by Rinelle Grey
She should have run while she’d had the chance.
Ultrima’s head swung back around at the sound of her bitter laugh. His eyes whirled as he regarded her. “You didn’t know he felt that way?”
His response wasn’t characteristic of someone who was a mortal enemy or someone who was intent on wiping out an entire clan. What the hell was he playing at? He was baiting them both. It was as though he wanted them to be in love…
As though he’d thrown them together deliberately…
Rita frowned. That possibility was so crazy it was inconceivable. And yet…
“Why do you care?” she asked abruptly.
Ultrima’s scaled eyebrow raised. “I’m a very caring dragon.” The purr was back. “Just ask anyone in my clan. They’ll all tell you the same thing. I want them all to experience love. How could I not want the same for my enemy?” His eyes whirled again, and he gave a small snort.
Warrian snorted too, but his was even more sarcastic than Ultrima’s. “You want your enemy to be weakened by it more like.”
Ultrima considered him thoughtfully. “If you believe it will make you weak, then who am I to argue with you being weak? That’s your choice. You could let it make you stronger, but I doubt you have that in you. I once thought so highly of you. Looked up to you even. That seems so long ago.”
His voice sounded faraway and a little disappointed.
Rita couldn’t deny the fact that her own heart echoed his regret. How strange that it was Ultrima’s words that made sense.
Warrian returned to staring straight ahead, ignoring Ultrima.
But Rita couldn’t let go of the idea that the lightning dragon was trying to get through to Warrian. That he was actually trying to help him and maybe her a little too. And eventually her curiosity overcame her fear of the enemy dragon. “So what is your side of the story then?” she asked.
Well, curiosity always had been her curse.
For a moment, she thought Ultrima might just enlighten her. He stared at her consideringly for long enough. But then his dragon head shook from side to side. “I’m not very happy with you either, Rita. You had one job.” His dragon voice was loud and booming and intrusive. She could literally feel his anger bouncing around inside her head.
Or perhaps it was the accusation implicit in his words.
And her fear that Warrian had heard them.
She glanced over at him to find him looking at her suspiciously. “What is he talking about?” he asked into her head just as Ultrima added, “Don’t tell me you let your feelings for this prince stop you from taking advantage of the story I set up for you?”
The two competing voices—one loud, one soft–one amused, one concerned. One her friend, and one her enemy.
If only she knew which was which.
Chapter 10
Everything around Warrian was collapsing. He’d always known Rita was hiding something from him, but when he’d learned she’d shown pictures of the dragons to the humans, he’d thought that was it. He’d been angry, but in a ‘he’d eventually forgive her’ kind of way.
This… this was something else entirely.
She’d been working with his enemy this whole time. Ultrima had helped her find him, had encouraged her to share information with the humans.
Just what was his enemy up to? What did Ultrima stand to gain by getting the humans involved? And why did he keep going on about love, as though he actually wanted to see people happy?
There had to be some benefit the Trima leader was hoping to gain that Warrian just couldn’t see.
Those thoughts were fleeting even though they were important. But no matter how much he tried to focus on the ramifications of all this for his clan, his mind refused to focus on anything other than the fact that Rita had betrayed him.
Everything else he’d been willing to forgive. He knew he could never ask Rita to be his mate, but he’d hoped they could be friends. When he’d thought she’d told the human world about dragons because that what was best for her people, he’d understood her reasons. But no matter how noble her intentions had been, he couldn’t forgive her working with his enemy.
This changed everything. They couldn’t possibly move past this.
Ultrima was still watching them, and the bastard dragon looked amused. As though he’d set all this up just to get back at Warrian.
He always had been fond of his jokes.
A memory hit Warrian in a blinding flash of clarity. He and Ultrian as younglings, angry at Pelrian, the metal dragon elder, who had punished them for inattention in their lesson, had come up with a cunning way to get back at him. Ultrian had figured out a way to create a static charge every time Pelrian used his metal dragon magic, and he’d tested it on Warrian to be sure it worked.
It had been hilarious at the time, worth the punishment he and Ultrian had endured. It had taken the metal dragon elder hours to figure out how to undo it. Sarian, several years older and more mature, had told Warrian he’d acted like a child, and that had stung.
But not enough to make Warrian regret it. He’d thought it a bit of fun, but he could see now that it had been more than that to Ultrian. The lightning dragon had always been one to hold a grudge, even then.
And now Warrian was on the other side of it. He’d walked right into this, falling for Rita without any suspicion he was being set up. It had been almost as easy as setting up Pelrian.
He couldn’t help feeling a twinge of admiration for Ultrima’s methods, even as he wished he had the power to attack him and stop this nonsense.
The amused look on Ultrima’s face suggested he understood what Warrian was struggling with. This was indeed a game. One Warrian had no chance of winning. There was no point in trying, but Warrian couldn’t help himself anyway.
“Do you think I didn’t realise you were behind this?” he sneered. “I knew Rita was lying from the moment she woke me. Your involvement was the only explanation I could think of. I’m not surprised by your duplicity. You’re going to have to work harder than that to beat me.”
Ultrima’s lip curled, showing his teeth. “Tell yourself whatever you need to, little prince, but it’s not me you have to convince. No matter what you thought or believed, you feel something for this human. Go on, admit it.”
Warrian avoided looking at Rita, knowing if he did, he might give himself away. At this point in the game, that would be disastrous. “You believed what I needed you to believe and so did Rita. Admittedly she had her suspicions, unlike you.”
Ultrima raised an eyebrow. “And? What was your goal? To end up here, in my lair, with no magical power to speak of, completely at my mercy? Congratulations, you won. Enjoy your victory.”
That was what could only be described as calling his bluff. Warrian had no real comeback to that.
But Rita did. “Just what was your goal, Ultrima? Why did you send me to wake Warrian? That’s the one thing I haven’t been able to figure out. And I’m sure it is the perfect ending to my story.”
Her attitude rankled. It hurt she could admit what she’d done so readily, without even a hint of guilt or regret. And at the same time, Warrian couldn’t help the admiration filling his soul at her stepping up to play Ultrima’s game. And skilfully as well.
Ultrima didn’t appear daunted by her taunts, though. He gave her a dragon smile. “Why do you think, little human?”
Warrian wanted to say something biting and sarcastic, but he also wanted to hear Rita’s reply. Despite knowing she’d betrayed him and knowing he should never forgive her, he still couldn’t help admiring her. He still hoped there was some way out of this. And it wasn’t Ultrima’s lair he was concerned with escaping.
Rita frowned, staring at Ultrima with her head to one side, considering. “Well, your instructions were to keep Warrian away from his family. I’m going to assume you were worried they would wake him next, since most of the rest of them are awake. I thought you wanted a chance to bully Sarian into mating with you. But now that I know more of th
e story, I’m going to guess you wanted a chance to convince her to listen to you without Warrian pressuring her not to. Am I correct?”
“Two points to the human. You should listen to her, Warrian. She sees things clearly, as you were unable to.” He stared at Warrian, his eyes intent. “We used to be friends once. Is there none of that left in your heart? If I can forgive you for what you did to me, is there any chance you can allow your sister to make up her own mind about me?”
Warrian shouldn’t even be listening to him. This was crazy. Insane.
Warrian might have made up a story about Ultrima to keep him away, but one fact remained, one that Warrian wasn’t sure they could ever overcome. “I don’t allow Sarian to do anything. She makes her own choices. You just couldn’t accept that she didn’t choose you.”
Warrian didn’t need to feel guilty about that statement. It was the truth. And going by the pained expression on Ultrima’s face, he knew it too.
Taking a chance, Warrian pushed home his advantage while he could. “If you’d stepped down gracefully, apologised, and resumed your proper place in the clan, then maybe she might have changed her mind in time. But you declared war, Ultrima. You split our clan in two, and then you attacked us. And you’ve kept attacking my clan for three hundred years. Even if I forgave you for some reason, the rest of our clan isn’t ever going to.”
That scored Warrian a clear win. Ultrima’s face twisted into a pained sneer. But somehow, the victory felt hollow. Warrian’s heart felt almost as injured. If only there was some way to make this right. If only he could find it.
But it seemed impossible.
Ultrima obviously thought the same. “You’re right, I suppose. They’ve made that more than clear. Oh well, never mind. This was just one possible path to achieving my goals. I have others. I shall just have to let the two of you rot in a dungeon until I’m done with my plans.”
It was the outcome Warrian had sort of expected. Well, no, he’d actually expected Ultrima to kill them on the spot. But despite the reprieve, his heart sank. Not because of his own incarceration, but because Rita would be trapped too.
Why was he still feeling sorry for her? She’d brought this on herself by making a deal with the Trima leader. Surely she’d seen what kind of a dragon he was? It wasn’t like Ultrima hid it.
Whatever happened now was just as much her fault as it was his.
So he should stop feeling guilty about it.
If only it were that simple.
Chapter 11
Rita leaned her back against the rocky wall and glared at Warrian. “You couldn’t just tell him you were sorry and get us out of here, could you?”
Okay, so she probably would have done the same thing, but even she could admit being honest always seemed to cost her. Warrian could have gotten them out of this. If he’d been willing to forgive Ultrima, then they wouldn’t be here right now.
They wouldn’t be sitting in a cave high up in the Trima lair with no one aware of where they were. Rita gave a shiver. This had to be one of the worst scrapes she’d been in. She had no idea what Ultrima had planned, but she was sure it wasn’t good. Hailey had insisted they wouldn’t be harmed if they did what they were told, but Rita wasn’t entirely convinced. Ultrima did things for his own reasons, and if it suited him, she suspected he would dispatch her and Warrian without a second thought. Even if he was kind enough to spare her, apparently the Mesmer bond meant if Warrian died, she would too.
She changed her mind about who to blame. This was Ultrima’s fault. Warrian had been asleep, after all. It wasn’t like he could have prevented it. Not that she was going to admit that to him.
It wasn’t even comfortable here. There was no furniture, the floor was made of sand, and the walls pure rock. There were no windows, and through the entrance had only an animal hide covering it. And while there were no guards, the only passageway out led straight into a room full of dragons. There was no escape.
Warrian wasn’t going to let her accusation slide. “I wasn’t the one who made a deal with a dragon. You had to have known that was a bad idea.”
She had. But she’d also wanted what Ultrima had offered badly enough to take the risk. She thought of the almost finished article sitting on her laptop back in her kitchen and wondered if anyone would find it if she was never seen again. The likelihood that they would didn’t bring her any relief. There was no point in being famous if you were dead.
“If your clan hadn’t stiffed me, then I wouldn’t have needed to,” she insisted instead.
Warrian raised an eyebrow. “My clan has always been honourable. If they were anything else, it must have been your fault.”
Rita glared at him. “Maybe they’ve changed in three hundred years. Did you ever think of that?”
Clearly he hadn’t. A shadow fell over Warrian’s face, and he lapsed into silence.
Rita was happy enough with that. She didn’t want to talk. Not right now. Everything was just too messy and too unpleasant for her to even think about. And it wasn’t being trapped in a dragon’s lair that came to mind when she thought that.
It was Warrian. He would never forgive her for this, that much was clear. And she didn’t blame him. No matter how she looked at it, she’d betrayed and lied to not only him, but his clan as well. And one thing she knew about Warrian, without a doubt, was that his clan was important to him. He might have been able to forgive her lying to him about revealing the existence of dragons, but he’d never forgive her betraying his clan to his enemy.
It was no use wishing things had been different. If she hadn’t made a deal with Ultrima, she never would have even met Warrian. She certainly wouldn’t have learned more about dragons than she’d ever thought possible. If she’d never made a deal with Ultrima, then she’d have nothing to regret. She’d just be sitting at home being angry that Rian clan had called Todd instead of her and wondering how she was ever going to make anything of her life.
There was no way of winning here. The best she could hope for at this point was...
What? What was she really hoping for here? That Warrian would declare his regret at lying about his sister, fix his relationship with Ultrima, and then declare his undying love for her? Rita snorted. Like that was going to happen.
Warrian lifted his head and stared at her. “What?”
Rita shoulders slumped. “Nothing.”
Warrian didn’t seem inclined to care. His head dropped again, and he stared at the sand, unblinkingly.
Rita shouldn’t feel sorry for him. He’d brought this upon himself just as much as she had. They were a pair, really. Both of them were filled with guilt and regret.
Impulsively she asked, “Do you wish you’d done things differently?”
Warrian looked up at her, his expression blank for a few moments. “Done what differently?”
She shouldn’t have started the conversation, but since Warrian was looking at her expectantly, she had to say something. “Do you wish you hadn’t lied about your sister and Ultrima?”
Anger flashed across Warrian’s face, then was gone. He heaved a sigh. “Do you wish you hadn’t conspired with Ultrima against my clan?”
Rita winced. It was a fair comeback, and one she had no answer for.
There was no good way out of this. For either of them.
Epilogue
Todd listened at the door, but he couldn’t hear any sounds from inside. After fleeing Rita’s home, he’d given himself a stern talking to and returned to watch, being careful to keep his distance so he didn’t run into that dragon of hers again.
He gave a shudder. He definitely didn’t want that.
But after twenty-four hours, he was beginning to suspect something was wrong. Rita’s car was in the driveway, but he’d seen no sign of movement at all. Just what was going on?
He shouldn’t be worried about her. She’d made it more than clear she wanted nothing more to do with him and rightly so. He was only here to make sure he didn’t miss a brilliant story. Not
that he was sure what sort of story she was after. One dragon seemed rather boring after filming a whole clan of them. But even so, he couldn’t help feeling that Rita knew something he didn’t.
She always seemed to.
Once upon a time she’d been happy to share with him. They’d shared a lot of things. Until he’d messed up. He shouldn’t have stolen that story from her all those months ago. He wasn’t even sure what had made him do it, but he knew what it had cost him.
Rita wasn’t going to forgive him any time soon, and he’d learned to be okay with that. But he wasn’t quite so okay with her moving on with a dragon.
Those dragons were dangerous. He’d seen them up close. He gave a shiver at the memory. He’d been thrilled to get the chance to film them, but he wasn’t sure he’d like to be around them without a camera rolling. Rita had always had more courage than he did. He gave a wry smile at that.
And now it seemed to have gotten her into trouble.
Todd glanced around, but the street was deserted. It was far too hot for anyone else to be out in the middle of the day.
He headed up the front steps and knocked, even though he knew there would be no answer. This was his third time today. “Rita? Are you there? I’m worried about you.”
Nothing but silence greeted him, so after one more glance around, Todd pulled out his keys. Rita had never asked for her key back after their breakup. He was pretty sure she’d never expected him to use it. At least she’d believed he had that much honour. He hadn’t ever intended to use the key, but he’d never quite been able to convince himself to throw it away either. That fact came in handy now. Hopefully she wouldn’t hold this one against him.
He opened the door cautiously, half expecting that dragon man to jump out at him from behind the door. But nothing moved. The room was silent except for the hum of the air conditioner.
What was it doing on if Rita wasn’t here? Todd shrugged. Same as her car being here. Another indication she’d practically disappeared.
He moved cautiously into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. “Rita? Come on. I’m not stalking you. I just want to know you’re okay.”