Soul Scorched

by Donna Grant

  Warrick’s cobalt gaze pinned her with a hard look. “It does when a human becomes immortal, irrevocably tied to her King until he dies.”

  Darcy knew her mouth opened in shock. This was something she hadn’t gleaned from Ulrik’s memories, and it surprised the hell out of her.

  “Exactly,” Warrick said at her lack of a response. “The mortals gained much by a King’s love.”

  She closed her mouth¸ her mind racing as she tried to put herself in a King’s shoes. No wonder they killed Ulrik’s woman. “Will you tell me what happened with Ulrik?”

  Warrick got to his feet and ambled around the shop, inspecting the crystals hanging from the ceiling. “Ulrik could’ve been King of Kings. Everyone knew it, including Con.”

  “He didn’t want to fight Con.”

  “Nay, he didna.” Warrick turned his head to her. “Ulrik was liked by all. He had that kind of personality. I think that’s why we all reacted the way we did when we discovered the betrayal.”

  “How did you find out about his lover’s betrayal?”

  “Con. He didna exactly trust mortals, and he worried that there might be war one day. He kept a close eye on any human who got close to a King. I’m glad he did, because he was able to stop her.”

  Darcy switched legs beneath her as she tracked Warrick with her eyes. “What was the woman’s name?”

  “Ulrik didna tell you?”

  He hadn’t. In fact, even her name was removed from his memories. Her face was still there, but that was all. “No.”

  A small frown wrinkled Warrick’s brow. Most of his face was hidden in the shadows, and Darcy wished now that she had turned up the lights.

  “He’s erased her,” Warrick said, more to himself than to Darcy. “She was beautiful, and Ulrik was completely in love with her.”

  Darcy tried to imagine the Ulrik she knew in love, and she just couldn’t do it. He was hardened now, a wall erected around himself so that no one could get close—friends or lovers.

  Ulrik had been hit not just with his woman’s betrayal, but by his friends’ as well. She felt the rage that was still within him. That kind of hate turned a person dark in ways she couldn’t begin to fathom.

  “Did Ulrik tell you how close he and Con were?”

  Darcy jumped, not realizing Warrick stood behind her. She knew from Ulrik’s memories how close he and Con had been. “In a way.”

  “I think Con expected Ulrik to challenge him for the role of King of Kings. It’s no’ something either of them have ever spoken about. But that’s my guess. Whether a King agrees with Con or no’, none of us can argue that he has our best interests at heart. He keeps watch over us at all times.”

  “Is that why he sent Ulrik away?” She craned her neck back to get a glimpse of Warrick.

  He had a faraway look on his face. Then he blinked and looked down at her. “He wanted to save Ulrik from having to kill her.”

  Darcy turned so she could see Warrick better. “Did it never occur to Con that Ulrik needed to be there? That he needed to talk to her, to know why she did what she did?”

  “You’d have to ask Con that.” Warrick walked around her chair and made his way to the glass door. He looked out, his back expanding as he took a breath. “We all thought we were doing him a favor by killing her.”

  “Then he returned.”

  “Then he returned.” Warrick paused, the seconds turning into minutes.

  Darcy didn’t want to push him since he seemed lost in his thoughts. She had the insane urge to walk up behind him and wrap her arms around him. Not that Warrick would ever want or need her touch.

  It must be the melancholy mood that took her, talking about such awful happenings.

  “Ulrik was always slow to anger. Until that moment. I’ve never seen such fury before.” Warrick’s words were spoken softly, the timbre of his voice pitched low. “He was outraged at her death and stunned at her attempted betrayal. But he was devastated by what we had done.”

  “You don’t realize just how much that moment changed him.”

  Warrick turned to face her. “He told you?”

  She shook her head. “I saw it in his memories. I felt all of his emotions. That moment tore him in two.”

  “You saw his memories?” he asked in shock.

  Darcy realized her mistake too late. She saw the tightening of Warrick’s jaw, the flattening of his lips. “I didn’t mean to. I’ve never had that happen before.”

  “Does Ulrik know?”

  “No, and I don’t want him to.”

  Warrick walked to the chair he had vacated and leaned his hands on the back. “Did he tell you anything of his past?”

  “Some. He condensed what happened to what made him attack humans. Ulrik didn’t share anything without a reason. He wanted me to know why he had his magic bound.”

  “So you know that he began to attack the humans after that night?”

  Darcy nodded woodenly. “He told me he thought them responsible.”

  “But you saw more in his memories,” Warrick guessed.

  Was she that easy to read? Darcy rose and put some distance between her and Warrick. Only then did she face him. “Yes, I saw more. I wished I hadn’t. I wished all I knew was the story he shared, but I don’t. I know that he recognized his friends were trying to help him, even though he hated each of you for it. It’s why he didn’t attack any of you.”

  “He and his Silvers slaughtered thousands.”

  “Yes.”

  “We tried to stop him,” Warrick said as his head dropped to his chest. “There were some Kings who sided with him for a while, but Con talked them back to his side. That didna deter Ulrik.”

  Darcy shuddered, recalling the few seconds of a battle she’d seen through Ulrik’s dragon eyes. “I know.”

  “By that time the humans rose up and began killing dragons. The war Con wanted to avoid was upon us. I still feel the pain of watching dragons being killed. They had to be saved.” He lifted his head and caught her in his gaze. “We had but one choice—to send our dragons away.”

  Darcy rubbed her hands on her arms. “Did that stop Ulrik?”

  “You didna see this in his memories?”

  “No. What I did see was terrifying. I’ve no wish to ever see more.”

  Warrick straightened. “It didna stop Ulrik. We managed to send some of his Silvers with the others, but four of the largest remained with him. It took all the Kings to trap them.”

  “And send them with the others?” she asked. When he merely looked at her, she gasped. “They’re here? On Earth?”

  “The dragon bridge was already closed. We couldna send them. They’re sleeping, Darcy. You doona need to fear them.”

  She put a hand over her stomach, feeling ill. “What happens if they wake?”

  “They’ll begin killing again.”

  She looked at Warrick askance. “Right. There’s nothing for me to worry about.”

  “There isna. We willna allow them to wake.”

  Darcy couldn’t think any more about the Silvers. “What happened to Ulrik?”

  “We surrounded him. It took every one of us using our magic to bind his. In order to stop the killing, we stripped him of his ability to shift and talk to his dragons. We condemned him to walk this realm for eternity in human form. And we banished him from Dreagan.”

  “You don’t think all of that was a bit extreme?”

  “At the time, nay.” He blew out a breath. “Now? Aye.”

  “Now you have him as a powerful enemy. No wonder you’re pissed I was able to return some of his magic.”

  Warrick cocked his head. “Do you realize what will happen if he gets all of his magic returned? He’ll challenge Con for the right to rule as King of Kings. If Ulrik wins, he’ll wake his dragons and wipe the realm of humans.”

  Darcy tried to swallow, but all the moisture left her mouth. “No.”

  “Oh, aye. Did he no’ tell you why he wanted his magic returned?”

  She began
to shake. This couldn’t be right. She turned and hurried through the two sets of curtains to the back with her plants. There she took several deep breaths, her fingers running through the leaves as she slowed, letting the plants calm her.

  “How did he convince you?” Warrick asked from behind her.

  Of course Warrick would follow her. He wanted his answers, and she had made a deal with him to share information. Darcy waited until she was at the end of the table before she faced Warrick. He hadn’t come any farther into the conservatory than the entrance, just as he had earlier.

  “Ulrik came to me nearly three years ago,” she began. “He told me he had magic, and that it was bound. It’s not uncommon for Druids to bind the magic of others for various reasons.”

  “Is that what you thought he was? A Druid?”

  She couldn’t hold Warrick’s cobalt gaze. It was as if he could see right through her. “I’ve been in Edinburgh for seven years. His visit was the first I ever received where someone came in and knew I was a Druid. I realized he had to come from a world of magic, but he didn’t act like any Druid I knew.”

  Warrick leaned a shoulder against the door. “And?”

  “He told me he was a Dragon King.” She had laughed at first, thinking it was a joke. That hadn’t lasted long.

  “That’s all it took to convince you?”

  “Of course not,” she snipped. She took a deep breath to calm down. “I read palms. I see people’s futures, and sometimes their pasts. It’s my gift. Whether through tarot cards or palms, the truth is there.”

  Warrick had a shocked look on his face when he asked, “He let you read his palm?”

  “Yes. That’s when I saw truth—that he was a Dragon King.”

  CHAPTER

  ELEVEN

  Rhi was edgy. She had been since Balladyn left her in the desert. Not even the new OPI Nordic shades could help, although the deep purple—Viking in a Vinter Vonderland—certainly didn’t hurt. The added glimmer of My Voice Is a Little Norse on her tips usually made her smile.

  Not today. Not since her talk with Balladyn.

  Rhi held out her hand and curled her fingers inward to her palm and snapped a picture on her phone. She quickly uploaded it to Facebook before noting she had a thousand new likes on her page.

  Even that didn’t cheer her.

  There was only one thing that could possibly make her forget about her troubles for a bit—irritating Con. It never took much. Usually, all she had to do was make an appearance. That was enough to make the vein in his temple pulse. Few knew that was a clue that he was furious. He hid his emotions so well, but Rhi had known him long enough that she knew many of his secrets.

  She veiled herself and teleported to Dreagan, right into Con’s office. When she wasn’t immediately thrown out, she knew he had yet to carve the symbols found on the cottage doorway as he’d threatened.

  The angrier he got when she popped into his office unannounced made her do it even more. She lived to irk him. It became an addiction, something she practiced and perfected just for the wanker.

  Because she could.

  Except, he wasn’t in his office. Rhi remained veiled as she walked around his desk and peered down at the reports neatly stacked and the pen beside them.

  The only thing that would tear Con away from finishing his work was an emergency, and since Rhi could hear Ryder’s laughter from the floor above, there was nothing going on.

  Curious, Rhi walked out of Con’s office. The last time she freely walked Dreagan Manor, she had been with her lover. Sure she appeared all over Dreagan, and even in the manor at times, but she hadn’t walked it in … ages.

  She wandered the second floor, stopping at closed doors and putting her ear to them. Some were empty, but she found Cassie and Hal in one as well as Sammi and Tristan in another, though she didn’t bother either couple. The rooms that were left open, she couldn’t resist going into. She examined each before going up to the third floor.

  Repeating the same process, Rhi made her way around the third floor until she came to the computer room. The door was slightly ajar, enough that she could easily squeeze into the room.

  All the monitors were on, and each had something different on the screens. She watched Ryder open a new box of donuts, reaching for his favorite—jelly-filled. But her gaze was caught by the screen that had Ryder’s attention.

  It held the picture of a pretty auburn-haired woman with green eyes. Darcy Allen was the name at the top of the screen.

  “You left him in there with Darcy?” Ryder asked.

  Rhi jerked until she realized Ryder was talking to someone through his headset. She leaned close to hear the response.

  “Aye. You should’ve seen his face. I’ll catch hell later.”

  Rhi knew that voice, but she couldn’t place who it belonged to. Which meant another of the Kings must have woken.

  “You know, you could’ve used our link,” Ryder said.

  The King chuckled. “Aye, but I like this little device. A mobile phone. Ingenious.”

  “I didna get a chance to show you the computers. And your mobile is called a smart phone.”

  “A smart phone, aye? We’ll see.”

  Thorn. There was something in his speech, the confidence and cockiness that was all Thorn. He was another that got under Con’s skin almost as easily as she did.

  Ryder chuckled. “Any more Dark show up?”

  Dark? There were Dark Fae near? Rhi scanned the screen with Darcy’s picture that had all her information off to the side until she saw Edinburgh listed.

  “Nay,” Thorn stated in a hard tone. “I suspect there will be more tonight.”

  “Con really thinks we can convince her to help us against Ulrik?”

  “Apparently. Warrick has his doubts.”

  Rhi grimaced. Con had sent Warrick and Thorn to Edinburgh? That was like sending water and dynamite. More surprising was that Warrick agreed to a partner. Yet, it was the knowledge that the Dark were after Darcy that kept her attention.

  She couldn’t figure it out, until she read the bottom of the screen—Druid. Then it all made sense. Ulrik had used a Druid to have some of his magic unbound, and Rhi would wager her best Jimmy Choos that Darcy was that Druid.

  Rhi was about to teleport to Edinburgh to get a look at Darcy for herself when something on the screen caught her eye. Darcy was raised on Skye.

  A Skye Druid? In Edinburgh? Alone?

  Something certainly wasn’t right. Skye Druids didn’t normally leave the isle. They were the strongest there where their magic thrived and the elders kept the isle protected.

  There was one other Skye Druid who had left the isle that Rhi knew—Aisley.

  “Warrick will convince her to remain in Edinburgh,” Thorn said, breaking into her thoughts.

  Rhi focused on the conversation between Ryder and Thorn once more.

  “One of you will have to stay with her at all times to keep the Dark away,” Ryder said.

  Thorn chuckled. “Have you seen her? That’s no’ going to be a problem. Shite. Even Warrick can no’ take his eyes from her.”

  Their talk soon turned to all the modern amenities that Thorn was getting accustomed to. Rhi walked out of the computer room and searched the first floor for Con. She wanted to know why he would intentionally put a Druid in harm’s way.

  She could ask Ryder herself, or even go to Warrick or Thorn, but she was never one to pass up the opportunity to infuriate Constantine.

  But her search gained her nothing. Con wasn’t in the manor, on the grounds, or anywhere near the distillery. He was gone.

  Rhi immediately teleported to Ireland and her queen’s castle. She kept herself veiled and appeared in the throne room. It was empty, and since Rhi knew Usaeil wasn’t off making a movie or doing a photo shoot, that meant her queen was in her room.

  She strode to the door, intending to throw it open and catch her with Con. Her hand wrapped around the knob and turned.

  But it wouldn’t budge
.

  Rhi could blast it with magic, but she refrained. Barely. She knew Usaeil was having an affair with a King. Usaeil had never approved of Rhi’s relationship with her King, and yet the queen was doing exactly what she’d criticized Rhi for.

  If there was one thing Rhi couldn’t stand, it was a hypocrite. It might take her some time, but she would find out who Usaeil was sharing her bed with. Rhi suspected it was Con. She just needed to see it with her own eyes.

  The door began to rattle, and Rhi realized she was glowing. She quickly released the door and teleported away before her anger got the better of her and she flattened the castle to dust.

  * * *

  Warrick wasn’t happy when Darcy demanded to return to her flat. He would rather they remain in her shop on the ground where there were few windows if the Dark did try to take her.

  It wouldn’t do for the entire city to see a dragon and a Dark fighting it out on the third floor of a building, or catching video of a Dark doing magic. Or worse—he or Thorn in dragon form.

  But Darcy’s argument about a bed and shower won out.

  Warrick walked beside her. He was amazed at how quickly she made her way down the street. She was also cautious and watchful. Traits that would come in handy.

  “Did you see Ulrik’s future when you read his palm?” he asked.

  Darcy shook her head. “It was odd, really. His future was blocked. The only other time that has happened was when someone had a choice to make that could determine their fate in opposite ways.”

  Warrick wondered if that determination would be if Ulrik killed Con or not. “His past was open to you?”

  “Just about. If I had the time, I could’ve seen more. Ulrik was more interested in me unbinding his magic, so the longer I tried, the more of his memories were at hand for me to see.”

  “Which you did.”

  She glanced at Warrick, her expression unreadable. “I did. I saw what his woman did, and I saw what his friends did to him. There is pain inside that he’s lived with for thousands of centuries. He doesn’t even realize it’s there anymore. It’s what keeps him going, keeps him focused.”

  “It’s what is ruling him,” Warrick added.