by Donna Grant
“He’s right, Henry. I know she’s beautiful, but all Fae are that stunning. If you continue to sleep with a Fae, you’ll die.”
Henry didn’t want to talk about Rhi and their doomed relationship any longer. He cleared his throat and said, “I’m heading into London to track down which of the ten were responsible for betraying me to Ulrik.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Con asked.
“I’ll let you know if there is.”
“Please do. We owe you for all that you’ve done for us.”
Henry was taken aback by the King of Kings’ declaration. From all he’d learned in his time with the Kings, Con wasn’t one to so blithely say such words. “It shouldn’t take me long. I’ll check in with Banan.”
Con waited until Henry left before he shifted his gaze to Darius. “Something on your mind?”
“So Rhi comes and goes as she wants?”
Con closed the file he had been reading and leaned back in his chair. “She’s as she’s always been.”
“I see.”
“Our conversation earlier has brought to my attention that I’ve been lax.”
Darius snorted. “You? Lax? I doubt it. What are you going to do? Wake every King who is sleeping?”
“Aye.”
Darius sat up, his face a mask of confusion. “Are you serious?”
“I am. I’d like you to begin waking them. Tap whoever else you want to aid you, but make sure everyone wakes. We’re going to need them in this war.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Lily couldn’t look away from the three colossal silver dragons sleeping so peacefully within the cage deep underground in the mountain she had stared at so often from the store.
“This is what I promised to show,” Rhys said from beside her.
“I saw you instead.” She glanced at him. “Can I touch them?”
“Of course.”
Lily recalled how warm Rhys’s scales had been. She gently rested her hand upon the head of the closest Silver. Once more the scales were warm.
“You’re right, you know,” Rhys said. “We do have many enemies. There’s a war brewing, Lily. You saw just the tip of what is coming.”
Ever since she’d been brought back from the dead, she was slowly forgetting what the place she had been in was like. All the fear she’d felt within that place was also leaving her. To think that fear had almost made her walk away from Rhys. Had he not pressed her, had he not spoken such sweet words, she might have walked away.
“Do you want me to leave?”
Rhys grasped her face in his hands and stared deeply into her eyes. “Never. I want you as mine for always, but you need to know what you’ll be getting.”
She pulled her hand away from the Silver and faced Rhys as he dropped his arms. “Then tell me.”
“The Kings doona marry. We have a ceremony that bonds us to our mates and vice versa.”
“All right,” she said with a nod. “That sounds simple enough.”
He looked down for a moment. “You’ll be marked with a tattoo of a dragon eye on your arm, and you’ll become immortal. The only way you die is if I die.”
Lily raised both brows. “Wow.”
“That’s the upside. There’s a down.”
“Of course,” she mumbled. Lily took a deep breath and waited for him to explain.
“There are no children.”
Her disappointment was intense. She had always dreamed of children. “At all?”
“It takes a lot for a mortal to become pregnant with our children. Worse than that is that most times there is a miscarriage within a few weeks. In the verra rare instances that a mortal doesna miscarry, the child is stillborn.”
This certainly was a downside. No wonder Lily never saw any of the women pregnant around Dreagan.
“That’s no’ all,” Rhys continued. He turned his face to the side to look at the Silvers. “Your family can no’ know of us. Even if our secret is kept, they’ll begin to notice you doona age.”
“Which means I’ll need to sever all ties with them?”
Rhys nodded slowly. “Cassie, Elena, Jane, Denae, Sammi, and Iona had no family to speak of. Shara does, but they’re Dark and already know of us. Your situation is one we’ve no’ encountered before.”
For four years all Lily thought about was returning to her family. How could she sever ties with them for good, especially now that Kyle was dead? It was Henry who had informed them that Kyle was killed in an accident, his body burned beyond recognition. There would be a funeral to attend as well.
“I know it’s a lot to ask. I willna willingly let you leave, but it is your family,” Rhys said. “I’ll continue to fight for you and our love.”
Lily thought about walking away from Rhys, and she knew she would never bear it. Nor could she lie to her family over and over. “I’m not ready to say good-bye to my family, but I also can’t leave you.”
“I understand your need to be with your family after how you left four years ago. I need you to also understand that we need our secret to remain that way. Guy can wipe your memories of everything you know about Dreagan as well as anything about Dennis from your mind. That should keep Ulrik from you.”
“So I’ll forget about you,” she said slowly. “Will you have your memories wiped?”
Rhys shook his head.
“I didn’t lie earlier. All of this frightens me tremendously. I don’t know how I would fit into this world, but I don’t want to leave it. I love you, Rhys. I look into your eyes and I see our future there.”
“Then be my mate, Lily. We’ll figure out about your family along the way. I willna lie. Ulrik is out for blood, and he’ll stop at nothing to bring us all down. If you’re mated to me, you’ll be hunted just like I will.”
Lily lifted her chin. “Then let them come. I’ll have my Dragon King beside me. Children or not, my family or not, my place is beside you on Dreagan.”
Rhys seized her mouth in a fiery kiss. She clung to him, her body a mass of need.
Suddenly Rhys lifted his head. “In one day I lost you, and then got you back. You mean everything to me, Lily. You are my soul, my breath. My heart.”
“And you are my soul, my breath, my heart. And my dragon.”
Lily glanced at the Silvers and walked with Rhys from the cavern. Whatever came tomorrow, she knew her place—right beside her Dragon King.
EPILOGUE
A week later …
Rhys stood in the mountain staring at the tunnel that Lily would walk through at any moment. He’d wanted to give her more time before the mating ceremony, but Lily had been insistent on doing it sooner rather than later.
He certainly wasn’t going to complain. As soon as they were mated, she would be immortal. After a bit of questioning, Rhys discovered it was Ulrik who had brought Lily back to life. Rhys still didn’t know why Ulrik did it, but he wanted to know. The few instances he’d thought of going to Perth, he only had to look at Lily and feel their love.
Whatever curse Ulrik gave him was broken, and Lily was alive. Rhys wasn’t about to forgive or forget what Ulrik had done, but love had a way of putting things into perspective—like spending hours making love to Lily instead of planning Ulrik’s death.
As much as he hated it, the other females talked to Lily extensively about what it meant to be bound to a King. Rhys worried for all of a minute that she would change her mind. Then he looked into her eyes and saw the love there.
Rhys smiled as soon as he saw her. His breath locked in his chest as he took in the vision that was his woman. The gown was a soft yellow with a band of intricate crystals showing off her tiny waist. The sleeves draped off her shoulders in soft pleats and were held in place by a single strap of yellow. The neck of the dress crisscrossed to show just a hint of her breasts. With her long black hair gathered in a messy updo, Rhys was held mesmerized.
“You’re a vision,” he said when she reached him.
Her dark eyes were glowing with excitem
ent. “And you look handsome as ever in your kilt.”
Rhys adjusted his tux jacket and smiled when he saw how her dress exposed the scars she’d hidden for so long. She had come a long way from the timid woman who’d first arrived at Dreagan.
He took her hands and felt something against his finger. When he looked down he noted the five-carat cushion-cut yellow sapphire set in a thin band of platinum. Rhys gave Con a nod of appreciation. None of the Kings knew what gift Con would give the mates, but Con always managed to get just the right thing for each of them.
“Ready?” Rhys asked Lily.
Her smile widened. “Try and stop me.”
They faced Con together as the ceremony began.
* * *
Warrick stood at the very back. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate or approve of Rhys and Lily’s union, it was just that he chafed at being around so many. None of the Kings understood why he felt this way, and he didn’t bother to tell them.
He waited to witness Rhys and Lily share a kiss and the dragon mark to appear on her upper arm before Warrick turned on his heel and walked out of the cavern. There would be celebrating all night long in the manor. It made him itch just thinking about it.
Warrick began to shed his clothes when he came to the entrance of the mountain. With a thought, he shifted into dragon form and took to the skies. It was the only place he felt truly at home—and at peace.
He was alone with only his thoughts and the moon and stars. It also gave him a chance to look in on the humans, who fascinated him to no end. Other Kings despised them, but Warrick found them intriguing. Not that he would ever tell the others that.
The one thing he never had to worry about was Con sending him on any kind of mission with other Kings. The short one he willingly went on with Rhys had been enough to prove he was much better off by himself.
As it had always been.
As it should be.
* * *
Rhi wandered the ruins of Pompeii. She had long been fascinated by how beautifully the city had been preserved by the ash of the volcano. It was a pity that none survived. She remembered Pompeii before the volcano. It had been a vibrant, beautiful city laid to waste in a matter of hours.
Which would be what happened soon to the entire realm. Perhaps she should go to Usaeil and convince the queen to have all Light Fae leave the realm for good. That meant she would leave behind her lover and any last shred of hope of rekindling their love.
“Perhaps that’s for the best,” she told a bird who’d landed on a stone near her.
The bird flew away, and that’s when she spotted Balladyn. He stood at the far end of the road watching her. His long black and silver hair was free of any braids. He wore black pants and a dark gray shirt.
Rhi was tired of running from him, tired of running from the darkness within her. What had it gained her? She was welcomed by only a few at Dreagan, and her lover still didn’t want her.
Balladyn held out his hand and simply waited.
Rhi turned away, trying to fight against his pull. After several minutes, she gave up. Rhi walked to Balladyn and stopped just short of his outstretched hand. She looked into his red eyes, then placed her hand in his.
Read on for an excerpt from the next book by Donna Grant
SOUL SCORCHED
Coming soon from St. Martin’s Paperbacks
Darcy jumped at the sound that came from the conservatory. She got to her feet, her heart pumping wildly. Then a tall form came into sight.
“Warrick,” she whispered.
Her smiled died before it got going when she let her gaze run over him. Blood splattered his shirt, or what was left of his shirt. It was torn and ripped so that it barely hung on his shoulders.
His gaze was direct, unblinking as he stared at her as if he hadn’t just been in a battle with the Dark Fae.
Without thinking, she ran to him looking for injuries. She gently moved aside his still wet shirt in case there was a wound beneath, but all she saw was skin and the black and red ink of the tat.
Then she recalled what he was and his immortality.
Darcy dropped her arms and met his cobalt gaze as he remembered the fear that had consumed her not that long ago. “They surrounded you, and then I couldn’t see you.”
“The fight wouldna have lasted that long had I been in dragon form,” he said matter of factly.
“I was scared out of my mind, and you make a joke?”
“It isna a jest. In my real form, I could do much more damage.”
She shuddered, remembering Ulrik’s memories she saw and the sheer size of some of the dragons. She turned away, embarrassed to let her emotions get the better of her. “Of course. I forgot.”
“Where you worried for me, lass?”
She halted and looked over her shoulder at his softly spoken words. He actually sounded surprised. “Yes.”
After everything she said to him, he returned to the shop, to her. There was no anger in his visage or his voice, as if her harsh words never happened.
He risked his own life for her. Though he was immortal, there was no doubt the Dark could do damage to the Kings.
“I’ll get you out of Edinburgh if that’s what you want,” Warrick said. “Damn Con and what he has planned for you.”
Darcy was so taken aback that, for a moment, she couldn’t find any words. “I thought Con wanted information.”
“If you give it, then Con will have it. But I willna keep you here with this many Dark just so Con can have some tidbit on Ulrik.”
“Even if that tidbit might be the difference in Con winning over Ulrik?”
Warrick rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and sighed.
Just as Darcy thought. “Ulrik is gaining in this war, isn’t he? You need information to win.”
“There’s a chance that even if I get you to Skye, the Dark will attack you there.”
She snorted. “They could try.”
“You’ve never faced the Fae, Darcy. You doona know what it means to fight them. As powerful as Skye magic is, it isna enough to keep the Dark out.”
Could Darcy bring such repulsive terrors to Skye? To her family? Just to save her own ass? No, she couldn’t. Regardless of how scared she was, this fiasco couldn’t reach Skye.
“Can the Dark hurt you?”
Warrick made a face, confusion marring his features. “They can no’ kill us.”
“But they can hurt you?”
“Aye.”
It felt like someone kicked her in the stomach. “You were injured out there, weren’t you?”
“I’m fine.”
But he wasn’t before. All she had to do was look at his clothes to see how vicious the battle had been. He stood alone against the Dark while being bombarded with their magic.
How many wounds had he sustained that healed before he came to see her? She inwardly cringed just thinking about it. And she was the one who sent him out because of her anger.
“So their magic can harm you?” she asked.
“It can weaken us, and they can also make it where we can no’ shift into dragon form for a while.”
“What else?” She didn’t know how she knew there was more, but she did.
Warrick blew out a harsh breath. “During the Fae Wars, they captured two Kings. Both lost their minds. We had to kill them.”
Darcy’s legs grew weak. She grabbed hold of the edge of her desk to keep standing. The thought of Warrick being captured and tortured by the Dark made her sick to her stomach. That couldn’t happen to such a proud, powerful man. “I don’t want that to happen to you.”
“It willna.”
She stared at him aghast. “I’m sure the two Kings they captured thought the same thing.”
Warrick shrugged, as if it happened every day. “It’s part of being who we are.”
“You and Thorn should leave before neither of you can.”
It was his turn to look at her as if she’d sprouted wings. “You can no’ be serious.”<
br />
“I am. I’m not going to bring this,” she said, gesturing to the front where the Dark were, “to Skye. I’m also not going to be responsible for the Dark taking you or Thorn.”
“Remaining here is mine and Thorn’s decision. No’ yours.”
Darcy shook her head in dismay. “You have no idea how it felt to watch them surround you as you stood out there alone against them. I thought you were gone!”
Her words hung in the air for long moments as they stared at each other. Warrick’s cobalt eyes were bright, his gaze intense.
All Darcy could think about was his kisses. The rest—Con, Ulrik, the Dark, the elders on Skye, and even her family—faded away.
“I promised I would keep you safe. I’ll no’ leave until you are.”
Darcy rushed to him, throwing her arms around his neck as she planted her lips against his. He enfolded her in his embrace, holding her tight as he tilted his head and parted his lips.
A low, deep moan rumbled his chest as they kissed. She slid her hands into his wet hair and sank into the kiss until she was living, breathing him.
It didn’t take long for the flames of desire to overtake them. Darcy was teased by the bits of his skin she felt against her from his torn shirt. She reached between them while they kissed and ripped his shirt in half. There was a smile on his lips as he let it fall to the floor.
Their kisses became heated, frantic as they sought to get closer to the other. With a flick of his hand, he unbuttoned her jeans and had them unzipped. Then his hand was down her pants cupping her sex.
Darcy gasped for breath as he kissed across her jaw and down her throat as his fingers began to lightly stroke her through her panties.
She clung to him, her breath locked in her lungs at the force of desire that tightened low in her belly. His tongue was hot against her skin, his lips soft.
In the next instant, his hand was gone, leaving her squeezing her legs together to hold back the tide of need that enveloped her.
Her shirt was pulled over her head so quickly she had no idea what he was about. There was a ripping noise as her bra followed. Then he jerked her against his chest, skin to skin.
