Passion Ignites (30 page)

Thorn frowned as he glanced from Shara to Cassie to Jane. “Did he no' realize Cassie and Jane were immune to the Dark as well?”

Kellan shrugged and they looked to the women for an answer.

“They didn't pay us much attention,” Shara said.

Cassie nodded in agreement. “They were focused on Lexi.”

Thorn turned his head to Kellan. “They could've walked out of here with four mates. Why did they no' search the group of humans for the mates?”

“A verra good question,” Kellan stated. “It doesna make sense.”

“Nothing about any of this has. They've been walking the streets of the cities for days. They kill at will, with everything building up to this night. Then they attack here, but doona try to take one of us or more mates.”

Shara crossed her arms over her stomach. “Lexi was a surprise for them. They didn't come for her.”

“So why did they come?” Kellan asked.

Thorn slashed a hand through the air. “We'll figure that out soon enough. I have to find Lexi.”

“I'm not sure you should try,” Shara said in a soft voice.

Thorn pinned her with a look. “Would you expect Kiril no' to look for you? Would Kellan let the Dark have Denae again?”

“Nay,” Kellan said. “I'd walk through that place every day for eternity for my woman.”

Shara bowed her head. “Thorn, you need to be prepared for what you find.
If
you find her.”

“I'm going to find her.” He had no other choice.

Kellan squeezed the bridge of his nose with this thumb and forefinger. “This is what the Dark wanted. We're divided. Scattered.”

“The best thing Con can do is bring everyone back to Dreagan.”

Kellan's head snapped up. “And leave the cities?”

“Darius and I were there for weeks. Do you have any idea how many Dark we killed daily? It didna matter. The Dark kept coming. There's only one way to fight them to make an impact, and if we can no' do that, then why spread us so thin?”

Kellan stared at him for a long silent moment. “And you?”

“I'm going after Lexi.”

Kellan's forehead puckered in a frown. “Alone?”

“Alone,” Thorn said with a nod.

Shara gaped at him. “You can't be serious. First, you don't know where to go.”

“That's where you come in,” he told the Fae. “Tell me where Taraeth would take her.”

Kellan shook his head. “I understand wanting to go after Lexi, but you can no' go alone. I was there with Rhi and Phelan as we got Denae out, and it still wasna enough.”

“I go in alone,” Thorn repeated. He looked at Shara then. “You can help by telling me where to go. If you doona want to, it willna change my mind about going.”

Shara sank back down in the chair and numbly nodded. “All right.”

Thorn glanced at Jane who was still staring at the floor while Cassie watched him. He gave a nod to Kellan and turned around.

He drew up short when he saw Con. Thorn had no idea how long the King of Kings had been standing there, and it didn't matter.

“We have a mess,” Con said.

Thorn looked into his black eyes trying to figure out what Con was thinking, but as usual, Thorn came up empty. “On several levels.”

“Your thoughts?”

Since when did Con care what he thought was going on? Thorn eyed Con warily. “It was all a setup for something. The weapon, perhaps.”

Con shook his head. “They didna cross any of our borders except at the distillery. It's our weakest point to allow the tourists to visit.”

“Why just the distillery?” Kellan asked. “They didna take anything. I think they would've left empty-handed except they found Lexi.”

A burning need to kill Dark filled Thorn every time someone mentioned Lexi being taken. He was in control now, but once he found the Dark, Thorn was going to rain down hell upon them.

“And the cities,” Thorn said. “They wanted us away from Dreagan.”

Con nodded as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Why take us away if they were no' going to try to get on Dreagan again?”

“I think I know the answer to that,” Ryder said as he walked down the stairs and came to stand in the foyer. His face was grim. “It's bad.”

Con raised a blond brow. “Well? What is it?”

Ryder looked at each of them and ran a hand down his face. “You're right. It was all staged. Every last minute of it. It's a good thing I got in from Glasgow last night so I could contain this now.”

“Just tell us,” Thorn said in a low voice.

Ryder looked like he was about to be sick. “There was someone on the hill above the distillery. They filmed it all.”

There was utter silence for a full minute as each of them took in what this meant for Dreagan and their way of life.

“How much did it show?” Con asked in a soft voice.

Ryder scrunched up his face in regret. “All of it. It shows Kellan and Arian flying as well as both shifting to human form. It also shows Thorn arriving and all the way to the Dark hitting Thorn with magic so that he shifted to human form and fell from the sky. It shows the Warriors, as well as Malcolm's use of lightning.”

“Oh my God,” Cassie murmured.

“The video has gone viral, Con,” Ryder said with a shake of his head. “It's everywhere.”

Thorn couldn't believe millions of years of secrets had gone up in smoke in one night. The last time Thorn felt this powerless was when they had to send their dragons away.

Con turned on his heel and walked upstairs without a word.

 

CHAPTER

THIRTY-EIGHT

Balladyn walked through the Fae doorway with Taraeth back to the palace. The night had gone exactly as they had planned. Why then did he have a feeling something was about to go awry?

“The Kings have thwarted us for so long,” Taraeth said with a smile as they walked to his chamber. “It feels good to have a win.”

“Shara got away.”

Taraeth shrugged. “It doesn't matter. Soon, she'll be on her knees before me begging for forgiveness. I won't give it to her, but I'll enjoy allowing her to think that I will.”

“Nothing kills quite so deeply as smashing someone's hope,” Balladyn said with a grin.

Taraeth entered the king's chamber and faced Balladyn. “The Kings won't know which way is up by the time it all comes crashing down around them.”

“We still haven't found the weapon.”

“All in due time,” Taraeth said. “Mikkel is confident he can get Ulrik to hand it over.”

Balladyn wasn't so sure. “It's a dangerous game to work with both of them, sire.”

“I've been doing it for centuries.” Taraeth reclined on his throne. “Ulrik knows what I'm doing. Mikkel does not.”

“You trust Ulrik more?”

Taraeth laughed. “Absolutely not. Ulrik is smarter, though. He sees things Mikkel does not. Whoever wins between those two will give me the weapon.”

“To use against them?”

Taraeth's red eyes hardened. “You don't think I can make them hand it over?”

Balladyn bowed his head in a show of meekness that wouldn't last much longer. “I think they'll say whatever they need to in order to have the Dark army aid them.”

“Ulrik hasn't asked for my army.”

Now that Balladyn hadn't known. “Why not?”

“Ulrik intends to take Con down himself. Mikkel thinks he can do it without Ulrik, but that won't be possible. The only one who can take down Con is Ulrik.”

Balladyn clasped his hands behind his back. “The odds of Ulrik beating Con and handing everything over to Mikkel are nonexistent.”

“Exactly.” Taraeth grinned. “Mikkel has made some brash moves that might get him the seat of power, but Ulrik is a wild card. He has a need for revenge that goes even deeper than mine. A man with that kind of demand is rarely foiled.”

“Ulrik won't give you the sole weapon that is able to destroy the Dragon Kings,” Balladyn said.

Taraeth shrugged. “Ulrik hates the humans. They're the ones who betrayed him and made him lose everything. Do you really think we're going to need to destroy the Kings with Ulrik in charge?”

“You believe he'll let us have the humans?”

“I know,” Taraeth said as he leaned forward. “He wants the humans gone so he can bring back the dragons. We'll be able to gorge ourselves on the mortals.”

Balladyn smiled and nodded. “A fine plan indeed. You surprised me, though. Why leave the mortal with Mikkel? If she is a mate, her King will come looking for her.”

“He can try.” Taraeth leaned back. “The Kings don't know of Mikkel. They still think it's all Ulrik. I'll have them chasing their tails on so many levels that they won't know who to trust or what step to take next. And if they do find her, it'll be Mikkel's problem. Now, go. I wish to be alone.”

Balladyn turned and walked out of the chamber. As soon as the doors closed behind him, he found a Fae doorway and went to the desert.

“Rhi,” he called.

A moment later, she stepped through the doorway with sword in hand. Rhi was always beautiful, but she never looked more magnificent or fierce than when she was in the middle of battle.

Even dirty and wounded like she was now, he wanted to rip off her clothes and sink within her.

“I hear you were at Dreagan.”

There was something in her soft, serene voice that set off warning bells. “Taraeth ordered me with him.”

“You knew all of this was going down. Why didn't you tell me?”

Balladyn couldn't determine if she was angry or not. “You're not Dark, pet. I can't tell you anything.”

She walked to him until she stood before him. “Is that so?”

“I smelled you on her,” Balladyn said.

It was the wrong thing to say. Rhi's eyes flashed in anger. “I saved her and brought her to Dreagan, promising that she would be safe.”

“You shouldn't promise such things.” Balladyn tried to reach out and touch her, but she stepped away. He held out his hands and spoke in a low voice, “Easy.”

“Did you call me here to rub it in my face that you took someone I helped?” she demanded, her grip tightening on the hilt of her sword.

Balladyn glanced down at her sword. She was quick enough that she could get the blade up and in the neck of an unsuspecting Dark. But Balladyn had helped train her. He knew her tricks. Or most of them.

“I called you because I have the information you seek on the Reapers.”

Rhi's head whipped to the side as she stared at a sand dune.

Balladyn followed her gaze but saw nothing. “Rhi?”

“Tell me,” she demanded without looking at him.

“It took some digging, as well as piecing things together to find the original story, but I learned the truth.”

“How do you know it's original?” she asked, still staring at the dune.

Balladyn rubbed his jaw. “There was a hidden number sequence in the texts. If someone didn't know what they were looking for, they could easily think there was a mistake in the book.”

“Go on.”

“I found all but one of the pieces. I've exhausted all of my books. The final piece must be hidden somewhere.”

She swiveled her head back to him with a frown. “I know the library you had at the queen's court.”

“What I have now is three times that size. I have a copy of every book there is. I've looked through each of them twice. Someone has hidden the last piece of this puzzle.”

Rhi lifted her chin. “Tell me what you do know.”

“The Reapers are real. They are a group of Fae with immense power.”

“How much power?”

“More than Usaeil and Taraeth combined. More than even you, I think.”

A small pucker formed in her forehead. “What is their purpose?”

“They are judge, jury, and executioner.”

“Why can't we see them?”

Balladyn shrugged. “It didn't say. There was a warning that they are not to be messed with. If they come after a Fae, it's over.”

“Why haven't they come for Taraeth? Or you?” she asked with a smirk.

Balladyn would never let her know just how much her words hurt him. She had held his heart for so long, and she hadn't even known it. Nor did she realize he would do anything for her.

“You'll have to ask them,” Balladyn said.

Her sneer faded. “Why do they come for us?”

“Something about the law and balance. It was in the old language, Rhi, and some of the lines were so faded I couldn't make them out. If people are whispering about Reapers, it's because they're back.”

“Back? Where have they been?”

“I don't know or care.”

She shifted feet and glanced at the sand dune. “Do they follow us? Can they remain veiled indefinitely?”

Balladyn looked at the sand dune and then back at Rhi. “It didn't say. You think someone is following you?”

“Yes. They have been for some time. I thought it was you.”

“I can't stay veiled that long. When did it begin?”

She looked away from his gaze. “A few weeks. Whoever it is can track me anywhere.”

“Are they here now?”

She looked up into his face, a frown of worry lining her face. “Yes.”

“Have you spoken to them?”

“I tried.” Rhi swallowed and gave a little shake of her head. “They won't show themselves or tell me what they want. My every action is being watched.”

Worry, heavy and copious, swarmed him. “Has anything drastic happened lately?”

She gave him a dark look. “You mean like a trusted friend who I thought was dead but was actually turned Dark who kidnapped and tortured me while making me wear the Chains of Mordare? Is that the kind of drastic you were referring to?”

“Yes. You also left out how you shattered the chains and escaped, leveling my compound. Your power has increased, pet.”