Where was the Isle of the Blessed?
Lila gave him a warning look and he saved the question for later.
“He can’t swim all that way,” Lila protested.
Nyssa smiled. “Oh, don’t you know? He has a luxury yacht now. All the perks for our King Under the Seas.”
Again, Rhys was aware that Lila was studying her friend, as if skeptical of her words. Then she ran a hand over his scales, sending invigorating fire through his veins. “Thank you,” she said, her voice a bit breathless.
Rhys tightened his grip upon her. “It’s what we Pyr do.” Luckily, the Cloisters museum was close with a large park around it, one that would be quiet on a chilly Monday. He flew steadily in that direction.
Nyssa held two purses and gave one to Lila, presumably her own bag. “Occupational hazard of Nereus arriving as a guest,” she said with a roll of her eyes. Rhys had the definite sense that she was trying to distract them from something. “I never know whether he’ll start an earthquake, just because, so I’m always ready to run.”
“It’s not the only hazard of having him stop by,” Lila said, her voice a little harder. “When did you choose to conceive?”
So, she knew that Nyssa and Nereus had been intimate, too.
Nyssa shrugged. “Sometimes it’s easier to just do what he wants.”
Rhys was glad Lila didn’t seem to agree.
“Where will you go?” Lila asked Nyssa. “Your place is trashed.”
“I’ll go to Bones. Someone will let me stay with them.” She laughed a little. “North Rona has zero appeal so you don’t have to worry about me asking you to put me up.”
The two selkies eyed each other so intently that Rhys wondered at the history between them. Lila had said that Nereus was in love with her. Rhys guessed that the other selkie was aware of the king’s feelings. What did she feel for him? It was way too complicated for him to untangle, with the firestorm already urging him in one direction and Lila insisting on the opposite path.
He said nothing about Embron and couldn’t help but notice that Lila didn’t either. Did she realize who the black dragon was? How much did she trust Nyssa? Without being sure, he kept quiet for the moment, both about Embron and the gem of the hoard.
He targeted a quiet and secluded corner of the park, landed and shifted shape quickly. Lila’s smile of approval gave him a jolt of pleasure, one that was heightened by the firestorm.
“If anyone took your picture over the Cloisters, people would assume the image was altered,” she said.
“That was my thinking,” Rhys admitted. “I’d rather not have Erik accuse me of indiscretion.”
Nyssa looked between them, but Lila waved off any question she would have asked. “Dragon honor code,” she said. “Not relevant right now.”
“There’s a subway station over there,” Rhys said and they began to walk toward it. The wind was cool and it looked like it might snow. They almost had the park to themselves, just as he’d hoped. The gardens were past their best, too, and a lot of the plants had been trimmed back for the winter.
It was enough to make him miss the Mediterranean sunshine.
Rhys turned up his collar and set a brisk pace, glad that the selkies kept up. He had a definite sense of urgency, as if something was unraveling almost before his eyes. His phone chimed a couple of times, a missed call and an incoming message, but he had things to do.
He had to get back to his bike, then home to retrieve the gem of the hoard. He’d feel better with it in his pocket, even than leaving it in his lair. He couldn’t really believe that he’d forgotten about it, but the firestorm was demanding. He still had to convince Lila about the merit of partnership, too. He wasn’t like Nereus, intent on his plan to the exception of all others, and she had to realize that, too. She let him hold her hand, so he counted that as progress.
He’d take encouragement wherever he could find it at this point.
Rhys was simmering.
Lila could feel his protective anger and could just barely see the blue shimmer that appeared when he shifted shape. His reaction to Nereus starting an earthquake was perfectly reasonable in her view, and she had no way to explain the tantrum of the King Under the Seas. It had been a selfish choice and a careless one.
It was also impossible to miss that Nyssa had conceived because Nereus hadn’t really given her a choice. That was the exact opposite of Rhys’ decision—even though the firestorm was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for him, and Nereus could create children whenever he wanted, with whoever he wanted.
Intriguingly, even though Rhys was probably as powerful as Nereus, he was a lot more careful with his strength. He controlled it, because he was protective—not just of her, but of Nyssa, too, and all the treasures of the earth. Nereus thought only of himself. When he was angry, it was usually because he wasn’t getting his way, although Lila couldn’t think of many others than herself who had defied him.
He could be terrifying and the results of his actions could be worse.
Rhys was different. She impulsively slipped her hand into his, wanting to apologize for Nereus but knowing his actions weren’t her responsibility. Rhys gave her hand a little squeeze, then folded his grip around her fingers.
Like she was a prize to be defended.
She smiled despite herself and her heart warmed. “Could you hear him?” she asked.
Rhys nodded. “It’s like old-speak. I heard you that first time, too.”
“Could it have been Embron who visited Nereus’ palace?”
“Embron?” Nyssa asked.
“The guy who abducted me from the restaurant. He’s a dragon shifter.” Lila saw Rhys look between her and Nyssa and she realized that he wasn’t sure whether to speak or not. “You can trust Nyssa.”
He nodded agreement and she liked that he accepted her word. “He’s black in his dragon form, plus the other Pyr said he dove into the sea in pursuit of the gem of the hoard. It certainly could have been him.”
“Plus he’s nasty,” Nyssa said. “I’m glad you got away from him.”
Lila shivered. “He’s nastier than you think. He made me watch as he burned my skin.”
“No!” Nyssa said in shock. “But why?”
“He wanted to know what I knew about the gem of the hoard. I told him the story of the Envoy and the sinking of the Isle of the Blessed.”
“The who and the what?” Rhys asked.
“Nereus’ kingdom. Well, it is now,” Lila explained. “I’ll tell you the whole story but the important thing is that I don’t know where the gem of the hoard is. That’s what they really wanted to know—”
“They?” Nyssa asked.
“The Dark Queen was there, too.”
“That alliance isn’t good news,” Nyssa said with heat and Rhys nodded agreement.
“He said something about tracing every stray bit of magick. He wasn’t pleased that I couldn’t give him the location of the gem of the hoard.”
“So, he tortured you.” Nyssa shivered again.
“But I know where it is,” Rhys said and Lila turned to him with astonishment. “It was what he wanted as ransom for your release,” he explained. “Which is why I have it. The Pyr gave it to me to get you back.”
“You have it?” She was astonished.
“Why would they do that?” Nyssa asked.
“Because of the firestorm.” Rhys spoke as if that was self-evident, but Lila knew it wouldn’t be to Nyssa.
“This light is the firestorm. It means I’m his destined mate and can bear his son,” Lila explained.
Nyssa eyed the sparks shooting between them. “I was wondering about that, but didn’t want to say anything. Are you going to?”
“I chose not to,” Lila admitted. She felt Rhys’ surprise, but selkies were always honest with each other about matters sexual. She turned to him. “You have it? Really?”
“Really.”
Lila glanced up at the sky, wondering whether Embron would swoop down on them at any moment. It wasn’
t an appealing possibility.
“Apparently, he can’t sense its presence,” Rhys said, which was slightly reassuring. “Neither can I, come to think of it, which is strange since it’s a stone.”
“Should that make sense?” Nyssa asked.
“It’s of the earth,” Lila said. “Rhys has an affinity to the element of earth.” She turned to Rhys again. “But he can sense the firestorm, right? And if it was the ransom he wanted, he might assume you have it.”
Rhys caught his breath, proof he hadn’t considered that yet. “We need to get back to my lair,” he said, moving more quickly.
“What does it look like anyway?” Nyssa asked.
Rhys looked surprised. “Don’t you know?”
“I’ve never seen it,” Lila admitted. “I’ve only heard about it.”
“Me, too,” Nyssa said. “I was a glimmer in my mother’s eye when all that happened to the Isle of the Blessed.”
Again, Rhys looked mystified for a moment. “It’s a sphere of amber. I left it on my kitchen counter.”
The two selkies stared at him as if he’d suddenly spoken in an incomprehensible language. “You left it on the counter?” Lila echoed.
“It’s safe in my hoard, maybe safer than it would have been with me,” Rhys explained. “There’s a dragonsmoke barrier that no other dragon can cross.”
“In either form?” Nyssa asked.
“In any form,” Rhys clarified.
“But what about anyone else?” Lila asked.
“Thieves come in all shapes and sizes,” Nyssa noted.
Rhys strode more quickly. “It was odd,” he admitted softly. “I walked right past it, without even thinking of bringing it.”
“What happens when a dragon crosses your dragonsmoke?” Nyssa asked.
“It burns,” Rhys said. “It burns like nothing you’ve ever felt before.”
“I think maybe I have,” Lila said drily and Rhys glanced at her.
“Yes. I guess you have.” They reached the sidewalk and the entrance to the subway. Rhys paused there as if uncertain. “I need to go back for my bike,” he said, his gaze clinging to Lila’s in silent query.
“I’m going to Bones,” Nyssa said and dug in her purse for subway fare.
Lila stood, snared by Rhys’ gaze. She didn’t want to mate with Nereus, even for the survival of her kind. She wanted another night with Rhys and suspected she always would.
If she chose to bear his son, she couldn’t be compelled to bear a child by Nereus for at least nine months. And Rhys, she was starting to believe, would never command her or keep her captive or expect her to surrender her independence to him.
A selkie could get used to that.
And the firestorm’s enticing heat had absolutely nothing to do with her thinking. She’d want him even without its insistent sizzle.
Rhys raised a hand, as if he’d sensed that she’d decided, and a cab appeared, heading toward them.
“I’m not going home just yet,” Lila said to Nyssa. “Rhys and I have unfinished business.”
“I’m sure you do,” Nyssa said with a smile.
“Thanks for my bag. Take care.”
The two selkies hugged, then Nyssa waved and went into the subway station.
Rhys and Lila didn’t speak in the cab. They just held hands in the back, the firestorm simmering and burning between them. Lila wished she did have sunglasses. Rhys beguiled the driver once they were beside the bike, although the chaos in the street was almost enough to distract him anyway.
He’d brought a second helmet, which made her smile. They put them on and Lila got on the bike behind him. Rhys was solid and warm, as hard as rock, and she couldn’t resist the temptation to wrap herself around him. She slid her hands around his waist and flattened them against his chest, drawing them together as if she’d fuse them into one.
He felt so good and the firestorm just made that better.
“We’ll end up in the ditch this way,” he muttered and Lila smiled, knowing he liked it even so. The firestorm burned white-hot and shot sparks in every direction. She felt like they’d become a shooting star when he opened the throttle and let the bike engine roar as they headed back downtown.
“Can you tell me the story you told Embron?” he asked, his voice low through the headset. “It might help us to figure out what Embron and the Dark Queen want with the gem of the hoard.”
Lila leaned against him and told him the story, word for word as she’d told it to Embron and Maeve.
The last thing Lila expected was to find a guy on the floor of Rhys’ apartment. He looked like he’d passed out drunk there.
“What was all that about dragonsmoke barriers?” she said, surveying the unconscious man with disapproval. “I thought it would keep intruders out and defend your lair.” The intruder’s aura showed that he’d taken a hit to the head and also that his feet were injured. She narrowed her eyes, recognizing the similarity in the damage to that part of Rhys’ aura.
She would bet that this guy had been stuck in Fae, dancing, too.
“Hadrian!” Rhys said and dropped to his knees beside the intruder. He was wearing a leather jacket and jeans, and was quite well dressed. His hair was auburn and wavy and he looked as if he might be as tall as Rhys when he stood up.
Was he another Pyr?
Or an employee of the restaurant?
“He’s not rotating between forms, at least,” Rhys said with relief.
He was Pyr, then.
Rhys touched Hadrian’s shoulder and that Pyr stirred, as if awakening from a deep sleep. Lila saw the lump on the back of his head just as he groaned. Rhys helped him to sit up and Hadrian winced as he tentatively fingered the back of his own head.
“What happened? I thought you were on the roof, breathing smoke,” Rhys said.
“I was, until Alasdair came.” This dragon shifter had a British accent. Lila stood back and listened, her gaze returning repeatedly to the aura around his feet. She hated the sight of those silver shimmers of Fae light. “He said you forgot the gem of the hoard and asked us to bring it to you at Reliquary.”
“I did forget it, but I never saw Alasdair.” Rhys frowned. “And I was never at Reliquary.” He pivoted to look at the empty counter and his lips thinned.
“Should I know where that is?” Lila asked.
“It’s the antique shop in Soho, apparently run by the vampires in the Coven of Mercy.”
“Of course,” Lila said as if that was self-evident, but no one even smiled. Rhys was helping Hadrian to get up. The other Pyr sat down hard on the couch as if he couldn’t make it much further.
“Then Kade came, too.”
Who was Kade?
“Kade?” Rhys’ tone was tinged with alarm. “I thought he was allied with the Dark Queen. I thought he was with her.”
Hadrian shook his head, then frowned in regret at the move. “He said he’d made a mistake. He wanted to come in and tell me about it so I changed the permissions on the dragonsmoke...
Rhys swore. He strode into the bedroom and rummaged in a drawer, then swore again. When he came back into the main room his eyes were flashing and there was a blue shimmer around his perimeter.
“Don’t tell me he took the stylus,” Hadrian said and Rhys nodded.
“What stylus?” Lila asked, but they ignored her.
“I’m sorry, Rhys...”
“Don’t worry about it. What’s done is done.” Rhys was curt. “The question is what we’re going to do now.”
“You’re going to tell me what all of that means,” Lila said, wondering whether he would.
But Rhys did. He spoke quickly. “Kade is another Pyr who had a stylus that let him create a portal to Fae wherever he wanted. The Dark Queen gave it to him, apparently.” Lila felt her eyes widen at this news. “He opened the portal at Bones, and after we were lost in Fae, Drake took it from him. Kade disappeared then and no one knew where he was. The stylus was entrusted to me, to help find Theo, who is still trapped in Fae.�
��
Lila had to sit down. One part of this story was impossible to believe. “You volunteered to cross the threshold to Fae again? Even after what happened to your feet?”
“Yes,” he said with a resolve that was becoming familiar. These Pyr were all about honor and duty, and defending those they loved. Lila would have admired that more if it had been less likely to put Rhys in danger. “Finding Theo is more important than anything I might have to endure.”
The nobility of his nature and his commitment to his fellows amazed Lila. Her fear for him surprised her with its power and stole away any protest she might have made.
Was she falling for this dragon shifter?
Lila didn’t want to think about that. “But you wanted to conceive a son,” she reminded him. “Is this why you thought you might not be around to defend him?”
Rhys looked contrite. “That’s part of it. You know about her plan already.”
Lila wondered whether she should reconsider her own inclination to satisfy the firestorm and bear that son. It didn’t seem as if any of the options available were very good.
Which just meant she had to do what she could to influence the probabilities.
She needed to join Rhys’ team.
Embron followed the burn of the firestorm to Rhys’ home and inhaled sharply at the scent of the dragonsmoke barrier. He was learning to hate that stuff. He lingered in the shadows of an alley across the street and watched the windows of the apartment, noting the darkened restaurant on the ground floor.
Where was the gem of the hoard? He had to believe that Rhys had obtained it, in order to pay the ransom for his destined mate. The ransom hadn’t been paid. Did Rhys still have it?
The light of the firestorm revealed that Rhys and Lila were in the apartment, and Embron heard their voices as they talked with another of the Pyr. Three of them. He had no concerns about the selkie, but confronting two Pyr in the lair of one of them, after he fought through dragonsmoke, had lower odds of success than he liked.
He kept his hand in the pocket of his trouser, his fingers wrapped around the crystal orb from Regalia. He’d tested the ability of the magick to dissipate dragonsmoke in Vermont and it had failed to make an impact. It was only the one of the two orbs remaining and he was aware that its store of magick was ebbing away. He’d gathered it with such care. Who was stealing it from him?
Dragon's Heart (The DragonFate Novels Book 3) Page 19
