Night's Blaze

by Donna Grant

  Abby glared at Ulrik before she put a smile on her face and returned to Mikkel’s side. “But you’re King now.”

  “That I am,” his uncle said and touched Abby’s cheek. “Never forget that.”

  Ulrik returned to the book, noting how well the leather had been cared for and that there was only a hint of yellow on the pages. He would count the stars a thousand times if it kept him from listening to Mikkel and Abby.

  “Put the book down. We have things to do.” Mikkel walked past Ulrik and slapped him on the back.

  Ulrik jerked his gaze to his uncle, but Mikkel was already halfway to the door. Abby followed, her hips swaying alluringly. Ulrik carefully returned the book to the plastic bag and secured it in a drawer of his desk.

  He didn’t bother to lock it. No one could get into his store without his knowledge, and his uncle could not care less about such a rare and expensive item.

  Ulrik followed them outside and locked the door to the store. He turned around to see Mikkel and Abby crossing the street. Ulrik didn’t like being kept in the dark. He’d agreed to join forces with his uncle for a few reasons.

  He knew he could defeat Con on his own, but it was going to be pure brilliance for him to keep Con occupied while Mikkel swooped in and destroyed all that Con held dear. Then, Ulrik would kill Con.

  Also there was the fact that Mikkel could come in handy in helping Ulrik achieve a few other … things he wanted.

  All the while, he was going to have to keep a sharp eye on his uncle. If Mikkel hadn’t already figured it out, he would as soon as Ulrik’s full force of magic was returned. Mikkel could claim to be King of the Silvers all he wanted, but the right belonged to Ulrik.

  In order for Mikkel to take the role as King, he was going to have to kill Ulrik before his magic was returned. Mikkel could do it now—or rather he could try.

  Perhaps that’s what he was about to do.

  Ulrik trailed after the duo as Mikkel led them down one street after another. Ulrik was about to put a stop to it when he turned a corner and saw his uncle press Abby against the side of a building, kissing her passionately. Abby’s moans of pleasure reached Ulrik. He was turning away when Abby’s body jerked, her eyes flying open and astonishment filling her face as Mikkel ended the kiss.

  Mikkel stepped back, and Ulrik saw the blade of a dagger covered in blood within his uncle’s hand. Abby struggled to fill her lungs with air, her blue eyes silently begging Mikkel to save her. Without a word, Mikkel pivoted and continued down the street. Ulrik watched as Abby put her hands over the wound to try and staunch the flow of blood, but it gushed between her fingers, the stain of red growing on her white sweater.

  Her legs buckled and she slid awkwardly to the ground. She looked at her wound, the hoarse sounds of her breathing coming loud and sparingly. Her gaze weakly looked around until she found him.

  “Ulrik,” she whispered, the healthy glow of her skin fading rapidly. “Help me.”

  He slowly walked to her. By the time he reached her, she was already dead. Ulrik squatted beside her and rubbed his thumb along his fingers. His dragon power was the ability to bring someone back from the dead. Con might be able to heal anything, but Ulrik was the only one who could give life to the lifeless.

  Ulrik straightened and walked away. Just like everything he refused to think about, Abby and her betrayal were forgotten as soon as he put his back to her.

  * * *

  Rhys could’ve heard a pin drop; the room was so silent after he explained his plan. He looked around Con’s spacious office to the Kings there.

  Warrick, reclining in the chair with his arms crossed and his legs stretched out in front of him, said, “It’s just ludicrous enough to work.”

  “It’s fucking insane,” Kiril stated and shot Rhys a smile. “I like it.”

  It was Kellan who sat forward in his chair and sighed. “If things go bad, that means Ulrik, through Dennis, could have the weapon. Because of that, I doona think we should even consider this.”

  “It might help if we knew what this weapon was,” Laith said.

  Con tossed the pen he’d been holding onto the desk. “I willna divulge that information. There’s a reason the King of Kings holds the secret alone.”

  “Except you doona,” Rhys stated. “Kellan also knows.”

  “Because I’m the Keeper of History. Trust me, I wish I didna know,” Kellan said and looked away.

  Rhys frowned, a niggle of worry growing. “If only you and Con know, then there’s no way Dennis will be able to find it.”

  Ryder rubbed his hand across his jaw and said, “If Ulrik has enough magic that he can do such damage to Rhys, we have to consider the fact that he has a way for Dennis to disappear once he’s on Dreagan. That means either Ulrik or the Dark. We have methods in place to alert us if anyone crosses our borders. Thanks to Iona and her guarding the Campbell land and the hidden doorway onto Dreagan, we have that covered as well.”

  “No one has come onto Iona’s land,” Laith said. “No’ since the last battle with the Dark.”

  Ryder nodded to Laith. “For the few who do cross our borders, we’re able to find them quickly. But what happens if we can no’?”

  “I refuse to believe someone can be on our land and we willna be able to find them,” Con said with a brooding look.

  Rhys itched to check in on Lily. It was all he could do to remain in his chair. “If Ulrik is able to stop me from shifting, I’d say anything is possible. No matter how much we want it no’ to be.”

  “You could be right, Rhys,” Kellan said. “Dreagan is made up of sixty thousand acres. It would take a mortal years to search every cave of every mountain, especially if he doesna know what he’s looking for.”

  Kiril grimaced. “Have we considered that Dennis does know?”

  “Impossible.” Con shook his head and rose to walk to the sideboard and pour whisky in seven glasses. He began to hand them out. Once everyone had theirs, he turned to face the room. “The Dark tried in vain to get the information from Kellan, Tristan, and Kiril. Tristan and Kiril couldna tell what they didna know, but Kellan didna give up anything, even though they were torturing Denae in front of him. If Kellan didna tell them anything, and I’ve no’, then nobody knows.”

  “For shits and giggles, let’s assume Ulrik knows,” Warrick said. “Now what?”

  Kellan turned his glass in his hand. “Then we’re screwed.”

  Rhys wasn’t going to give up that easily. “Con, you’ve hidden this weapon on our land for eons. Each King of Kings before you hid it. It’s never been used against us. Perhaps it’s no’ as deadly as everyone thinks.”

  “It is.” Con drained his whisky in one swallow. “You doona want that weapon found, Rhys.”

  Laith threw up his hands in defeat. “Then our only course is to kill Dennis as soon as he comes onto Dreagan.”

  “What of our promise to protect the humans?” Warrick asked.

  Kiril gave a loud snort. “He’s coming onto our land with the intent to harm us. We need to protect ourselves.”

  Rhys wholeheartedly agreed, but he was also concerned with Lily. Rhys had given Lily his word that her family would be protected. For every minute that wasn’t happening, there was the opportunity for Ulrik to harm them.

  Rhys set aside his whisky on the table next to him and looked at Con. “You and Kellan are the only two who know where this weapon is hidden, and I understand and accept why you willna divulge the location or a description of the weapon to us. However, that leaves the two of you as the only ones capable of ensuring the weapon isna taken. I’m no’ suggesting you go to the weapon,” Rhys hurried to say when Con tried to talk. “I’m saying that you and Kellan focus your magic and attention on the weapon. If Dennis slips by us, as long as the two of you are keeping watch, he’ll never succeed in getting his hands on it. Even if the fool does happen to find it.”

  Kellan and Con looked at each other. It was Kellan who shrugged and said, “That could work.”

/>   “I doona like leaving Dreagan two Kings short, despite it being a mortal we hunt,” Con said.

  Ryder cleared his throat, his face filled with guilt. “Well, actually we’ll be down only one King. Darius has woken.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Darius remained in the shadows, his senses bombarded with the lights and sounds of the humans. But his gaze wasn’t on the village. It was on the mortal with red hair who watched Lily Ross. Dennis arrived minutes after Rhys drove off. The human’s hate for Lily was apparent in the way he glared at the building.

  Rhys’s mate. Darius couldn’t wrap his head around it. Of all of them, it was Rhys whom Darius had suspected would never succumb to a human female. A Light Fae, yes, but never a mortal. Apparently Darius had been asleep for too long for things to change so drastically. Over the past year he’d remained awake, but preferred to stay in his cave.

  When he did leave his cave, he found the world turned upside down and some humans and the Dark Fae joining forces with Ulrik to take the Kings down. Darius wasn’t surprised about Ulrik. He’d known the King of Silvers would one day come for them. But the Dark and humans?

  Darius shook his head in confusion. No matter what, that wouldn’t end well for the mortals.

  But right now he was more focused on the man looking to hurt Lily. Darius might not have a mate of his own, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything to protect Lily while Rhys couldn’t.

  His target moved and was joined by a second human. He was younger, innocent by the way he shifted nervously while Dennis spoke.

  Darius didn’t care how many people he watched. One or a thousand, it didn’t change his mission to protect Lily. At least none dared to enter her flat, but he was prepared in such an event. There were few things as important to a Dragon King as his mate.

  Darius wasn’t going to be the one to fail Rhys.

  * * *

  Lily’s eyes opened as she lay in her bed. She turned her head and looked at the clock, shutting it off before the alarm sounded a minute later. She sat up and stretched, amazed to discover that she’d slept despite the debacle she was in. Rhys could be the reason she was able to rest. In fact, she knew it was. All night she’d dreamed of dragons. Small ones. Big ones. Giant ones.

  Rhys promised to show her a dragon, and she was going to hold him to it. His conviction in his belief of the dragons was in every word, every syllable as he told her his story. Only a cruel, malicious person would’ve refused to even consider his words as truth.

  It was a tale she would never repeat. Not just because people would put her in Bedlam quicker than she could blink, but because she wouldn’t put Rhys or anyone at Dreagan in danger. Sometime in the night as she thought over Rhys’s story and dreamed of dragons, she grasped that Dennis wasn’t there to steal a piece of art. He was there to do something much, much worse.

  Lily put her hand on her chest over her heart. She grew sick to her stomach as she thought of what might have happened had Rhys and the others not discovered she was the one being forced to help Dennis.

  But Rhys had. There was a slim chance she could have him and her family. That wasn’t going to stop her from killing Dennis, however. He was slime, a vile fiend who tainted everything around him with nastiness.

  Lily grabbed her mobile phone from the bedside table, hoping there was a text from Rhys stating that her family was safe. Her heart kicked up a notch when she saw she did have a text from him. It didn’t say anything about her family, but it did make her smile.

  “‘I’m with you. Always,’” she read the text aloud.

  She hugged the phone to her and closed her eyes. It wouldn’t be too much longer now before Dennis was out of her life forever. She could remain at Dreagan and continue to work, and hopefully date Rhys.

  After all the horror she’d endured—the fear, the agony, the scars—she might actually have some true happiness again. She couldn’t wait to see her family again, to hug her parents, play video games with her brother, and spend all night talking with her sisters.

  With a smile on her face, Lily got out of bed and walked into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later she dried off from her shower and wrapped the towel around her as she turned on the blow dryer.

  It had been so long since she’d styled her hair with the blow dryer that it took her a few tries to remember. With her hair so thick and long, it took a while to dry. As she was doing her hair, she was thinking over all her new clothes, trying to decide what to wear and what Rhys might enjoy.

  Once her hair was done, Lily returned to her room and opened a drawer that held all her pretty new bras and underwear she had taken the time to put away the night before. She chose a light gray cotton set with a band of aqua lace around the waist of her underwear, and a matching band of aqua around the bottom of the bra that reminded her of Rhys’s eyes.

  She was about to put on her clothes when she remembered she’d also bought makeup. Lily hurried back into the bathroom and applied just enough to accentuate her eyes and cheeks. She looked in the mirror, pleased with the outcome and the fact her bruise was quickly fading.

  Then she was standing before her small closet with her new clothes bursting out of the small space. Lily decided on a pair of black skinny jeans and an emerald green long-sleeved tee beneath a black sheer button-down. After putting on the same black boots as the day before, Lily checked her reflection.

  As she walked from her room into the kitchen, she touched the diamonds still in her ears, thinking of her parents. Lily hadn’t gotten two steps when she came to an abrupt halt. Her heart pounded with dread and her blood turned to ice as she looked at Dennis sitting in her living room. How she detested the smug look on his face.

  She desperately wanted to tell him what she really thought, but she remembered at the last second that she needed to continue to play her part as the frightened and weak person he believed her to be.

  “You look nice,” Dennis said as he stood. “It seems that trip to Edinburgh did you good. I told Kyle you needed some time away to prepare to see your family again.”

  Lily frowned, wondering what Dennis was up to this time. She didn’t have long to wait as the front door opened and Kyle walked inside. Lily took a step back; she was so shocked. Then she ran to him, throwing her arms around her brother and holding him tight.

  “It’s so good to see you,” she whispered.

  Kyle enveloped her in his strong arms and held her tightly. “It’s good to see you, sis.”

  She blinked away her tears and leaned back. “Let me look at you. Goodness, you’ve filled out even more. I think you’re taller than Dad for sure now.”

  “I am,” Kyle said with a lopsided grin. His dark eyes were crinkled at the corners. “You look amazing.”

  Dennis came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her away from Kyle. “Doesn’t she? Your sister has always been quite the looker.”

  “I can’t wait to catch up. It’s been too long,” Kyle said, glancing at Dennis. “How about breakfast?”

  Lily fisted her hand as pain shot through her from Dennis pinching her waist. “I wish I’d have known you were coming. Unfortunately, I’ve got to leave for work. How about dinner?”

  Kyle’s smile was wide as he nodded. “Looking forward to it.”

  “I’m going to drive Lily to work. I won’t be long,” Dennis said as he shoved Lily toward the door.

  Lily looked back at her brother with regret. She had no choice but to go with Dennis. It wasn’t just Dennis that wanted her to go, it was Rhys as well. She climbed into the passenger seat of Dennis’s BMW and stared straight ahead. He started the car and drove away from her flat and Kyle.

  “That bruise is fading. Did you tell people how clumsy you were to fall and get such a mark?”

  Lily looked for the strength she’d found in Edinburgh, the courage of the girl she’d once been, and held it within herself. She looked down at her arm and her tattoo covered by both her tee and the sheer shirt. “Of course
,” she replied meekly.

  “You shouldn’t have made me angry. You know how I hate to be angry.”

  She wanted to roll her eyes. How had she ever thought she loved Dennis? Dennis, however, had a golden tongue. How else would he have convinced her that she loved him enough to ignore the warnings of her family?

  “How are you going to get me onto Dreagan?” Dennis asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

  Lily took a deep breath. How she wished she and Rhys had gone over everything down to the last detail. Rhys trusted her enough to let her sort out her parts. She had to trust him to stop Dennis.

  “There’s a hedgerow behind the store that blocks any visitors from seeing the manor. I found an obscure entrance that will take you to the manor.”

  Dennis patted her leg. “I knew you’d come through for me. I’ve got my men watching your flat. If anything happens to me, Kyle will be taken immediately.”

  “What could I possibly do to you?” she asked, turning her head to him.

  “Nothing, Lily. Absolutely nothing.”

  She looked out the windshield again and remained in that position as Dennis droned on about how easily she bent to his command, as if she were meant for it. All the while, Lily contemplated how she could find something to kill him. Preferably a gun, but she hadn’t bought one yet. There had to be some sort of weapon around the store, and she would find it.

  “We’re here,” Dennis said excitedly.

  It was what Lily had been dreading. She yearned to see Rhys again, but now that they were at Dreagan, she wasn’t ready. For any of it. So much could go wrong. And if Kyle was in Dennis’s clutches, what if the rest of her family was as well?

  * * *

  Con watched Rhys vigilantly as they stood in the computer room. Rhys’s restraint of the ire within him was new. His eyes blazed with fury, but the cool control with which he held himself in check was unusual. Con wasn’t sure what that meant for any of them.

  “What?” Rhys asked Warrick, who walked into the room, his voice low and deadly.