ going to be happy when he learns what’s happened.”

“And what has happened?” came a voice behind Warrick.

Warrick turned and spotted Arian standing in the middle of the doorway. Warrick hooked his thumb toward Con and said, “Ask him.”

Arian met Con’s gaze. “Where is Grace? I went to your office, but no one was there.”

“She’s gone,” Con said.

Warrick watched Arian closely. A muscle ticced in his temple and his nostrils flared as he attempted to keep calm. It was just a few days earlier Warrick had felt those same emotions. Just as he imagined, Arian was thinking of throttling Con.

“Gone?” Arian asked tightly.

Con nodded. “You were right. She was telling the truth about who she is.”

“And you allowed her to leave knowing our secret?” Arian asked in disbelief.

Con glanced at Warrick and said, “Does that sound like something I would do?”

Warrick watched Con walk from the room. He gave a shake of his head and sat down in one of the chairs. Con had said he would go to any lengths. He had just proven it.

“I didna see Guy,” Arian said. “I wanted to tell Grace farewell.”

Warrick wasn’t going to sit there and allow Arian to think Grace had her memories wiped. And surely Con knew that. Which made Warrick wonder just what the hell Con was up to.

“Her memories were no’ wiped,” Warrick said.

Arian’s head jerked around, his long black hair falling over the white shirt. “What?”

“Con didna have Guy see Grace. He left her alone in his office, and just as he expected, she made a run for it. We stood here and watched her leave.”

Arian ran a hand down his face. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Ulrik may very well beat you to the punch, my friend.”

“Why?” Arian asked helplessly. “Why would Con make me believe Grace was out of reach?”

Warrick shrugged and got to his feet. “Because he’s an arse. Because he doesna want us to be happy. Because he doesna want to be the only one without a mate. Because he can. Take your pick.”

“Why did he no’ wipe her memories?”

Warrick shrugged. “That I can no’ answer.”

“Fuck, this is messed up.”

“I could tell you all the ways that he’s made it difficult for some Kings to have their mates, but that would take too much time. You need to go after Grace.”

Arian looked out the window. “Con knew you would tell me the truth. I wish he would’ve done it.”

“No’ in the bastard’s DNA.”

“I hurt her, War.”

Warrick nodded as he recalled doing the same to Darcy. “Aye, I know that feeling well. If you think there’s something there, then go to her and do or say whatever needs to be done or said to get her back.”

“Fight for her.”

“Aye. Fight.”

“That I can do.”

Warrick smiled as he watched Arian stalk from the room. He looked upward to the room where Darcy was still asleep in their bed after hours of lovemaking.

He was supposed to be getting them something to eat. He made his way to the kitchen and began to gather items as he thought of all the ways he still wanted to make love to his woman.

Warrick was walking up the stairs when Arian came running down in a pair of boots, his same jeans, and a leather jacket over his tee shirt.

“I doona have a vehicle,” Arian said.

Warrick laughed and jerked his head toward the garage. “You’ve no’ actually driven yet, either, but you’ll get the hang of it. At least you willna kill a sheep as Kiril did. Take the top set of keys. It’s to a white G-class Mercedes. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Arian went down a few steps then stopped again. “Where is she staying?”

“Ryder,” they said in unison.

Arian was all smiles as he ran from the manor to the garage. Warrick hoped Con hadn’t interfered too much to stop Arian from finding happiness.

Warrick was beginning to think that Con wanted everyone there to be miserable, which was shite, because they all suspected he had a lover.

The fact they had yet to find a woman he was with told Warrick it wasn’t a mortal woman. Which left the Fae.

And no good would come of that.

Chapter Thirteen

Arian adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. He hadn’t been awake in hundreds of years. The world had changed drastically from the last time he saw it, but he wasn’t looking at the landscape. He was thinking of Grace and how badly things had gone wrong.

He flexed his toes, not yet used to the boots confining his feet. The clothes weren’t much better, but then again, he had been in dragon form for a very long time. Nothing was going to feel right.

Except Grace’s hands. They felt perfect against his skin.

Arian followed the directions from the female voice coming from the SAT NAV system. Driving wasn’t that difficult. After he ran into a couple of things. The damage shouldn’t be that bad.

He glanced up through the sunroof to the sky. A sky he wondered if dragons would ever be seen in again. He had a sick feeling they never would.

Pushing aside such morbid thoughts, Arian focused on what he would say to Grace. Everything that ran through his mind sounded awful.

Arian cringed when he heard the scrape of metal as he moved too far to the right and the SUV skidded against a wall of rocks as he drove across a bridge.

Seeing the damage done to the vehicle was the least of his worries. It was just a piece of metal. There was much more at stake—his heart.

His soul.

His future.

Arian didn’t stop to wonder how he had come to feel so strongly about Grace in so short a time. All he knew was that he did.

That fear clutching at his heart was the same sensation he felt when he watched his dragons fly across the dragon bridge to another realm.

He had been helpless to do anything then. This time was different. This time he could set things right. And he was going to make sure he did.

No matter what he had to do or say, he wouldn’t give up on Grace until she realized she was his. Because she had been. From the first moment she walked into his mountain, she had been his. Their fates had been sealed when they made love.

The B&B came into view. Arian slowed the SUV, his heart kicking up a notch when he spotted the car Grace had been driving.

She was still there. He hadn’t realized how worried he was that she might have left until that moment.

Arian pulled over and stopped the vehicle. He shut off the engine. Then he rested his forehead against the steering wheel. He wasn’t sure he knew what to do next.

It went without saying that he wanted Grace, but he had never gone after a woman before. If they wanted to be with him, great. If not, then he moved on.

With Grace, it was different. He had chased after her. He was even willing to get down on his knees and beg her forgiveness.