by Donna Grant
Con ignored his words. “I want to know the moment you find Ulrik. It would be even better if we could discover who else is helping him. Ulrik is good, but he couldna do all of this on his own. He has people. Let’s find them.”
“Will do,” Ryder replied.
Con started out of the room, but paused at the door. He looked back at Ryder to find the Dragon King watching him. “I do remember Henry’s feelings. It’s why I didna tell him what I truly think about Rhi and Ulrik.”
“You think she’s turning Dark.”
It wasn’t a question, and Con didn’t treat it as such. “When was the last time you saw her wear pink?”
Ryder shrugged. “I doona know.”
“Before Balladyn kidnapped and tortured her. He kept her in his fortress for weeks, Ryder. He used the Chains of Mordare.”
“She broke the unbreakable Chains of Mordare,” Ryder stated with a grin.
Con still couldn’t believe Rhi had broken them. Every Fae throughout eternity who had worn them had died horribly. And yet Rhi had shattered them. “That she did, but it doesna alter the fact that she is changed.”
“So was Kellan after the Dark tortured him.”
“Rhi is refusing to see the queen.”
At this news, Ryder’s eyes widened. “That can no’ be right. Rhi’s greatest achievement was being a Queen’s Guard. She adores Usaeil.”
“Adored would be the correct word. It doesna help that Usaeil was having her followed by another of the Queen’s Guard.”
“She’s going to lose Rhi’s trust.”
Con lowered his gaze as he thought back to what he’d heard the last time he visited Usaeil. “She already has.”
“You’ve certainly taken a keen interest recently with the Queen of the Light.”
He’d wondered if anyone had tried to discover where he had been going. Now he knew. He was going to have to be more careful. “Update me as soon as you find anything.”
Con walked back to his office. He was more worried than anyone knew, because they had yet to put the pieces together. Ulrik was dangerous and could bring down the Kings with the help of the Dark.
Rhi knew things about the Kings because of her lover, some of which she could use against them.
Put Ulrik and Rhi together, and Con wasn’t sure if the Kings could win. That’s what kept him up at night.
The latest with the Dark making themselves known in Scotland was infuriating and was something that needed to be handled immediately.
The only good thing was that the Dark’s attempt to discover the weapon that could destroy the Dragon Kings had been put on hold. But for how long?
Every decision, every move he made was with the thought of the Kings’ survival. He was thinking of every conceivable notion and attempting to prepare. The wrench in everything was Rhi.
Would the Light Fae turn against the Kings? Or would she continue to stand beside them?
He’d known the moment he first saw her all those centuries ago that she was trouble. Rhi had her own set of rules, and despite being a great fighter, she was stubborn to a fault and extremely dangerous when her temper was up.
And lately her temper was always up.
The same power that allowed her to revive a dying world could destroy one without even realizing it if she couldn’t control her anger.
Con wouldn’t change the past or what he had done or said to Rhi. Thankfully, there was a King who considered her a close friend. Now all Con had to do was convince Rhys.
* * *
Thorn stared down at the woman as a new day dawned. She was huddled beneath the blankets. Naked.
That part had been … difficult. He was a male, after all. It was in his makeup to look at a woman. And he hated himself for wanting a peek of her when she was ill.
It had taken both him and Darius to get her out of her soaked clothing. Thorn shielded her as much as he could, which meant he was holding her while Darius cut off her clothes. Then Thorn had buried her under a mountain of blankets with the heat cranked up.
What worried him was that she had yet to stop shivering. Her fever was just as high as it had been when he carried her into the flat.
“We could ask Con to heal her,” Darius said from the doorway.
Thorn shook his head. “He willna. Con will protect the humans as a race, but he willna risk coming here and the Dark seeing him to save one female.”
“Her name is Lexi Crawford.”
Thorn raised a brow as he looked at Darius. “You snooped.”
“I got tired of calling her ‘the female.’ I found her identification in her jacket.”
Thorn rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “This place is safe enough to leave her, but she’s too sick.”
“She needs medicine.”
“Aye, but what kind?” Thorn threw up his hands in defeat. “I doona know the first thing about treating a human illness.”
Darius made a sound at the back of his throat. “Then are we no’ lucky to have so many humans as mates to the Kings? Call one of them.”
Thorn berated himself for not thinking of that sooner. He pulled out his phone and dialed Darcy. The Druid answered in the middle of the second ring.
“Hey, Thorn,” she said cheerfully.
“Hello, Darcy.”
“Oh,” she said, her voice dipping low and her Scots accent deepening. “You don’t sound good. Is everything going all right? I know Warrick wants to be there helping you.”
Thorn looked down at Lexi. “He needs to be there with you.”
“Then what’s going on? I can tell by your voice that something is wrong.”
“There’s a sick woman.”
There was a beat of silence before Darcy said, “Then ask her what’s wrong.”
“I can no’. She passed out hours ago and has yet to wake.”
“Okay.” Darcy blew out a breath. “Tell me her symptoms.”
“She has a fever. When I touch her skin, it burns.”
“Not good,” Darcy mumbled. “What else?”
“She’s shivering, her breathing is labored and wheezing.” Thorn swallowed. “She was out in the rain all day yesterday.”
“You were following her?”
Thorn didn’t want to reveal too much or have Darcy read too much into things. “Darius and I spotted her several times following the Dark. I suspect one of them killed someone close to her, and she’s out for revenge.”
“Except,” Darcy urged when he paused.
“They’re on to her.” Thorn closed his eyes. “She’s no’ quite immune to them, but they doona affect her as they do others.”
Darcy grunted through the phone. “You mean how they affected me that first time.”
“Aye. And, just so you know, I brought her to your flat.”
“I was going to suggest that. It’s the only place the Dark can’t get to her in the city. You said she’s been unconscious?”
“She has.”
“Thorn, she needs medicine and a doctor. It could be nothing more than a simple cold, or it could be the flu. Either way, you can’t let her fever continue. It has to be broken.”
She was talking to him as if Thorn would know how to do something like that. “How do you break a fever?”
“Medicine, usually, but my mother put my sister in a bath filled with ice water once.”
That he could do. “What else?”
“She needs fluids. She can’t get dehydrated.”
He frowned. That wasn’t going to be as easy. “Anything else?”
“Find a doctor.”
“You know we can no’.”
“If the fever doesn’t break, you won’t have a choice unless you want her to die.”
That was something Thorn wasn’t going to allow.
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Thorn filled the tub with cold water. He didn’t see how putting Lexi in cold water was going to break the fever that was caused by her being cold and wet the day before, but then
again, he knew very little of the human body.
Thorn found a nightshirt in Darcy’s wardrobe and slid it on Lexi. He gathered Lexi in his arms and walked to the bathroom where Darius waited.
“Are you sure about this?” Darius asked.
Thorn glanced down at Lexi’s face, which was covered in sweat. “Nay.”
He dropped down to one knee and lowered Lexi into the bath. Thorn set her against the back of the tub. Her head lolled to the side.
“She’s no waking.”
Thorn squeezed his eyes closed for a moment. “Did you expect her to feel the cold and come to?”
“Aye,” Darius said grumpily. “She’s no’ so much as twitched.”
Thorn had noticed. He hadn’t bothered to ask Darcy how long to leave Lexi in the water. If only he could heal someone with a touch like Con could, but that wasn’t Thorn’s power.
The seconds ticked by slowly. After a few minutes, Thorn touched her forehead with the back of his hand and let out a sigh of relief. He swiveled his head to Darius. “She’s no’ as hot as before.”
“That’s good,” Darius said, though he was frowning.
After another five minutes, there was no change. Once Lexi began to shiver, Thorn took her out of the tub. The nightshirt clung to her curves like a second skin.
He looked over to find Darius watching her. Thorn needed her out of the shirt quickly before she became more ill. He set her on the rug next to the tub.
“Need help?”
Thorn threw Darius a look. “I can handle this.”
“You think I’m looking?”
“Nay.”
“That’s right. But you are.”
“I’m no’,” Thorn said angrily and wrapped a towel around Lexi.
“Doona bother lying to me.” At that, Darius walked out of the bathroom.
Thorn drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. He wasn’t looking at her.
He tossed the towel away and removed the nightshirt before he threw it in the sink where it landed with a sucking noise.
Thorn grabbed the towel and set about drying her. He tried to close his eyes when he got to her breasts, but they refused to obey him.
His gaze drank in the small, perky breasts and the pink tipped nipples. His hands slowed as he gently rubbed the towel along the indent of her waist and over her hips.
He shook himself, inwardly berating himself, as he hurriedly finished drying her. He wrapped her in the towel and carried her back to the bed and put her in another gown before tucking her back under the covers.
There he sat watching her, hoping that she would awaken and stab him again. He was supposed to save her, not observe her slowly dying before his very eyes.
Suddenly Thorn remembered Darcy’s warning about dehydration. He jumped up and filled a glass with water. As he was searching for a way to get Lexi to drink, he spotted a bag of straws. He grabbed one and rushed back to the bedroom.
He sat on the bed and gently lifted Lexi’s head. Using the straw, he slowly dripped water through her parted lips.
“That’s it. Drink for me,” he urged as she swallowed.
Thorn fed her the water until the entire glass was gone. He refilled it and continued through another glass as the minutes passed.
The day crawled at a snail’s pace. Darius came and went often, taking the chance to kill any Dark he came across. The longer Lexi went without waking, the more anxious Thorn became.
He went to the kitchen to refill the glass with water. Upon his return he found Lexi had shoved the covers down to her waist.
Thorn felt her head and noticed the dampness of her skin. It wasn’t long after that sweat beaded her skin and she was moving her head back and forth mumbling something about a Christina.
That got Thorn wondering. He opened the mental link and said Ryder’s name. It didn’t take his friend long to answer.
“Thorn,” Ryder said, his voice smiling. “How’s it going?”
“We’re killing Dark.”
“Then it’s going well.”
Thorn had to smile at that. “Aye, it is. I need you to look something up for me.”
“Sure.”
“Can you search the murders in Edinburgh that have happened recently and tell me if any of them is named Christina? I also suspect she’s American.”
“Give me a sec, and I can tell you.”
Thorn sat impatiently as he wiped Lexi’s brow with a damp cloth.
It was just a few moments later when Ryder said, “I found something. A Christina Butler from South Carolina who was visiting the city with three friends was killed a week ago. Her death was ruled a murder, but her killer hasna been caught.”
It was just what Thorn had suspected. What he wanted to know was where were the two other friends? “Does it name the friends?”
“Nay.”
“Thanks, Ryder.”
“Anything else?”
Thorn rung out the cloth and wiped Lexi’s face. “Nay.”
“You have no’ happened to see Rhi, have you?”
Thorn twisted his lips. “No’ since she bailed on helping us get Darcy away from the Dark.”
“That’s what I thought. Just wanted to check.”
“Everything all right at Dreagan?”
Ryder released a long sigh. “Nothing will be right until Ulrik is stopped, the Dark are wiped from this realm, and we find V.”
V. Thorn had forgotten that he had woken and left Dreagan without a word. No one knew where he was, and he refused to answer Con’s mental call. They needed all hands on deck, so for any one King to leave without a word was not good news.
“Feel free to come and help us kill Dark,” Thorn said.
“Doona tempt me. I could use a diversion. Talk soon.”
The link was severed. Thorn looked down at Lexi. He was learning more and more about her. Her name, where she was from, and what was driving her. If only she would wake.
* * *
Lexi was lost in a fog so thick she couldn’t see her way out of it. She flung out her arms, calling out her friends’ names hoping they would help her.
She stumbled through the mist that seemed to hold her back. Sweat covered her. She was so hot. No matter how many times she clawed at her clothing to remove it, she couldn’t get any of it off.
Lexi shouted for her friends again, but only silence greeted her. Her foot hit something. She looked down and saw Christina lying upon the street, her eyes lifeless.
She knelt beside Christina and touched her short black hair. Then she cupped her face and tried to wake her. Lexi knew she was gone, but she couldn’t stop calling Christina’s name.
Her friend was dead because she hadn’t acted on her feelings and warned her away. Worse, Lexi hadn’t followed her immediately. It had taken her too long to find Christina. If only she had acted quicker, found her sooner, Christina might be alive.
Suddenly, the fog vanished. Though no one touched her, she had the feeling that strong arms were wrapped around her, soothing her fears and her sorrow.
Lexi closed her eyes and breathed easier. No longer was there the weight of being responsible for Christina’s death on her shoulders. For the moment, it was gone. Lexi basked in the peace of it and didn’t fight the sleep that claimed her.
* * *
Thorn held Lexi against him as he stroked her hair. He hadn’t wanted to hold her in such a manner, but her thrashing and the hollowness of her voice as she repeatedly called Christina’s name had been too much.
As soon as Thorn pulled her against him, she calmed. He held her, loathed to move away, even though he noticed that her gown and the sheets were soaked with sweat.
Thorn was still holding her when Darius returned. Darius didn’t bat an eye when he came to the doorway and saw them.
“Her fever broke,” Thorn said.
Darius nodded and left. He came back a moment later with a clean set of sheets. Thorn gathered Lexi in his arms while Darius stripped the bed. As soon as Darius had the new
sheets on, Thorn laid her down and found another gown. He hastily changed her and covered her once more—peeking at her only twice.
“You didna look,” Darius said.
Thorn wadded up the soaked gown and tossed it with the sheets. “She’s ill.”
“That wouldna stop most.”
“I’m no’ most.”
Darius was silent for a long while before he said, “Nay, Thorn, you’re no’.”
Thorn looked at him. He wasn’t surprised that Darius had answered Con’s call for all Kings sleeping away the centuries to wake for battle. What Thorn was shocked at was Darius himself.
The last time he had seen Darius he had taken to his cave, intending never to wake again. Darius wasn’t jesting when he said he had his demons. All the Kings did, but Darius had more than most.
“What?” Darius asked.
“I never asked. How are you?”
Darius’s smile was tight, forced. “I’m killing Dark. I’m doing pretty good at the moment.”
Thorn wondered how long that would last.
“I hear that my awakening was compared to Kellan’s,” Darius said. “Are you concerned?”
“A King takes to his mountain for many reasons. I’m no’ concerned about you. I’m concerned for you.”
Darius dropped his gaze to the ground. “I’ll be fine.”
“There’s no need to lie. No’ to me.”
“You live long enough, you suffer every way imaginable. The mortals can no’ grasp what we endure, what we can never forget.”
Thorn nodded. “And yet some of us have found peace with their mates.”
“I doona expect the same for myself. I’m … unable to…” Darius swallowed, his pause lengthening.
With a soft turn of his lips, Thorn waited for Darius to look at him. When he did, Thorn said, “I know.”
Darius hastily looked away and then walked into the kitchen. Thorn turned his attention back to the bed and froze when he found Lexi’s eyes open.
She stared at him a moment, and then softly closed her lids, drifting back to sleep. Thorn tucked the covers around her before he touched her cheek with the backs of his fingers.
Bora Bora
Rhi sipped on her tropical alcoholic beverage and soaked up the rays of the sun. She wiggled her toes as she reclined on the lounger, and then frowned when she saw the black nail polish.