Fever--A Dark Kings Novel

by Donna Grant

  “I think anything is possible. Tell me, if you were watching someone as she did you coming out of the Druid’s house, would you stand in the open to be seen if you wanted to remain hidden?”

  Henry shook his head. “She wanted me to see her.”

  “Aye. And she also came to you at the café. That tells me that she has an interest in you. I also think you’ll be seeing her again.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I am,” Con said as he turned on his heel and walked away.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  “I’ve got you,” Keltan murmured when Bernadette stirred in his arms.

  She sighed and nestled against him. “Have I told you how much I enjoy waking up in your arms?”

  “You can have it every day for eternity, lass,” he said, smiling against her hair.

  “You always say the right things.”

  He chuckled and kissed her head. “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I was never stabbed. Con’s ability is amazing. I can’t remember if I thanked him or not.”

  Keltan smiled up at the ceiling. “Several times.”

  “In my defense, Denae had given me morphine.” Bernadette raised her head from his chest to look at him.

  “Verra true.”

  Her smile faded as she gazed into his eyes. “I realize how close I came to dying. Had Eilish not found me—”

  “I know,” he said and pulled her head down so he could hold her tightly. Every time he thought of how he’d nearly lost her, he became panicked. “But she did, and then got you here.”

  Bernadette swallowed, the sound loud in the silence. “You haven’t said anything about the Others’ attempt to take my soul.”

  “Each time I think of it, I get so angry, I want to destroy something.”

  “If it hadn’t been for the voice in my head, I’m not sure I would’ve known what to do.”

  “We’ll figure out who helped you, and we’ll thank her.”

  Bernadette inhaled deeply before releasing the breath. “She said something that I can’t stop thinking about.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That Usaeil might have used me, but she didn’t know who I was. The voice said the Others kept it a secret from Usaeil.”

  That got Keltan’s attention. He shifted so he could look Bernadette in the eyes. “I doona understand. Your identity was kept a secret from Usaeil?”

  “That’s what the voice said. I’m not sure I understand that since Usaeil knew who I was.”

  A knot of unease filled his stomach. “I think what the voice was trying to tell you was that you’re far more important than Usaeil knew. Had she known exactly who you were, she might have used you differently.”

  “But I’m no one,” Bernadette said with a frown.

  “No’ true. You’re a Dragon King’s mate.”

  The frown vanished as she smiled. “Do you think that’s what the voice meant?”

  “Nay.” Keltan couldn’t lie to her, though he wished he could to ease her mind. “I think there’s more that we doona know.”

  “Ryder already looked into my past. Did he find anything?”

  “Nay, but that doesna mean anything. We’ll have to look in other ways.”

  Bernadette returned her head to his chest. “I thought that I’d feel better once Usaeil was dead. Why is it that I still feel as if there’s a cloud over me?”

  “Because there is. The Others.” And Keltan was beginning to fear that Bernadette’s identity was somehow tied to them.

  “You think I’m part of them in some way, don’t you?”

  He adjusted his arms around her. “I think it’s a possibility. It would explain why they fought for your soul so desperately.”

  “Why keep who I am a secret from Usaeil?”

  “My guess is that they realized that Usaeil was deviating from their plan.”

  “What does that mean for me?”

  “I doona know.”

  And that’s what scared him. The truly frightening part was that Bernadette wasn’t the only one of the mates who had a past the Kings hadn’t figured out yet. There were several others, as well. And if Ryder, with all his incredible skills, couldn’t find the information on the mates, then Keltan wasn’t sure anyone could.

  “I’m scared,” Bernadette murmured.

  Keltan held her tightly. “I’ve got you. Remember that. I’ll always have you, and I’ll always protect you. The sooner you become my mate, the sooner you willna have to worry.”

  “Did you ever think that perhaps that’s exactly what the Others want?”

  Keltan’s breath froze in his lungs.

  “I didn’t think so.” Bernadette leaned her head back to see him. “I’m not the only mate who has a past that hasn’t been figured out, am I?”

  “Nay.”

  “That should’ve raised major concerns for the Kings.”

  Keltan looked away, not wanting to go down this path—but there was no stopping it now. “When we find our mates, our only objective is to keep them safe from all harm.”

  “The mating ceremony that binds us to you,” Bernadette said.

  “Once we’re bound, you’ll be immortal.”

  Bernadette rose up on her elbow, her jade eyes meeting his. “I don’t think we should do the ceremony until we know more about my past.”

  Panic seized Keltan, but he managed to calm himself enough to ask, “Why?”

  “What do you know about the Others?”

  He shrugged. “That they’re Druids and Fae who joined together to destroy us.”

  “What else?” she pressed.

  Keltan didn’t want to get into this right now. “They set up traps and obstacles for us that have taken thousands of years to find. We know Usaeil was part of them, and we know that the leader of the Others is a Druid. Usaeil told Con about Moreann, stating that they often met on the Fae Realm to talk.”

  Bernadette lowered her gaze to his abdomen as she ran her fingers along his chest. “You know that the Others want to destroy you.”

  “Aye.”

  “And you aren’t at all worried by the fact that I could be connected to them?” Her eyes snapped back up to his.

  Keltan shook his head.

  “You should be,” Bernadette stated. “You should be very concerned. Because my guess is that the Others have plans for me and any other mate they happen to have a connection to.”

  He took the hand caressing him and brought it to his lips, where he kissed it. “I’m no’ worried, lass. Because I love you. Whatever happens, we’ll get through it.”

  “It’s because I love you that I won’t go through the ceremony. You said dragons mate for life.”

  “We do,” he said with a nod.

  She raised her brows. “You would be tied to me forever.”

  “I doona see the problem in that since it’s what we both want.”

  “Yes, I want it. More than anything. But,” she said, raising her voice when he tried to speak. “I don’t want you hurt. In any way. Whether it’s something I do intentionally or not, I won’t be a part of what the Others have planned.”

  Her words made him love her even more—if that were possible. “The thing is, whether we’ve gone through the mating ceremony or no’, I know you’re my mate. I’ll never leave you, and it doesna matter what you do, I’ll always love you.”

  “That’s what terrifies me. I fear the Others will use me against you.”

  “You have the choice,” he told her. “They can no’ make you do anything.”

  Bernadette rolled her eyes and sat up straight before facing him. “Shall I remind you of what Usaeil did?”

  “I know what she did, but now you have our magic protecting you, along with Druid and Fae magic. There’s no way anyone can make you do anything you doona want to do.”

  She considered his words before nodding. “I hope you’re right.”

  “I am.”

  Bernadette lay back down next to him to rest on his
chest. “What does this mean for us?”

  “Nothing has changed.”

  “Everything has changed, Keltan. You can’t deny that.”

  He opened his mouth to argue, then decided against it. Mayhap she was right. Things had changed. Bernadette was now privy to all sorts of information she hadn’t had before. Then there were the spells and wards protecting her, but he knew it was really about the knowledge she now possessed regarding the Others and her possible link to them.

  “I’m no’ denying it. I’m merely saying that despite everything that’s happened, my feelings for you have no’ changed. I still want you for my mate. I still want to go through with the ceremony.”

  “I can’t allow that to happen.”

  “Because you think you’re going to hurt me somehow?”

  “Yes,” she replied, her eyes wide. “Why don’t you understand that?”

  He smiled at her. “Och, lass. I do. Verra much. But the thought of you being killed isna something I can handle.”

  “And I want the knowledge that if somehow the Others force me to do something, or—I hate to even think it—I do it on my own, that you’re not bound to me. I want you to be able to leave.”

  “That’s just it. Now that I’ve acknowledged that you’re my mate, I’ll never be able to walk away from you.”

  She was silent for a heartbeat. Then, in a forlorn voice, she said, “Oh, Keltan. We are in a pickle for sure.”

  “Nay, lass. We’re no’,” he said and kissed her head. “We can no’ predict the future, nor will I try. We have each other, and that’s enough for me.”

  She looked up at him for a moment before her gaze moved away. “I have this stone of dread in my stomach that the Others are going to do something, and it’s going to pit me against you.”

  He didn’t tell her that she wasn’t the only one with that concern. Instead, he said, “Do you remember when you fought them for your soul?”

  “Yes, because the voice warned me.”

  “You did it because you didna want them to have you.”

  She blew out a breath. “Actually, the voice told me that the only way I could win was if I had something strong to hold on to. It was the love I had for you that I gripped tightly to and refused to let go of. The voice told me that I needed you, and you needed me.”

  “She wasna wrong. I do need you, Bernadette. I didna realize how much until you came into my life. Now that you’re here, I doona want to contemplate a day without you.”

  Bernadette placed a kiss on his chest. “Neither do I. More than anything, I want to be bound to you. Actually, I already feel like I am, even without the ceremony.”

  “Then it doesna matter if we complete it.”

  “You won’t change my mind,” she informed him. “Not until we know for sure who I am and why the Others seem to know me.”

  He frowned, his chest tightening as he thought of all the ways Bernadette could be taken from him, her life wiped out in a blink. “That could take months. Years, even.”

  “I’ll be beside you the entire time.” She shifted her head to look at him and puckered her lips.

  Keltan kissed her, even though several arguments arose that he could use to try to dissuade her. But he realized he was being selfish. Bernadette wasn’t putting off the ceremony to hurt him. She was doing it not to hurt him. He had to respect that.

  Even if he didn’t like it.

  “I willna speak more of the ceremony,” he promised her. “No’ until you want to, that is.”

  She flashed a smile. “You do understand that I’m putting it on hold to protect you, us, and everyone at Dreagan, right?”

  “Aye, I do.” Though it made him hate the Others even more.

  She moved upward and gave him a soft, sexy kiss before whispering, “We’ll be together, my Dragon King. We get to learn each other slowly, and then, one day, we will be bound together. I’ll wear the tattoo proclaiming that I am yours.”

  “You know, we could be wrong. It might be the mating ceremony that protects the mates from the Others.”

  Bernadette bent her knee and moved her leg along his before she rocked her hips against his thigh. “Do you want to talk about that some more, or would you rather do other things?”

  In the next instant, Keltan had her on her back, staring into her jade eyes as her black hair fanned out around her. “I think you know the answer to that.”

  She reached down and cupped his arousal with her hand. Bernadette grinned up at him. “Then why are we still talking?”

  CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

  With his gaze directed out the office window overlooking the valley as the rain came down in sheets, Con listened to Ulrik and Kellan behind him.

  They had been going on for quite awhile about his remaining with Usaeil. He’d let them drone on, but he was growing tired of it.

  “Dammit, Con, say something,” Ulrik demanded.

  Con turned his chair to face the two Kings. Both were furious. It blazed in Kellan’s celadon eyes, while it showed in Ulrik’s rigid posture. “What else would you have me say? I already explained.”

  “You explained verra little,” Kellan bit out.

  Con sighed. The last thing he wanted was to relive the weeks he’d spent with Usaeil, but he knew he had no choice. “I knew within moments of Usaeil taking me that it was the magic of the Others that shrouded where she had brought me.”

  “Do you know where that was?” Ulrik asked.

  Con shook his head in regret. “She kept me in a windowless room. I doona think we were alone, however. She left often, and I could hear her speaking to others, but I never heard their reply.”

  Some of the tension in Ulrik eased. “Did she mention Xaneth?”

  “Never. She would leave me alone for a few hours and then return and use magic on me. When I realized the Others’ magic prevented me from communicating with you, I knew I had two choices. I could continue to fight her, or I could pretend to join her.”

  “It was a fucking brilliant idea,” Kellan admitted with a nod. “I just wish we had known that’s what you were doing.”

  Ulrik snorted loudly. “We knew that Usaeil’s magic couldna hold you.”

  “After everything Usaeil did, you were right to worry about why I wasna contacting you. Her magic did nothing to me, though I allowed her to believe otherwise. It was a slow process, but eventually, I convinced her I was totally hers.”

  Kellan shook his head. “What did she say to you?”

  Con shrugged one shoulder. “That we were meant to be together, and I was making things difficult. That if I just gave in, we could be happy.”

  “I’d pity her if I didna hate her so much,” Ulrik declared.

  Kellan glanced at him and nodded. “I think we all feel that way.”

  Con wanted to hate her, but he couldn’t. “She wanted love. She craved it as much as she needed power. I do pity Usaeil. When she thought I was hers, she was a different person. Soft, you might even say.”

  Kellan’s brows shot up in his forehead. “Soft? I doona think so.”

  “We didna see it,” Ulrik said sympathetically.

  Con met his friend’s gold eyes and nodded. “In the end, when the battle was taking place, I kept hoping I might be able to change her mind and stop her. I thought I might be able to help her. Right up until she plunged her sword into Balladyn’s back. I have no love for him, but he didna deserve that.”

  “Some might disagree,” Kellan said.

  Ulrik swallowed and looked down at the floor. “Balladyn was a great many things, but in the end, he turned out to be someone I trusted. Usaeil betrayed him, and Balladyn’s Fate was changed forever. I can only hope that Death and the Reapers have him.”

  “We may never know,” Con said.

  Kellan quirked a brow. “You could ask Erith.”

  “I could,” he agreed. “And I may. He did stand against Usaeil.”

  “I doona like that no one could find you,” Ulrik said.

  “I wish I c
ould have told you where we were, but I never saw anything other than the room I was in. It was only recently that she moved us to the Light Castle, and I didna leave her chamber until the verra end.”

  Kellan leaned forward in his seat and rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. “Please tell me you learned something valuable from her.”

  For the first time, Con smiled. “Oh, aye. The name of the leader of the Others—Moreann. She’s a Druid.”

  “Shite,” Kellan murmured.

  Ulrik frowned as he looked at Con. “A Druid? No’ a Fae?”

  “Moreann isna from the realm. It was she and her kind who brought the humans here.”

  Kellan got to his feet as he said, “Fuck me.”

  Con waited until Kellan had poured three glasses of Scotch and handed them out before he continued. “Usaeil and Moreann met on the Fae Realm to talk.”

  Ulrik tossed back his whisky. “When are we going to start planning that battle?”

  “Right now,” Con replied.

  Kellan set his empty glass down and swallowed his drink. Then he looked sheepishly at Con. “No one has said her name, so I’ll be the first. What about Rhi?”

  “Rhi will be grieving Balladyn,” Ulrik said. “She willna be seen until she wants to be.”

  Con had known the subject of the Light Fae would come up, but he wasn’t ready to discuss Rhi just yet. He’d seen her eyes flash red, and he knew that could only spell trouble for all of them.

  “She willna turn Dark,” Kellan said.

  Con swirled the whisky in his glass before he took a sip. “I doona know what will happen to or with Rhi. She’s no’ the same Fae that we knew before.”

  “It would be impossible for her to be,” Ulrik retorted angrily. “Rhi has been bombarded continually for months now, and she managed to stay on her feet—albeit wobbly at times. The battle that she’d been preparing for, the one she eagerly went into was also the one she didna want. Why do you think she didna fight you hard when you kept putting it off, Con?”

  Con lowered his gaze, because he knew Ulrik was right.

  “She had to face off against her queen, against the friend who betrayed and banished her. Then she watched Balladyn die.” Ulrik shook his head. “That would fuck anyone up. We’ve taken her for granted. So many times, we turned to her for help and counted on her being there.”