Night's Blaze

by Donna Grant

  It didn’t matter when he had fallen in love with Lily. It was as if she had always been in his life. She felt … right.

  Rhys lowered his head, his mouth on hers before he knew what was happening. Her lips moved beneath his, open and eager. He groaned and wound his arms around her. The kiss was ecstasy, bliss—pure rapture.

  Desire blazed through him as hot as dragon fire. There was an ache inside him that only Lily could ease, a yearning that only she could relieve.

  The sound of someone coming broke them apart. Rhys didn’t pay the group of runners any mind. His gaze was locked with Lily’s. Her lips were swollen, just as they had been the night of their first kiss. Then, like a fool, he had walked away from her.

  There was no way he could do the same now. He might not deserve Lily, but he longed for her desperately. Without even knowing how or when, she was the center of his universe, the one person who could lift him up or destroy him with a simple touch.

  One of the runners bumped into Lily hard enough that she grunted. Rhys jerked his head up, trying to pick out which one had hurt her.

  “It’s all right,” Lily hurried to say. “It was an accident. I’m fine.”

  Rhys looked back at her, his gaze dropping to her lips. He wanted to kiss her more, to slowly—nay, quickly—yank off her clothes. Then he would slowly make love to her for hours, days even. No one had ever made him feel as she did, and it was … unsettling to say the least.

  She shivered in his arms. Rhys mentally kicked himself as he rubbed his hands up and down her back. It was time to get her home. Whether he left her there or not was completely up to Lily. He was unsure of her past, but he would go gently with her no matter what.

  “Let’s get you home so you can warm up,” he said and kept an arm around her as they walked the path back to town.

  Rhys was lost in his thoughts, reliving the kiss again. He didn’t realize until they reached the village that the tension had returned to Lily. She stood stiffly, the smile gone as lines pinched around her lips.

  “I didna do a verra good job,” Rhys said.

  Lily was quiet for long moments. Then she said, “You took me away from my troubles, just as I asked you to do. That means a lot to me. I can’t thank you enough.”

  He stopped them before her flat and turned her to face him. “Is there anything else I can do?”

  “If there is, I’ll let you know.”

  Rhys gently touched her face. The lines of strain on her face maddened him. He wanted to know who was causing such stress in her life and why. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

  “Good night, Rhys,” she said.

  He took several steps back while she unlocked her door. Their gazes met once more before she walked into her flat. Rhys waited for several minutes, hoping she would come back out and ask him inside.

  Eventually he returned to Dreagan.

  * * *

  Henry might have been left in the plush sitting room, but a prison was still a prison. As the hours drifted by, his body continued to ache worse and worse. Every breath, however small, only added to the pain of his broken ribs.

  He tried to get up and walk and was covered in sweat in seconds from that exertion. All he managed was one loop around the room, but it was enough for him to see there was a single way in and one way out.

  In other words, he was royally fucked.

  Henry spent the rest of the night weighing his options. By now Banan would know something was wrong, but his friend wouldn’t have a clue where to start looking. There was no way Henry would agree to side with Ulrik. The man was a psychopath. But neither was Henry ready to die. That left him little wiggle room.

  Henry turned his head to the fireplace and the fire that hadn’t died down once nor had the logs burned, and they were real logs. Magic. All his years as a spy when he thought he had seen the worst of what was out in the world, and he hadn’t even scraped the surface of the hidden world of magic, Dragon Kings, Fae, and God only knew what else.

  He sighed and grimaced at the pain that simple movement caused. If only there was someone he could ask for help. Immediately, an image of Rhi popped into his head. Henry smiled as he thought of the Light Fae. He hadn’t seen her since he first discovered there were Fae in the world, but he had tried to join the group going after her.

  As a human with no magic or powers, he would’ve been a liability. Even with all his training, he’d never felt so … weak and inadequate. Banan and the other Kings were right to leave him behind, but it still grated.

  At least Rhi had gotten free. He hoped wherever she was, she was happy.

  What he wouldn’t do to see her unusual silver eyes that seemed to glow on their own, her black-as-pitch hair that hung luxuriously down her back, and her sexy-as-hell smile.

  It was no wonder mortals couldn’t refuse a Fae. Someone that beautiful couldn’t be denied anything. He certainly wouldn’t deny Rhi a single thing.

  “I hope that smile’s for me, sexy,” said a sultry voice he immediately recognized.

  Henry’s gaze jerked to a darkened corner where Rhi stepped from the shadows.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Lily didn’t realize she had sat up all night until her alarm clock went off. She turned and looked at it, confused as to how she had lost so many hours. The walk with Rhys had done her a world of good, but when Dennis ran into her on the trail with the runners, he ruined everything by reminding her of his visit and what he demanded.

  She rose and turned off the alarm before she removed her shoes, skirt, and shirt. Her head was stuck on what had occurred the night before, and she couldn’t get herself moving. A shower that normally took her ten minutes, took her twenty. Once she was finished, she stood in front of her closet in a towel with her hair dripping, but she wasn’t seeing her clothes. She saw Kyle.

  Lily mentally shook herself and quickly grabbed a black long-sleeved shirt and a black skirt. She dressed and dried her hair. As she walked from her room, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She looked like she was going to a funeral.

  Then again, it fit her mood perfectly.

  Lily found it difficult to concentrate as she drove to Dreagan. It took her the entire drive before she convinced herself she was saving a life at Dreagan, as well as her brother.

  Besides, what was the worst thing Dennis could do? It wasn’t like they wouldn’t catch him. And if he did get away with stealing whatever he was after, those at Dreagan had enough money to cover it. If it were as valuable as she expected, there would also be insurance for it.

  Two lives were worth much more than some piece of art or jewelry.

  Lily turned down the long drive to Dreagan. It was the first morning since she started work that she didn’t feel the excitement at being on Dreagan. Now she wished she’d never set foot on the land. She parked and turned off the car, but she didn’t get out. Instead, she sat in the car and stared out her window. Dennis had given her a day to find an entry point.

  The idea that they—whoever the collective “they” were he worked for—pushed her to Dreagan seemed … improbable. There was no way anyone could’ve known where she would end up, especially not Dennis.

  “Wanker,” she said aloud.

  To think that at one time she had loved him. She had given up her family for him, given up herself for him. And for what? What did she have but scars, broken bones, and a fear of him that she wished she could cut out?

  Lily might be naïve at times, but she wasn’t a fool. If she did this for Dennis, he would return wanting something else. It was one of many reasons she had to kill him.

  Then she needed to tell her family everything. Lies, even untold lies, were what had put her family in this position. Only truth could set everyone free.

  She would need a weapon. Though she longed to plunge a knife into Dennis’s heart, he wouldn’t let her close enough. It was going to have to be a gun.

  As long as she and Dennis had been together, there were things about her he didn’t know. For insta
nce, he had no idea that her father had taken every one of his children hunting. Lily could shoot a handgun with deadly accuracy from fifty feet, and a rifle from 350 yards.

  Dennis didn’t stand a chance.

  Lily grabbed her purse and opened her car door. She would buy a gun after she got off work. Or perhaps during lunch.

  She stepped out of the car and faced the store. It was no longer her refuge. Dennis had intruded upon her world once again. After today, she would leave, as hard as it would be to do.

  She walked slowly to the store. As usual, the door was already unlocked. Lily stepped inside and heard Jane’s voice coming from the back. A moment later, Lily heard Elena’s as well. Lily put her purse behind the counter and grabbed the bag of money set aside for her. She opened the cash register and began to set up for the day.

  “Morning,” Elena called.

  Lily glanced up into Elena’s sage green eyes. “Morning.”

  Elena walked toward the back with two bottles of thirty-year-old Scotch in her hands, her dark blond hair in a low ponytail. “I think it’s going to rain today.”

  Lily paused in counting the money and looked down at her right wrist. She was so distracted she didn’t even realize it was hurting until Elena said something about the rain. “Yes, it is.”

  “It is Scotland,” Elena said with a laugh as she placed the bottles on the shelf. “It rains almost every day.”

  Lily forced a smile when Elena turned to her. “True enough. I used to think England got the most rain. Then I came to the Highlands.”

  “Are you all right?” Elena asked with a frown as she approached.

  “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  Elena’s frown deepened. “And the bruise on your cheek?”

  “Bruise?” Lily touched the cheek Dennis had hit and winced when her fingers grazed the spot. She forced a chuckle. “I knew after such a spectacular fall that I wouldn’t get away without some kind of wound.”

  “What fall?”

  Elena was suspicious, and she had every right to be. Lily, however, was used to telling lies about her bruises. She was, she hated to admit, quite adept at it. “Yesterday when I went to my flat I stepped up on the curb, and my foot got caught in my skirt. I went down. Epically, I might add.” She finished it off with an embarrassed smile. “Wouldn’t you know there was a group of teenage girls who saw it all?”

  Elena cringed. “They didn’t laugh, did they?”

  “I was laughing,” Lily said with a grin.

  “I’m just glad you weren’t seriously hurt.” Elena patted her hand and walked around the counter to the second register.

  Lily bent and got her purse. “I didn’t realize there was a bruise. I’m going to go see about hiding some of it before I frighten away customers.”

  Elena smiled and nodded as she counted the money.

  Lily hurried to the back and into the bathroom. She turned her head to the side to see the large bruise that was a dark blue and green, with a hint of yellow on the edges. No amount of makeup in the world was going to cover that.

  If only she had taken a moment that morning and really looked at herself, she would’ve seen it and hidden most of the damage. Instead, she hadn’t given a second thought to makeup. She normally wore very little of it anyway.

  Lily got out her concealer and put some on her finger. She held her hand over the bruise, angry that she was once more lying as well as covering bruises. She had left that world behind. It wasn’t fair that it found her again.

  For the rest of the day she was going to have to act like she had a one-of-a-kind accident. All she could pray for was that Dennis didn’t hit her again, because she couldn’t play the klutz card, not with Jane about—who was quite literally a klutz. Not to mention, in the time she had been at Dreagan, she hadn’t run into anything, tripped, or done the things Jane did on a daily basis.

  Lily began to lightly dab the concealer over the darkest parts of the bruise across her cheekbone. When she finished, she looked at her reflection, and hated what she saw.

  The woman staring back at her was the frightened, timid woman she had been before she left Dennis. That woman she left behind, or so she had thought. But how easily Dennis brought her back.

  She didn’t want to be that woman anymore. She hated that woman, hated the life that went along with it. If she wanted to eradicate that woman from her life, then she needed to make a stand.

  Now. Today.

  Right this minute.

  “I’m not that woman,” she whispered to her reflection. “I left her behind.”

  Then act like it.

  Lily took a deep breath. Yes, she had to act like it. Dennis could still hurt her, but so what? There was a possibility he could kill her, but she doubted he would do that. Not when he needed her.

  But she no longer cared about him or their relationship. She didn’t fear his fists or his temper, because she knew what to expect. Fear bred fear. She had to fight the fear with strength and faith.

  “He has no control over me,” she said in a stronger voice.

  Those six words gave her power to take a stand.

  Lily glanced at her watch and tossed the concealer in her purse. She had taken too long, and was now behind on her duties. Lily opened the door and hurried out to the main room, only to discover Jane and Elena had covered for her.

  “Thank you,” she told them.

  “It’s not a big deal,” Jane said with a wink. “Elena told me about your fall. I know something about embarrassing falls.”

  Lily genuinely smiled at Jane, because Jane was sweet, trusting, and able to trip on a flat surface—barefoot.

  “It’s a perfect chance for you to buy shorter skirts while you’re shopping with Denae later,” Elena said.

  Lily had completely forgotten about her shopping trip with Denae. She looked from Elena to Jane and closed her eyes with a loud sigh. “It’s my day off, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Jane said. “That fall must have rattled you.”

  “It did.” Much more than they would ever know.

  Elena looked at the clock and shrugged. “You’re meeting Denae in a bit anyway. You can hang out here if you want. No work required.”

  Lily’s eyes grew moist with unshed tears. She didn’t want to lie to her friends, but also didn’t want to be responsible for one of their deaths. “I think I might walk around for a bit, if that’s all right.”

  “Um…” Elena hedged as she glanced at Jane. “That should be fine.”

  Lily adjusted the strap of her purse on her shoulder and walked from the store. She didn’t look over her shoulder, even as she suspected that they might be watching. It was obvious they weren’t keen on her strolling around the land.

  There were only a few buildings the public ever saw of Dreagan. The rest was kept behind huge hedgerows. Lily started along the same route as those who took a tour of Dreagan. She walked slowly, stopping at the small bridge and looking at the stream flowing beneath. She ambled from one spot to another, but no one ever stopped her.

  Lily walked behind the stilehouse, but didn’t go to the hedgerow. She wound her way to the back of the store. There she stopped and leaned back against the white brick.

  She had never been the kid who pushed boundaries to see how far she could go. Lily kept well within the rules. If someone said she couldn’t go somewhere, she didn’t attempt it. Which was why she was having such a difficult time even walking to the hedgerow.

  On her first day, Cassie had told her that no one but those who lived at Dreagan were allowed past the hedges. But for her friends, for Kyle, she was going to break a rule.

  Lily pushed away from the brick and squared her shoulders. She took two steps and stopped. It took another few minutes before she managed three steps. Each one brought her closer and closer to the hedgerow, but it was killing her spirit to do it.

  With only ten more steps to go, Lily forced herself to take another three, and another three. She had to stop then, as her heart
was pounding. At any moment she expected someone to grab her and tell her to get off Dreagan.

  She took a deep breath, and walked the last four steps to the hedgerow. The leaves brushed her hands, the limbs interlocking so tightly she could barely see through them. Now she would have to find an entry point.

  “Hey!”

  Lily whirled around, falling into the hedgerow.

  Denae rushed to her and helped her gain her balance. Denae was laughing as she said, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “It’s all right,” Lily said and shook out her skirt of imaginary debris. She felt more stupid than she had in a very long time.

  “What were you looking at?” Denae asked.

  Lily shrugged and glanced at the leaves. “Just looking at the shrub.”

  “You were quite absorbed. I’ve been calling your name. Oh, my God,” she said with a gasp. “Lily, your face. What happened?”

  “I fell,” she said automatically. She repeated her story from earlier, happy that Denae, like Elena and Jane, believed her.

  “Are you up for shopping?”

  Lily wanted to be anywhere but Dreagan. “Yes, please.”

  “Good. I’m glad you’re here early. Let’s go,” Denae said and started walking.

  Lily kept up with her long strides. Right up until the moment she went toward the parking lot, and Denae went left.

  “This way,” Denae said with a smile.

  Lily hurried after her, surprised when Denae disappeared around a hedgerow. Lily discovered that there were two hedgerows overlapping at that point so there was a path around them. It was designed so that only those who knew of the path would know how to get through the hedgerow.

  As Lily emerged from the shrubbery, she gasped when she got her first full look at the manor. It was large, at least four stories, and spread wide with many windows, while the back portion of the manor disappeared into the mountain that rose up behind it. The dark gray stone didn’t make the manor seem imposing at all, but rather ancient and important.

  Then it occurred to her that she was seeing a part of Dreagan she shouldn’t, a part that could help Dennis on his quest.