Dragonfire--A Dark Kings Novel

by Donna Grant

  V nodded. “It was a Druid, along with Ulrik’s uncle, who convinced the woman Ulrik was to marry to murder him. Con found out, and we stopped it by killing her.”

  “But Ulrik’s anger was more than we bargained for,” Roman continued. “He lashed out at the humans, which began the war.”

  Sabina couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “It’s obvious you should’ve annihilated us. Why are we still here?”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Why are we still here?

  Sabina’s question was a fair one. Roman wasn’t the only Dragon King who had debated their decision throughout the years. “Our vow,” he replied.

  Her gaze shifted from him to V and back again. “You let us win?”

  V let out a bark of laughter. “No’ hardly. Ulrik’s attack divided us. Some remained with Con, while others went with Ulrik. Thousands of mortals were killed. But so were dragons.”

  “Because those with Con asked their dragons to protect humans, and those same mortals killed them,” Roman replied when he saw the question forming in Sabina’s eyes.

  She sat unmoving for a moment. “I see. Where are all the dragons? Please tell me they aren’t dead.”

  “No,” Camlo said and shook his head. “They left.”

  Roman looked at Camlo and smiled sadly. “We sent them to another realm to protect them. Then we hid on Dreagan until humans forgot about us.”

  “Can the dragons return?” Sabina asked.

  V looked down at his hands. “No’ without my sword.”

  “I don’t understand,” she said. “Can’t any King use their sword?”

  Roman moved to stand beside V and put his hand on his shoulder for a moment. “When we shifted that first time, each of us received two things. One is a distinct tattoo. The other, a sword. If two Kings fight in human form, they do so with their swords in order to get the kill. Otherwise, we battle in our true forms.”

  “As dragons,” she murmured.

  “Our swords are as different as our tattoos and are an extension of us. But for V, his is even more special because his blood is part of the metal.”

  Sabina’s forehead creased as she digested his words. “Why only V’s?”

  “Because I can call the dragons home with my sword. No matter where they are, no matter how far away, they will hear its call and return.”

  She shifted in her chair, tucking one leg underneath her. “Did you use it to send them away?”

  “That was done with our combined magic,” Roman explained. “Each Dragon King gathered, and we opened a dragon bridge. We can open another and hope the dragons see it, but since we’ve no idea where they are, we need V’s sword.”

  “And it’s not exactly time for them to return, so you’ve not been in a hurry,” Sabina concluded with a nod.

  V clenched his fists. “Something like that.”

  “There’s more.” Roman waited until her head turned to him before he said, “Because of the war, Ulrik was banished. He’s recently returned to Dreagan and is once more with us. Yet, we’re not the only beings here.”

  Camlo whimpered. “Bad people with red eyes.”

  “The Dark Fae,” V replied. “They also have silver in their black hair. Steer clear of them since they feed off humans by sucking their souls while having sex.”

  “That’s nice,” Sabina stated sarcastically. She shuddered. “If there’s dark, then there are usually light.”

  Roman bowed his head in acknowledgement. “There are Light Fae. One is a verra good friend of ours. Her name is Rhi. The Light are only permitted to have sex with a human once.”

  “How considerate.” Sabina bit her lip and glanced at Camlo, who was listening intently. “You already told me of the Druids. Is there more?”

  “One other,” V said.

  Roman glanced at his friend. “The Warriors. They came into being when Rome invaded Scotland, and the Druids gathered together and called up primeval gods from Hell that the strongest warriors in each family accepted into themselves in order to fight Rome. They won, but the gods refused to return to their prison.”

  Sabina blew out a breath. “Wow. Are they friends of yours?”

  “They are,” V replied.

  Roman leaned back against the wall. “Just like the Fae, the Druids have their good and evil factions. We never paid much attention to the Druids because they were no’ a threat. And while we were involved in the Fae Wars when they attempted to take over this realm, our magic is more powerful than theirs.”

  “So we do enough to keep the Fae in line.” V shook his head, an irritated look on his face. “We should’ve kicked their arses out long ago.”

  Roman didn’t want to get into a debate about the Fae because it always went back to Rhi. She couldn’t be the only Fae allowed on the realm, and there was no way they would make her leave.

  “A little while ago, Con sent Dmitri back to the islands off the coast of Scotland that were his domain when word reached us that a dragon skeleton had been found.” Roman crossed his arms over his chest. “We knew that was no’ possible because once we sent the dragons away, we destroyed the dead ones to leave no trace for the humans to find.”

  Sabina wrinkled her nose. “You might have, but you look at any culture around the world, and there is some type of dragon myth.”

  V shrugged as if to say, “Of course there is.”

  “The fact is, dragon bones were found by an archeologist named Faith Reynolds,” Roman continued. “Dmitri helped to keep Faith safe because the Dark Fae have been trying to expose us to humans for years now. There was a video making the rounds a wee bit ago.”

  Sabina looked helplessly at him. “I don’t follow the news, so I didn’t see anything.”

  “You’re one of the few, then. After Dmitri and Faith dug up the bones, Faith found a small wooden dragon carved to look exactly like Con.”

  Sabina’s eyes widened. “How is that possible?”

  V crossed his ankle on his knee. “Because magic was used. They incapacitated Dmitri’s White dragon so that it couldna answer its King’s call, and then they killed it. They used magic to hide the skeleton from us.”

  “But why?” she asked.

  Roman glanced out the window at the growing darkness. “That was our question. We soon learned that wasna the extent of their magic. The wooden dragon is also a weapon. When a King touches it, they want to kill mortals. When a human touches it, they want to kill us.”

  Sabina’s frown deepened. “I thought you said your magic was the strongest.”

  “It is,” Roman answered. “But this power is different. This magic is from Light and Dark Fae as well as drough and mie.”

  “Bad and good Druids, respectively,” V added.

  Sabina’s expression was one of shock. “They joined forces?”

  Roman shrugged one shoulder. “Apparently, but we’re no’ sure how. There were no Fae on this realm during our war with the humans.”

  “Obviously, there were,” she said.

  V snorted cynically. “Precisely. I believe it’s that same magic that’s being used to block my memories of where I was when my sword was stolen—and it kept me from following the thieves.”

  “Not good,” Camlo said with a shake of his head. He held Roman’s gaze for a long moment. “Not good.”

  “We know,” Roman told him. “But we have to find those that did this.”

  Sabina leaned an elbow on the arm of the chair. “Can you? I gather that the Druids aren’t immortal. Are the Fae?”

  “Druids doona live forever.” V paused, then said, “Unless they have help from a Dragon King.”

  Roman thought about the rings Con had given the Druids at MacLeod Castle so they could live alongside their Warrior husbands. “The Fae are no’ immortal either. They can be killed, but they do live an excessively long time.”

  “Now you know all about us,” V said and slapped his hands on his legs.

  Sabina’s dark eyes were on Roman when she said, “I highly do
ubt that. But this is a start. This Druid-Fae mix of magic intrigues me.”

  “Intrigues?” V issued another snort as he got to his feet. “Shite, lass. It scares the hell out of me. And for a Dragon King to say that … you should be worried.”

  Roman watched V walk from the house with Camlo quickly following. Once alone with Sabina, he dropped his arms and took a seat on the sofa. “We might be powerful, but we have enemies.”

  “Anyone in power has enemies,” she replied.

  “I suppose that’s true.”

  She laughed softly. “You don’t see it because you no longer think of yourselves in power because you hide who you are, but it’s the strength of your magic that says otherwise.”

  He had to admit, she had a point. “In all the years we’ve known the Fae and fought against the Dark, no one has said anything about this mix of magic. The Dark hate us, but we’ve known that.”

  “How do you know the mixes of magic?”

  “Rhi.”

  Sabina raised a dark brow. “You trust her?”

  “Implicitly. There’s no reason for Rhi to lie about something like this. She’s a friend.”

  “How is she your friend?”

  “She was once a lover to … well, another Dragon King, but he ended it.”

  Sabina asked, “Does Rhi still love her King?”

  “Aye.”

  “Then there’s your motive for her lying.”

  Roman shook his head. “I can understand why you would say that, but you doona know who Rhi is. She is loyal to a fault.”

  “Ever hear the old adage of a woman scorned?”

  “Aye,” he replied with a smile.

  “Is Rhi often at Dreagan?”

  Roman nodded.

  Sabina studied him closely. “There aren’t many women who can love someone and still be around them or their friends without feeling resentment and lashing out.”

  “Aye.” Roman thought back to a conversation he’d had with Rhi not that long ago. “I had that same thought once and asked Rhi how she was able to continue being around us and helping when we asked. She told me that in order for her to get on with her life, she compartmentalizes things.”

  Sabina thought about that for a moment. “I could see how that might work. She takes her lover and being jilted and puts them in a box, mentally closing the lid on it. I did something similar when Mom was sick. I had to be strong for Camlo. It wouldn’t do him any good to see me falling apart, so I put all those feelings away and only took them out late at night when I was alone. Same when she died.”

  “That’s Rhi. Every once in a while, she takes the lid off and delves into those feelings.”

  Sabina’s lips turned downward. “That will only work for so long. What happens when she can’t put the lid back on? What happens when she can no longer compartmentalize?”

  He shrugged helplessly because he had no answer. It had never dawned on him that such a thing could happen. Rhi was strong. She’d endured thousands of years with her pain.

  But things were shifting for her, and not in a good way thanks to Usaeil. Rhi was already on edge. It was something the Kings were concerned about, especially Rhys, who was one of those closest to her. He and Phelan spoke almost daily, but no one had any kind of answer for what to do.

  V thought Rhi’s cure would be for her to fight Usaeil, but there was a good chance that if Rhi went up against the Light queen alone, Rhi would die.

  “Can you fight this Druid-Fae mix of magic?” Sabina asked.

  Roman was yanked from his thoughts. “It looks like I’m going to find out. That’s what V has been doing. Each time he touches Camlo, he’s given more of his memories, and his dragon magic is eroding whatever blocks were put in place. We had no idea magic had been used on him, or we would’ve been fighting against it this entire time.”

  “It looks like we need to go to Iceland to figure out the next step.”

  He looked down at his hands. It was the first time in eons that he saw blood on them. That’s what the thought of his homeland did to him.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  She was going on a trip. An actual expedition. Sabina wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she was excited to see another country and have her brother along.

  On the other, she was with Dragon Kings, beings that had been prophesied to cause death and destruction. Not to mention that she was leaving her home.

  There was so much that could go wrong. She knew little about Roman and V, and it frightened her how easily she trusted them—because she normally distrusted everyone.

  What made them different? Why did she want to be near them? Well, it was Roman she wanted to be next to. V was nice, but there was something about him that she sensed could explode—or implode—at any moment. It also didn’t help that she knew he was Vlad.

  The man all the vampire myths had originated from was befriending her brother. It boggled her mind. And Camlo was enamored with V. Not that she could blame him. Roman and V were dragons, after all.

  She wouldn’t believe any of it if her gran hadn’t told her the story so many years ago. It had never entered Sabina’s mind that her gran had made it up or was jesting. Even at a young age, Sabina had known the impact of the story and how important it was.

  Had her gran known Sabina’s life would lead her straight into the path of a Dragon King—the very King whose sword had been taken nonetheless?

  Sabina looked up to find Roman staring at his palms, his chest rising and falling rapidly as if he had run a great distance. Whatever he saw, he didn’t like. She fought not to rise and go to him, to take his hand in hers and read it—and divine the parts of his past that he hadn’t told her.

  The longer she gazed at him, the more it was obvious that he didn’t want to go to Iceland. Why wouldn’t he wish to return to his homeland?

  Suddenly, he lifted his head, his sea green eyes meeting hers. Whatever he felt, he kept locked away, showing very little. Was it because she was reading too much into his silence? Or because he truly wanted to keep something hidden?

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  He fisted his hands before relaxing them. “I will be.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  There was such a long pause that she thought he might tell her, but ultimately, he shook his head. Disappointment filled her. She’d gotten a small taste of the Dragon Kings’ life, and she found it fascinating, scary, and quite sad.

  Which made her want to know more.

  “When do you think we’ll leave?” she asked.

  “Soon. I’ll no’ keep V waiting any longer.”

  “Why do you call him V?”

  Roman’s brow furrowed as he glanced toward the door where Camlo had gone outside with V. “Habit. We have nicknames for some. We call Warrick War sometimes. We’ll tease Nikolai with Nikki just to irritate him. Sebastian is Bast. Halden is Hal.”

  “How many Kings are there?”

  He sat back and made a face. “Much more than that.”

  “Are any of you … married?” She wanted to take back the words and rearrange them so they didn’t make her sound so desperate. Then again, was there a way to ask such a question without sounding that way?

  “Aye. At last count, sixteen Kings have taken mates, and there are another three planning to take their vows.”

  She was mildly shocked at the number. “Sixteen? So each of them is now mated for life?”

  “That’s right. There’s no divorce for us.”

  “What if the woman wants out?”

  He gave a shake of his sandy blond head. “No’ possible. It’s why the Kings make sure that they’ve made the right choice. We doona hurry into such things.”

  “Someone has to get it wrong, though. I mean, it happens.”

  “A King knows his mate, lass.”

  Warmth filled her at the endearment. At least she considered it an endearment. “What if the woman gets it wrong?”

  “It’s no’ happened.”<
br />
  “Yet,” she added. “Are you telling me that a King won’t let the woman go if she doesn’t want to be with him anymore?”

  He rested his arm along the back of the sofa. “Of course, no’. If she wants to leave, then she leaves. But that doesna break or erase the vows that are taken.”

  “But none have left yet?”

  “They’ve no’.”

  Then it suddenly hit her. She had assumed the mates were human. “Are there Dragon Queens?”

  There was a sad smile as he shook his head once from side to side. “My sister wanted to be the first. She was strong, but no’ strong enough.”

  “Oh. The magic thing.”

  “Aye,” he replied with a soft chuckle. “There were many incredibly powerful females in each clan, and I think had we no’ sent the dragons away, it was only a matter of time before we had a Queen. I’m no’ sure how long she would’ve remained in power, though.”

  Sabina immediately took offense on behalf of this imaginary Queen. “Why? Because the males wouldn’t be able to handle a woman in power?”

  “Our culture didna look down upon females. They fought alongside us and held positions of power. The simple fact is that the male dragons are bigger and stronger, just like males in most animal species. The power I speak of is part magic, but also strength of body and mind. My sister was one of many who had the magic and the mind, but she lacked the physical power to back it up. Otherwise, Ragna would’ve been a magnificent Queen.”

  It was the first time that he’d given Sabina a glimpse into his past. And she was enthralled. “I would like to meet her.”

  “She would’ve liked you,” he said with a grin.

  Sabina wanted to kick herself for forgetting that his sister was with the others who were sent away. It must have shown on her face because his smile faded.

  “We made a decision to save our clans,” Roman stated.

  She moved her leg from beneath her so her feet were on the floor. “But you had to say goodbye to your family.”

  “Aye. Every King did. There isna a day that goes by that I doona think of them.”

  “Were you close to your sister?”