Smoke and Fire

by Donna Grant

  “Dark Fae,” Ryder said. “There are two kinds of Fae. Light and Dark. Both are so beautiful that it’s almost like they’re no’ real, and both have magic.”

  Kinsey nodded solemnly. “All right.”

  “The Light have silver eyes and coal black hair. The Dark are the ones with red eyes and black and silver hair. Their eyes turn red the first time they do evil. The more silver in their hair, the more evil they’ve done.”

  “Oh. Okay,” she said. “Why were the Dark killing humans?”

  “They feed off your souls while having sex with you.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Like I’m going to let that happen now that I know.”

  “First, the Fae can use glamour to disguise themselves. Second, you willna be able to resist them. They’re a drug to humans. I’ve seen women strip in the middle of the street to allow a group of them to have her.”

  “One came after me. I remember that.”

  Ryder did as well. He relived it in his dreams every time he closed his eyes. It was one reason he didn’t sleep often. “I wasna going to allow that to happen.”

  “So you showed yourself to me.”

  “Aye.” And what had he gotten for those efforts? Kinsey running screaming in terror from him. But at least she hadn’t been attacked by a Dark.

  In Ryder’s opinion, that was more than a good trade.

  “Why are you and the Fae fighting?”

  He rocked back in his chair and laced his hands behind his head. “Once, a verra long time ago, there were the Fae Wars. It was us against the Fae—both Light and Dark. Eventually, the Light helped us defeat the Dark. The Dark are our enemy, but the Light have aided us. You’ve already seen one Light Fae today.”

  “Who?” she asked with her head cocked.

  “Shara. She and Kiril were the first to come running from around the side of the manor. The second couple was Rhys and Lily, and the third was Warrick and Darcy.”

  She scrunched up her nose. “You know I’ll never remember their names.”

  “I know,” he said with a grin.

  She shook her head, but there was a ghost of a smile on her lips. “Shara was beautiful. Then again so were Lily and Darcy.”

  “Shara is the only Fae mated to a Dragon King. The other women you see are mortals.”

  “Excuse me?” Kinsey interrupted him with wide eyes. “Did you just say ‘Dragon King’?”

  That was one thing Ryder planned to ease into. He could talk forever about their enemies. It was his hope that he could keep her occupied with those stories and not get into who he was. But he slipped up.

  Kinsey always did that to him.

  He was so at ease with her that he forgot to be cautious and consider his words. It had been that way from the moment they first spoke to the other.

  “I did,” he confessed.

  She raised both brows as she held out her hands. “And you’re just going to leave it there? I don’t think so. Spill.”

  “It’s a long story.”

  “I’m a good listener.”

  Of that he knew for sure. They could talk about anything and everything, but there had been times they were content to just sit quietly in each other’s company.

  Ryder blew out a breath. “You know I’m millions of years old and immortal. What you doona know is that the dragons were the first inhabitants of this realm from the beginning of time.”

  “How many dragons?”

  “Millions. Billions. I doona know for sure.”

  “Do they all look like you?”

  He was happy she was asking questions. That was a good sign. At least he hoped it was. “Nay. Imagine the colors of a rainbow. That’s how many hues of dragons there were. As for sizes, there was a wide range of sizes. I’m one of the largest.”

  “And the king part?”

  “Each dragon group, or color, had a leader. The strongest and the one with the most magic. I was such a dragon.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” Kinsey said.

  He frowned slightly. “Why does that no’ surprise you?”

  “Because you have that look about you.”

  “A look?” he asked with a slight grin.

  Kinsey shrugged. “That look that says, ‘I’m in control. Don’t fuck with me.’”

  He laughed, and she found herself smiling. Kinsey had always loved to hear him laugh. He did have that look of a man that others knew not to mess with, but she had also seen the boyish part of him who liked to chuckle at the silly things and have a donut in his hand at all times.

  His smile died though as his gaze grew unfocused, as if he had gone deep into his memories. “The Kings of each faction held absolute law. But even we answered to someone—the King of Kings. The fiercest and most powerful of the Kings reigned over us. Constantine.”

  Con. The name Tristan had mentioned earlier. Kinsey wasn’t keen on meeting this man. She had a feeling that no matter what, he would see her as a threat, just as Ryder had done at the beginning.

  “As strong as each of us Kings were, there was only one who could’ve challenged Con for the title King of Kings.”

  Ryder’s voice trailed off. For several seconds Kinsey waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, she prodded him. “Who?”

  He blinked and focused on her. “Ulrik. He and Con were inseparable.”

  “Did he challenge Con?”

  “Nay,” Ryder said with a twist of his lips. “Ulrik was happy as a King. He didna want to fight his friend or have that kind of responsibility.”

  Kinsey tucked a leg under her. “But something happened?”

  “Con didna believe Ulrik. I doona know everything that happened, but their once solid friendship was cracked. Ulrik never wavered in his faith in Con as King of Kings. He was always the first to follow Con in whatever he asked of us.”

  “Was that enough for Con?”

  “It seemed to be,” Ryder said with a shrug. “Things slowly returned to normal. The mortals appeared then. Before any of us could figure out where they came from, we were transformed into humans. We learned we could shift at will, which made it easier to converse with the mortals.”

  Kinsey wondered what the humans thought of all the dragons around. Had they been as frightened as she?

  Ryder continued his story. “Each King made a vow to protect the mortals since they had no magic. We set them up in territories and ordered the dragons to leave them alone. For a time, it actually worked.”

  “What changed?”

  “The humans. They populated at a rapid rate. We had to continue to move dragons out of lands they’d always inhabited to make room for the mortals. Every once in a while, a human would go missing, and everyone blamed the dragons. After one of those occurrences, a small dragon would be found dead with nothing but bones and wings left.”

  Kinsey winced at the brutality. “That’s … awful.”

  “We Kings managed to work around those difficult times to keep the peace. Some females had been taken by Kings as lovers by this time. Ulrik was one of those. He loved a mortal deeply, and didn’t just bring her, but her entire family into his home. He protected them, giving them anything they could want or need.”

  “But?” Kinsey asked when a muscle ticked in Ryder’s jaw.

  He glanced at the monitors, his face darkening when he spotted more MI5 agents. “Just days before Ulrik was to take the female as his mate, Con discovered she was going to betray Ulrik and attempt to kill him.”

  “Because you can only be killed by another Dragon King,” Kinsey said with a nod. “She would’ve failed. Why not let her fail then?”

  “Her intention was to start a war. Con wanted to prevent one,” Ryder explained. “In an effort to protect Ulrik, Con sent him away on some mission.”

  She scrunched up her face. “That was a very bad idea.”

  “Aye. As we found out. Every King chased her down and cornered her, and we killed her. We did it for Ulrik and to protect the unsteady p
eace between our two races. Ulrik, however, didna see it that way.”

  “I wouldn’t have either. I’d have been furious with you.”

  Sadness came over Ryder’s face then. “He was angry at us. He’d loved the female, and her betrayal cut acutely. His rage was so deep that it consumed him. Ulrik gathered his Silvers, and they began attacking any human they found, killing them.”

  “Oh, no,” Kinsey said with a frown.

  “Aye. Many Kings joined Ulrik in his effort to rid the realm of all mortals for good. The other Kings remained with Con, trying to stop Ulrik.”

  “Which side were you on?”

  “Con’s.”

  Somehow Kinsey wasn’t surprised by his answer. She nodded, telling him to continue his story.

  “It didna take the humans long to fight back. They began attacking the smallest of the dragons first, wiping entire factions out in a day.”

  Kinsey couldn’t imagine what that felt like to Ryder and the others. Especially after they’d made a promise to protect humans and then been betrayed. “Surely not all of my ancestors knew of the betrayal to Ulrik.”

  “Of course no’,” Ryder assured her. “By the time Ulrik swept across the country killing humans, it no longer mattered. It was war. Us versus them. So many dragons were killed. And a wedge came between us Kings. Those who sided with Ulrik fought those who sided with Con. We lost many Kings.”

  Kinsey felt sadness for the Dragon Kings when she didn’t want to. Especially not when Ulrik was killing humans, and yet she couldn’t stop herself.

  “Con knew drastic action had to be taken.” Ryder cleared his throat and slid deeper into his chair. “We created a dragon bridge, linking our realm to another, and we sent every dragon across it. It was their only chance at survival. Though it killed us to see them go.”

  “You sent them away?” she asked in outrage. “Ryder, that’s horrific. Those were your people. Why would you do that just for the mortals?”

  He met her gaze solemnly. “We made a vow to the mortals. And we hoped that we could return the dragons one day. Had we known what would happen, I doona believe we would’ve sent the dragons away. But the simple fact is, our two races couldna live together.”

  “We came after you. Yet you sacrificed your way of life for us.” Kinsey felt ashamed for the actions of her ancestors.

  Ryder’s lips softened a fraction. “Sending our dragons away wasna enough. It took Con longer than he wanted, but he eventually got all the Kings back on his side except for Ulrik. We still had Ulrik and four of the largest of his Silvers to contend with. We trapped the Silvers and used our magic to make them sleep.”

  “Did you send them with the others?”

  He hesitated a bit too long. “Nay. They’re here.”

  “Here?” she asked in disbelief. “As in, here?”

  “They’re in the mountain behind the manor in a cage bound with magic.”

  That didn’t make her feel any better. How could a cage hold dragons? And large ones at that? She decided to move past that for now. “What happened to Ulrik?”

  “We united our magic to bind his. He would be unable to communicate with his Silvers. We also made sure he could never shift.”

  “So he’s in dragon form?”

  Ryder looked at the floor. “He’s in human form.”

  “Damn,” she murmured. “That was cruel.”

  “We also banished him from Dreagan.”

  She shook her head at Ryder when he looked up at her. “Why? Didn’t any of you realize he was hurt? Why take such drastic measures?”

  “He started a war, Kinsey. Because of that we lost thousands of dragons and hundreds of Kings. And let’s no’ forget we had to send our dragons away.”

  Kinsey crossed her arms over her chest. “No, you didn’t. You could’ve stopped all of that from happening by doing several things. First, Ulrik should’ve been told what his woman was doing. He should’ve been allowed to do what he wanted with her. Second, vow or no’, you could’ve stopped all the dragon killings by using your magic on humans. Whether to kill them or stop them, something could’ve been done.”

  “We were no’ thinking that way.”

  “You reacted almost as harshly as Ulrik. I applaud your race for wanting to look after humans, but in the end, you sacrificed your own kind for us. Look where you are now.”

  “Doona remind me,” he murmured. “Would you rather we had killed mortals and wiped their existence?”

  “I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is that Ulrik was punished for a quick reaction, and yet Con and the rest of you reacted just as quickly, but in another way. Both of you are to blame.”

  Ryder stared at her a long while before he said, “You’re the second human to tell us that.”

  “It’s because I’m awesome that way.” Then she got curious. “Who was the other?”

  “Darcy. She’s mated to Warrick.”

  Kinsey grinned. “Then she’s a smart woman. How did she come to my conclusion?”

  “She saw Ulrik’s memories.”

  “What?” Kinsey nearly fell out of her chair she was so surprised. “I think you might’ve skipped some parts.”

  Ryder leaned up and typed in something on the virtual keyboard before he turned to her. “With Ulrik and his Silvers contained, the rest of the Kings retreated to Dreagan. We bound our border with magic to keep all humans out, and we took to our mountains to sleep. Hundreds of years passed as we waited for mortals to forget and the stories to turn into legends and myth.”

  “That certainly explains all the dragon myths around the world. In every friggin’ culture, I might add.”

  He grinned. “That’s right. We remained hidden while Ulrik had to walk the earth as a mortal. Slowly we reemerged and began to live again. We began distilling whisky to support Dreagan and our lifestyles. All the while we hid our true selves. We only shifted at night or during thunderstorms. More years elapsed and then the leap in technology made even that more difficult, but we always managed to take to the skies as often as we could.”

  “Except for now.” She felt sorry for him and the others. The kind of sorrow that hurt her all the way to her bones, because there was nothing that could be done about it. It was past decisions and actions that led all of them—dragons, Fae, and humans—to where they were now.

  “Except for now,” he repeated. “During all this time we kept a close eye on Ulrik. He was often seen in the company of Druids.”

  Kinsey was going to stop him and ask him to explain, but then she realized that it was no surprise Druids were real. The history books mentioned them often enough.

  “Dragon magic is the strongest in the realm,” Ryder said. “Every Druid who tried to help Ulrik was killed. Then he met Darcy. Her magic was so powerful that she was able to touch our magic binding his. In the process, she saw into his mind and his memories. She also unbound his magic.”

  Kinsey was leaning forward in her seat now. “That can’t be good.”

  “In the process, Darcy lost her magic. Ulrik has been relentless in trying to take his revenge against us. He’s teamed up with the Dark to help him in that quest.”

  She drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know that I blame him.”

  “He tried to kill Darcy.”

  “Well, shit.”

  Ryder looked down at his hands for a second. “But he saved Lily.”

  “I think there might be more going on than any of you realize,” Kinsey told him.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Ryder agreed with her. Even with his vast skills, there was less out there about Ulrik than there was about Con, which was nearly nothing. So finding something that could connect Ulrik to an individual or company was proving harder than Ryder wanted to admit.

  He hadn’t been able to discern more than a handful of aliases Ulrik used, and they didn’t garner anything useful. Ulrik had been very careful about hiding anything about himself.

  Ryder placed his fingers over the virtual keyboard and
began to search through the top brass that worked for Kyvor to see if there were any connections to Ulrik.

  “The problem,” he explained, “is that Ulrik is extremely careful and very cunning. He’s planned this out to the last detail, making it all but impossible for me to find anything.”

  “You can’t find information? That’s hard to believe.”

  Her astonishment was evident in her tone, and it made him puff out his chest. “Ulrik is that good.”

  “What are you looking for?” Kinsey asked.

  Ryder glanced at her. “Someone has to be connected to Ulrik. I’m going to find them.”

  “You do that. I’m going to see who placed the work order. They might have used my employee number, but the form didn’t originate on my computer. If I can find out what computer was used, I’ll know who set me up.”

  Ryder reached for a jelly donut and smiled. He had no doubt Kinsey would find what she was looking for. Because she was that good.

  It’s not like he’d gone looking for someone with the same skill sets as him, but it made being with Kinsey that much better because they had that in common.

  They spent several minutes in silence, each searching their respective items and watching the information pop up on the monitors. Ryder also kept an eye on the MI5 agents. More and more came each day.

  How much longer would it be before they demanded to enter the manor? But the Kings were prepared for that. They would turn to their magic and use it to hide the entrance to the mountain.

  There was no use hiding the various dragon relics, paintings, and such. Dreagan meant dragon. It was the first thing Con told MI5 when they arrived. To try and say they didn’t know anything about dragons would only make them look guilty.

  So Con had told them the video was an elaborate prank by some competitor that wanted to knock Dreagan whisky off as the top-selling Scotch in the world. For the time being, MI5 was buying that lie.

  “So the Dark factor in because of Ulrik?” Kinsey asked, her gaze on her screen as her mind worked not just on her search, but on everything he’d told her about the Dragon Kings.