Passion Ignites (31 page)

“And I have you to thank for that?”

Balladyn snorted in laughter. “Me? It was always within you. You held it back. I just helped you free it.”

She took a step away from him, as if she thought he might try to take her again. Balladyn wanted her, but it wouldn't be by force. She would come willingly to his bed. No matter how long it took, he would woo her.

“Anything else?” he asked. He always held out hope that she would sever ties with the Dragon Kings, but it was a long shot.

When she quickly looked away, his smile died. Something had happened. “What is it? What happened?”

“I quit the Queen's Guard.”

Balladyn was too shocked to speak. From the day both he and her brother, Rolmir, were chosen for the Queen's Guard, Rhi had worked to achieve the same status.

“Why?” was all he could get out.

Rhi threw up her hands, the point of her sword landing in the sand when her arms fell back by her sides. “I don't know. It's just a feeling that Usaeil is failing the Light. She's more concerned with her career in the human world instead of seeing what is happening with what you're doing to the Kings.”

Balladyn knew Rhi considered him her enemy. But he had never hungered to taste the enemy's kisses before now. Nor had he ever cared for one so much.

In his mind, Rhi was as far from his enemy as possible. She couldn't see that yet, but the fact she was talking to him as they once did before he was Dark was a start.

“There's something else,” he guessed after seeing her loathing every time she spoke of the queen.

Rhi hesitated. She looked hurt and vulnerable in that moment, and Balladyn wanted to kill whoever had put her in such a position.

He closed the distance between them and gently put his hands on her arms. Balladyn was surprised she let him near. She had been so skittish since her arrival.

“Rhi,” he said softly.

Her silver eyes lifted to his. “I believe the queen is having an affair with a King.”

No other words were needed. Now Balladyn knew why Rhi left the queen. After the turmoil Usaeil had put Rhi through for her affair, it was completely wrong for Usaeil to go down that same road.

And it made Balladyn want to kill the queen for it.

 

CHAPTER

THIRTY-NINE

Lexi opened her eyes, her brain foggy. She blinked several times and looked around the room again, noticing more. It was large, spacious, and too lavish for her tastes.

Whoever lived here had money. And they wanted to make sure everyone knew it.

It was still dark outside. She brought her hand to her head. It ached terribly. What she wouldn't give for an aspirin.

“Finally awake, I see,” said a male voice laced with humor in a refined British accent.

Lexi stiffened and tightened her hands on the blanket. She sat up, the leather couch creaking as she made sure she was covered. Flames danced in the fireplace as a man in a dark suit sat in the leather chair opposite her. He had a glass of liquor in one hand that rested on the arm of the chair. She looked into his face that appeared red and gold from the firelight to find him watching her.

She swallowed, remembering how someone had held her as they poured much of it down her throat. There had to have been something else in it because she had passed out.

Whatever they did, it stopped what Taraeth had been doing to her. Lexi almost thanked them. But this man couldn't be a friend of the Kings if he knew Taraeth well enough to have been brought a “present.”

“I hear you have spirit. Did you use it all on Taraeth and his men?” the man asked with a chuckle.

Lexi sat back on the couch. “Will you let me go?”

“Heavens, no,” he said. “Why would I do that?”

“Because I'm no one's property.”

He leaned forward and smiled like a wolf about to devour a lamb. His gold eyes crinkled in the corners, as if he had been waiting for her to say just those words. “Oh, but you are now. Taraeth took you. The Dark don't easily hand such a prize over. Especially not with a mate of a Dragon King.”

“As I told Taraeth, I have no idea what you're talking about. Dragon King.” She snorted and rolled her eyes. “There's no such thing as dragons. Now, Fae? Obviously that's a different kettle of fish altogether.”

He cocked his head to the side. “How do you know of the Fae?”

“They killed my friend.” Lexi shrugged. The act had nearly gotten her free the first time and might work now. “I wanted revenge.”

“Revenge, hmm?” He sat back in the chair and regarded her. “We know something about that, don't we?”

“Aye.”

Lexi's gaze jerked to a dark place over her host's left shoulder. Someone was there and she hadn't even known it. She searched the shadows, but she couldn't make out anything about the man.

The man before her motioned with his hand with the drink in it. “Please. Go on. I'm dying to hear the rest.”

Lexi pulled her gaze away from the shadow. “I saw two men fighting the Red Eyes. That's what I called them before I knew. These two men were killing the Dark, so I started following them as well.”

“And they didna know it?” asked the shadow.

Lexi shook her head. “No. I did that for several days before I overheard them talking about the Fae and how this was a second war with them. The men seemed confident of winning.”

“I bet they did,” the man in the chair said with an evil smile.

“After that, I noticed that more and more Dark were popping up all over the place. I missed my flight back to the States, and the roads were clogged with cars. So I ran out of the city. I kept off the roads and stuck to going across country.”

“Where were you headed?” the man asked.

Lexi lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “Anywhere that was away from Edinburgh. I thought if I could get somewhere safe I could call the authorities. Then I got caught in the rain.”

“And you just happened to be on Dreagan?” he asked with brows raised, his starkly handsome face half lit by the fire.

It was really sad to see someone so good-looking be wicked. He might not have hurt her, but she could see it in his eyes. The man was malicious. He delighted in crushing the weak, savored in defeating the vulnerable.

“I had no map. I ran as far as I could, then I walked and ran some more.” It was time to sprinkle in some truth, Lexi decided. “I saw firsthand what the Dark could do. I wanted no part in it. As for where I ended up, I was thankful someone found me and gave me a place to get out of the rain.”

She looked down at the blanket around her. “As you can see, I removed my clothes to dry. The man gave me a blanket to warm up with.”

“Oh, that I know to be true.”

Now that confused Lexi. How would he know one thing but not others? Nothing about this entire experience made sense.

“The Dark found me and asked me the same questions you have,” she finished.

The man smiled as he lifted the glass to his wide lips and took a drink. She noticed the hint of gray at his temples. “That is an amazing tale. You're going to stick with the story that you're not a mate to a Dragon King, I suppose.”

“Dragons don't exist.”

The shadow snorted. “And Fae doona either.”

Lexi wasn't sure what to do or say. She was backed into a corner now, and there was nowhere for her to go.

The man rose from his seat and walked to a desk. He grabbed an open laptop and set it on the large wooden coffee table in front of her. He turned it toward her and motioned with his head. “Watch it.”

Intrigued, Lexi scooted to the edge of the sofa. She poked an arm out of the blanket and hit play on the video that was on the screen.

Shock reverberated through her as she saw dragons flying and shifting into men before shifting back again. Her mouth fell open when she saw the claret dragon.

Thorn.

He shifted and ran into the shop where she had been. Lexi put a hand over her mouth. He had come for her. She hadn't expected him to, but he had come.

When the video ended, Lexi raised her gaze to the man who stood watching her as she dropped her arm to her lap. It was time for another Oscar performance. “I'm supposed to believe that is real?”

“You should,” he said. “It's Dreagan. You were taken from that very spot.”

“Whoever did this is very good with computer graphics. It looks almost real.”

The man smiled and glanced at the shadow. “It's very real.”

Lexi looked down at the screen that showed a picture of Thorn in dragon form. His mouth was open, and she could imagine his deafening roar.

She had seen him before, but now she got an uninterrupted view of his deep wine scales. There were short brow horns and another horn atop his nose. His tail was equipped with a stinger on the end that looked like a scorpion tail.

The sheer size of him was awesome and frightening. She had seen him up close, looked into his teal dragon eyes. Lexi was taken aback. How had she not remembered the color of his eyes in dragon form before?

She tore her gaze away from the screen. “What are you going to do with me?”

“Your Dragon King will be looking for you. He'll search the world over, but he'll never find you.” The man chuckled and lifted the glass to his lips again. “I find that infinitely humorous.”

“How many times do I need to tell you? I don't have a Dragon King. This video proves nothing. Things like this are faked all the time.”

The man took a drink. “To him, you'll have just disappeared. I think it'll be fun to make him think you betrayed him.”

Like what happened with Ulrik. Lexi looked at him with new eyes. Was she sitting before the banished Dragon King?

“You're going to keep me prisoner here?” she asked, appalled.

He nodded and sat down as he set aside his empty glass. “Yes, I am. You're lucky that I have a lover at the moment. I'm sure there will come a time when I'll take you. And I'll warn you, mortal, I like it rough.”

“You have no right to keep me here.”

He stood up in a rush. “I have every right!”

His face was contorted red with rage. He slowly unclenched his hands and adjusted his suit jacket before he buttoned one button.

“You should kill me now,” she said.

He paused as he began to walk off. His gaze was curious as he looked back at her. “Why?”

“Because there will come a time when you have your guard down. That's when I'll kill you.”

“Good luck with that.” He walked around the coffee table and leaned down so that his face was inches from hers. “You see, I can't die. Nothing you can do to me will kill me.”

“Everything can be killed.”

Everything but a Dragon King. Lexi had her confirmation. This had to be Ulrik.

She got to her feet as he straightened and walked away. “I have friends and family who will search for me,” she hollered after him as he walked from the room.

A thick arm came around her, pinning her back against a hard chest. In her anger she had forgotten the man in the shadows.

“There's no use in yelling,” he said.

Lexi shook her head. “He can't do this. This can't be happening.”

“You're a mate.” His voice was flat, devoid of emotion. “It was a nice try lying, but I saw your face in the video. You recognized one of them. He thought it was shock. But I saw the truth.”

Lexi wanted to cry she was so frustrated. How could everything be going so wrong? Thorn had warned her. He'd told her to get away, but she had fought the memory wipe. And look where she ended up.

“Who is it?” the shadow asked.

Lexi lifted her chin, refusing to speak.

“There are only a few dragons shown. One I know is already mated. It's easy to narrow it down. If I send word to the others that we have you, which one will come? Because he will. Nothing will be able to stop him.”

Lexi closed her eyes. She wanted to stop his words, to block them out. Yet they had already been heard and lodged in her brain.

“Do you really want to know what we'll do with him?” the shadow asked. “It willna be pretty. You know he can no' be killed except by another Dragon King. But you already knew that, did you no'?”

“I don't know what you mean.”

The words were there, but they didn't carry the conviction she'd hoped to convey. She had no control over her fear for herself and Thorn.

“You do,” the shadow said. “We're no' the only ones who would be delighted to have a Dragon King. The Dark want another. They have a way of torturing the Kings until they lose their minds. The Kings go utterly mad. That's when the Dark release them and these demented Kings begin killing other Kings.”

“Why are you doing this?” she demanded as she opened her eyes, turning her head to try and see him. All she saw was long black hair.

He leaned his mouth next to her ear. “Revenge.”

“Please release me. I just want to go home.”

“You should've run faster, Lexi. You should've stayed far away from the Dark. But most of all, you should never have fallen for your Dragon King. It'll only bring you misery and death. Humans and Kings were never meant to mix.”

 

CHAPTER

FORTY

“Rhi!” Thorn shouted as he stood outside of the manor.

She was his only chance for getting to Taraeth's palace. Since only the Fae could see the doorways, he had to have her.

“You've been calling to her for half an hour,” Kellan said as he walked up to stand against the fence. “She's no' coming.”

“She has to.” Thorn gripped the fence tightly.

They stood shoulder to shoulder in the night. “Perhaps you might want to think about what Shara said.”

“Would you give up on Denae?” Thorn demanded as he jerked his head to Kellan.

Kellan looked down at the ground for a moment. “You know I wouldna. Thorn, are you sure she's your mate?”