Fever--A Dark Kings Novel

by Donna Grant

  The shock on some of their faces was what Balladyn had expected. But he didn’t stop.

  “Usaeil isn’t a Light,” he stated loudly. “She has killed her own family to become queen. She has killed her own children to make sure no one can rise up against her. She has betrayed and deceived many. What none of you know is that she set about those events because she wants none other than Constantine.”

  Just the mention of the King of Dragon Kings was enough to strike fear and unease in the Dark. He saw it on their faces as some even took a step back.

  Balladyn smiled, getting ready to spill it all. “Usaeil is planning to ensure that the Kings marry Light Fae and produce children. Then they will wipe us out. Usaeil has used some powerful magic to kidnap Con and keep him with her. The Dragon Kings, as well as Rhi, have risen up against her. And we will be joining them.”

  There was a moment of silence before someone asked, “You want us to fight alongside the Dragon Kings?”

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Balladyn stated. “At least, today. Usaeil needs to be stopped before she can destroy us. We have as much right to be alive as she does. She’s tricked the Light into believing she’s something she isn’t.”

  “She deserves to die!” someone in the far back shouted.

  Balladyn watched as, one by one, the Dark started nodding, each agreeing. He could force them to go to war, but he knew all too well how much better an army fought when they wanted it.

  “Today, we go to war!” he shouted, lifting his arm.

  As one, the Dark lifted their arms, their war cry filling the air.

  The Dark were still cheering when V and Kellan walked down the steps to stand beside Balladyn. He shared a look with the Kings and noted their smiles.

  V leaned over and said, “Well done.”

  “You’re a good king,” Kellan said.

  Balladyn appreciated the kind words, but he was already thinking of the battle. “Is it time?”

  V’s ice blue eyes met his as he grinned. “Aye.”

  Balladyn raised his arm and waited for the army to fall into silence. “We will line up on either side of the Dragon Kings and Rhi. The only ones we’re after today are the Light who stand in our way and Usaeil. Am I clear?”

  A loud, boisterous “Yes!” rang out.

  “Then let’s go kick some Light arse,” Balladyn said as he teleported away.

  * * *

  Keltan flicked his tail, flinging off the blood from decapitating a Fae. He lifted his head and let out a roar.

  The grass was stained with the blood of the Fae, but the Kings hadn’t come out unharmed. The Light had managed to land quite a few blows with their orbs of magic. Even now, part of Keltan’s wing was healing from being burned.

  It hurt like hell, but he ignored it as he concentrated on more of the Light Army popping up around them. He briefly thought about Bernadette, but he didn’t let his mind linger on her. He couldn’t, not if he wanted to win. There would be time enough to see her. Until then, he kept a tight rein on his thoughts.

  The whole of the Light Army soon stood before them. Keltan saw faces in the window of the castle, watching. He backed up and flapped his wings, eager to take to the sky. A dark shape flew overhead, and he spotted Dmitri’s white scales. Right behind him was Arian, his turquoise scales bright in the sunlight.

  It was the signal that the rest of the Kings were there. Keltan inwardly grinned as he saw the Light panic. He kept waiting for Usaeil and Con to appear. Keltan knew they would, but he wasn’t looking forward to it.

  Rhi walked in front of the Kings to stand between them and the Light Army. “Where are you, Usaeil?” Rhi bellowed. “You wanted me here, so show yourself! Come answer for the crimes of killing your family in order to gain the throne!”

  “We’re here,” V announced in all their minds.

  The Light took several steps back as the Dark Army appeared with the King of the Dark and two Dragon Kings.

  “Look.” Rhi pointed to them as she spoke to the Light. “The Dark have aligned with the Kings in order to fight Usaeil! That should mean something to all of you!”

  “Stop with the lies,” someone shouted.

  Rhi stilled, her gaze moving over the many faces staring at her. “Lies? I’m not the one lying to all of you, Usaeil is. You don’t want to believe me, fine. Don’t. But the truth will eventually come out. Maybe I’ll be dead when it happens, but the ones who will survive will look back on this moment and realize that you had the power to stop Usaeil. Instead, you helped her.”

  Keltan watched as a tall Fae broke away from the line. His helm was adorned, signaling that he had an upper rank. He removed his helmet and smoothed back his long, black hair as he approached Rhi.

  He halted ten paces from her, but he didn’t look at her. He looked at the Dragon Kings and the Dark Army. “This is your last chance to leave. If you remain, you will be killed.” His silver eyes shifted to Rhi. “You will come with me to be sentenced by Usaeil.”

  Rhi let out a bark of laughter. “Do I look stupid to you? I’m not going anywhere. Usaeil made a deal with the Kings that she has since gone back on. Forget what she’s done to me or anyone else, let the fact that she has betrayed the Kings mean something to you.”

  “The King of Dragon Kings is with Usaeil,” the Fae replied. “That’s all we need to know.”

  Rhi closed the distance between them until she was standing before him. “Then, by all means, bring Constantine out if he’s man enough to face his own.”

  “We’re not going anywhere!” Balladyn shouted. “It’s time Usaeil answers for the things she has done. And we’re here to ensure that happens.”

  A muscle in the Fae’s jaw jumped as he took a step back and put on his helmet. Then he turned on his heel and rejoined the army. Keltan tested his wing, noting that it was fully healed. It hadn’t taken but a few minutes to plow through the small group of the Queen’s Guard that had initially tried to stop them.

  They must have known they would all die, but he had to give them credit, they’d fought valiantly. It was just another reason to hate Usaeil. She sent good people to their deaths simply because she wanted to keep up a ruse.

  And more would die. Many, many more. But it wouldn’t be the Kings. It would be Light and Dark. Unless Con decided to attack. Which might very well happen.

  Keltan glanced at the castle again and then did a double-take. He spotted Con standing in a window, watching. Instead of his usual suits, Constantine now wore a form-fitting white shirt and dark pants.

  “Con’s here,” Keltan told the others. “He’s standing in the window of the castle.”

  “Well, fuck me,” Merrill said.

  Ulrik then replied, “We knew he’d be here. Be prepared for anything.”

  Keltan itched with the need to get the battle going again. This waiting around was too difficult. Besides, the longer he stood there, the more time he was away from Bernadette.

  Several Kings flew over them and circled the castle before returning. Keltan wanted to join them, but something told him to remain right where he was.

  His gaze moved to Rhi as she began walking up and down the line of Fae. Every once in a while, she’d stop and stare at someone a moment before continuing on.

  “I don’t want to fight any of you,” she told them. “I want Usaeil. All of us here want Usaeil. You don’t even have to do anything. Just go home.”

  No one replied or even twitched. Keltan knew Rhi was trying to save as many as she could. It was too bad none of them appeared to be listening to her.

  The male Fae who had stepped forward to tell them to leave twirled his wrist, sending his sword dancing around him. Rhi locked her gaze on him.

  Tension ran through the field like lightning. Everyone was on edge, waiting for it to begin.

  The male Fae let out a bellow, and the army rushed in. Keltan hesitated for just a moment. He wasn’t going to enjoy the bloodbath that was coming. But they had no choice if they wanted to stop
Usaeil.

  Keltan drew in a deep breath and opened his mouth, releasing dragon fire, scorching thirty Fae on the spot.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Bernadette gave up on the book she’d been trying to read for the past few hours and tossed it onto the sofa next to her. She dropped her head back and slid her fingers through her hair as she sighed loudly.

  Her mind had been working overtime thinking of the battle and Keltan’s involvement. Had it already begun? Was Keltan hurt? Who all was there? Did Usaeil yet realize how many people she had angered?

  Those questions and dozens more ran through her head like lightning. She’d thought to give herself a break and read, but she couldn’t concentrate on the words. She didn’t even bother turning on the tele.

  She dropped her arms and raised her head, her gaze going to the kitchen. She’d already organized the cabinets. Maybe she should clean the floor. Or scrub the bathroom. She had to do something other than just sit there. It was the absolute worst, not having any information. Fear, worry, and doubt continually crept in.

  Bernadette rose from the sofa and went into her bedroom to stand in front of her closet. She’d meant to go through her clothes and get rid of things she never wore to give herself more space for a while. She didn’t have that many clothes, and she had already gone through her stuff when she moved, but the closet was tiny, and she was tired of having to cram items in.

  She turned on some music then pulled everything out and put it on the bed. Then she went item by item, putting them into piles for keeping, maybe, and gone.

  There were quite a few articles of clothing in the gone pile. Bernadette removed the hangers and folded the items before putting them into a bag to take to a resale shop. Next, she turned to the maybe pile. It took more time to go through this one to weed out even more items.

  Bernadette was pleased with the outcome, noting that everything she’d kept was something she felt good in and loved to wear. She also decided to get rid of a couple of jackets that she’d bought thinking she’d wear but never had.

  Instead of hanging up the clothes, she turned her attention to her shoes. It became painfully obvious that she needed to do some shoe shopping. She tended to buy one really nice, expensive pair that would last her several years. And it had been that much and longer since she’d gotten new shoes. With her budget, she couldn’t afford to replace all of them, so she chose the pair that looked the worst and decided to start with those.

  By the time she’d finished with her shoes and resorting her closet, two more hours had passed. She sat back, pleased with her work, and a little excited about the few extra pounds she’d make in selling the clothing that she didn’t wear.

  She gathered the two bags of discards and brought them to the front door so they’d be easy to grab on her way out. Bernadette was on her way back to the bedroom when there was a knock on her door.

  Her heart missed a beat. Her head jerked to the camera, and an instant later, her mobile phone rang. She rushed to answer it.

  “Hi, Bernadette,” said a female voice. “This is Kinsey, Ryder’s mate. Just wanted to let you know not to answer the door.”

  She was a little startled to hear the Scottish voice on the other end of the line. “Thank you. Who is it?”

  “Kids playing a prank. They’re gone. I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you when you were here. I grew up in Glasgow, too.”

  Bernadette smiled and sat on the sofa. “Did you? Keltan didn’t tell me that.”

  “They forget little things sometimes,” she said with a laugh. “Is it weird that I’m watching you?”

  Bernadette looked at one of the cameras and nodded. “A wee bit. But I’m thankful. If not, then I would’ve ended up answering the door to those kids.”

  “True,” Kinsey replied, chuckling.

  “Thanks for the ring. I’m going to order some food to be delivered soon.”

  “No problem. And just so you know, we’re all worried and trying to find things to do. Just because we’re here doesn’t mean we know what’s going on. The guys tend to keep that kind of stuff to themselves until one of us pries it out of them.”

  Bernadette grinned. “If you find out anything, will you tell me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  They disconnected. Bernadette went ahead and placed an order for food on her phone, then went back to her bedroom and turned her attention to her small chest of drawers.

  Drawer by drawer, she emptied out the contents, refolded and sorted the things she kept, and made a pile of the things that were going away. She was on the third drawer when the knock sounded on her door.

  Bernadette waited a moment for her mobile to ring in case it was something other than her food. When her phone remained silent, she rose and jogged to the door. She grabbed her wallet from her purse and pulled out some money before she unlocked and opened the door.

  The teenager before her still had his face covered in pimples and braces on his teeth. He gave her a bright smile and called out her order.

  “That’s it,” she said and handed him the money. “Please, keep the change.”

  She took her food and was turning away when he said, “Let me give you your receipt.”

  Bernadette reached for it. At the last second, she realized it wasn’t a piece of paper but a flash of metal she saw. The blade plunged into her stomach, violently. The teenager’s smile was gone, replaced by something ugly and evil as he sneered at her. She was so stunned, she couldn’t move.

  For just a heartbeat, she didn’t feel anything. Then the pain surged through her with a ferocious intensity that made her dizzy and light-headed.

  “Usaeil did warn you,” the boy said before he yanked out the knife and ran away.

  Bernadette couldn’t believe what had just happened. She grabbed the wound with her free hand and put as much pressure on it as she could. She took a step back, but her hands began to shake, and she dropped the carton of food, spilling it on the floor.

  She looked down at the blood soaking her clothes and running through her hands, and all she could think of was Keltan. This couldn’t be happening. She’d been warded, her house was protected.

  Against magic, not mortals.

  She swallowed and tried to keep her mind focused. She needed to get to a hospital, but as she stared out her door, she knew between the pain and the rapid weakness that was overtaking her, she’d never make it to her car. She didn’t even know where her mobile was to call for help. Then she remembered that those at Dreagan were watching.

  Bernadette’s head turned to the nearest camera. “Help,” she said.

  She waited for Eilish or someone to come, but minutes passed without anything happening. If she didn’t do something soon, she’d pass out from blood loss.

  Bernadette grabbed her keys with a shaky, blood-coated hand and stumbled out to her car. She didn’t close the door behind her. Nothing in her house mattered. She’d believed that she was safe, but Usaeil had once again proven that there was nowhere Bernadette was safe from the queen’s reach.

  It felt good to sit down but closing the car door was another issue. Bernadette had to keep one hand on her wound to staunch the blood flow, which made things difficult. Yet, she managed to do it. And then, somehow, she pulled onto the road.

  * * *

  “Something is wrong!” Kinsey shouted from the computer room.

  Seconds later, Ryder came rushing in. “What is it?”

  “Every camera in Bernadette’s house froze,” she said as she kept punching away on the keyboard.

  Ryder calmly moved to his station and began rapidly pressing keys. A screen of code filled the monitor in front of him. He scrolled through it until he found what he was searching for and read over it. Kinsey watched as a frown formed.

  “Someone tried to hack in,” he said.

  Kinsey rolled her chair to him and looked to where he was pointing. “You’ve got to be kidding. Why would anyone do that? It makes no sense that some random person would go
after Bernadette.”

  “They’re no’,” Ryder said as he met her gaze. “We should’ve seen this coming.”

  “Seen what?”

  “We assumed Usaeil would go after Bernadette with magic. She let us and Bernadette know that she was aware of our plans. We backed her into a corner.”

  Kinsey shook her head. “I’m still not understanding.”

  “Did anyone go to Bernadette’s while I was away?”

  Kinsey shrugged, nodding. “Some kids playing around. Then Bernadette ordered food.”

  Ryder turned back to the screen, his fingers moving so fast that they were a blur. Kinsey was one of the best hackers among the mortals, but Ryder far surpassed her. She’d learned much from him, but there was still so much for him to teach her.

  She didn’t press him for answers, just watched as he worked. She noted that he was searching for the origin of the attempted hack. It didn’t take him long to find that the location was in Singapore. Instead of pursuing that lead as she’d expected, he turned his attention to unfreezing the cameras.

  Kinsey grabbed her mobile and called Bernadette, but it went to voicemail.

  “I need to go there,” he said and pushed away from the screen.

  Kinsey jumped to her feet. “You need to stay here, remember? Let me go.”

  He hesitated, his hazel eyes filled with worry. “Kin,” he began.

  “I know.” She walked to him and put her arms around him. “She’s not answering her mobile. I need to get there quickly.”

  “Eilish will take you. And be careful.”

  She smiled up at him. “Promise.”

  Kinsey ran from the room to find Eilish. In seconds, the two of them stood in Bernadette’s home. The first thing Kinsey noticed was the spilled food and the open door.

  “There’s blood,” Eilish said as she walked to the door and pointed to the smears as well as the large drops on the floor.