Torched

by Donna Grant

  Ulrik grew uneasy with such talk. His time of being Con’s brother was long gone. Nothing could change what had happened in the past.

  “Let me come with you,” Con said to Ulrik.

  Ulrik wanted to refuse, but he couldn’t get the words past his lips.

  “We made a good team once,” Con argued. “Unstoppable, they called us. Mikkel has been a thorn in both of our sides for long enough.”

  Anson nodded, a lopsided grin on his face. “You two were relentless. Join forces once more.”

  Ulrik’s gaze looked past them to find Eilish at the opening to the cavern, listening. She gave him a nod, urging him to take the offer. Could he? Should he?

  The others were right. When he and Con fought together, they never lost. Ever. Mikkel wouldn’t stand a chance. And wasn’t that the main goal?

  “Challenge me when we’re done with Mikkel,” Con added.

  “Fine,” Ulrik said. “We’ll go after my uncle.”

  Eilish lifted her chin. “With me.”

  He opened his mouth to reply when she talked over him.

  “This isn’t up for debate,” she continued. “I’m going. Mikkel took my finger rings. He was going to turn me over to my family. I’m going.”

  She turned on her heel and walked away. Ulrik ran a hand down his face and sighed heavily. The woman had a mind of her own.

  “She’s feisty,” Bast said with a grin.

  Anson grunted. “And strong. Not easily manipulated.”

  The look that passed between Con, Bast, and Anson spoke of some deeper meaning. Ulrik wanted to ask what it meant, but he decided to hold his tongue. Not long after, Sebastian and Anson strode out of the cavern.

  Con released a long sigh. “There is something I have to tell you.”

  Ulrik wasn’t sure he was up for much more. “Spit it out, then.”

  “Back then, your woman didna betray you on her own.”

  Ulrik blinked. “Nala? What do you mean?”

  “No one told me she planned to betray you. I learned it on my own.”

  The old hurts and anger returned with a vengeance, but Ulrik held them back. It was time he learned the missing part of the night that changed the course of his life. “Tell me.”

  Con nodded, his lips flattened. “I was having dinner with you. You leaned over to kiss her, and when you looked away, she made a face, as if repulsed.”

  That was difficult for Ulrik to hear. And if it were coming from anyone else, he might call them a liar. But the one thing Con had never done was lie to Ulrik.

  “Go on,” he bade.

  “It didna sit well with me, so I began following her. She would sneak off to visit someone in the village. I never saw who it was, but I overheard them. Whoever it was convinced her to betray you.”

  Ulrik gave a shake of his head, confused. “That doesna make sense. I told her I was immortal.”

  “She probably thought you were lying.”

  “Who would do that?”

  Con slowly walked a few paces to the left. “All this time, it’s still bothered me that someone would do that to you. You went above and beyond with those mortals. The entire village adored you.”

  “Apparently, no’ everyone.”

  Con grunted as he came to a stop. “That’s just it, they did. Including Nala. Until someone poisoned her thoughts. It wasna until quite recently that I began to consider who that person was.”

  Ulrik looked askance at him. “You can no’ mean Mikkel? He couldna talk to a human because he couldna shift. Only Dragon Kings can.”

  “Around that time, I heard rumors that a dragon, though no’ a King, found a way to communicate with mortals. At first, I didna pay attention, but the whispers grew. There was mention of Druid magic, and humans saying that someone was taking over their bodies for a time. Something wasna right about any of it. So I investigated. It’s why I was at your village that night for dinner.”

  “If any dragon could find a way to talk to the humans, it would’ve been Mikkel.”

  “And the Druids were coming into their magic at that time.”

  “Mikkel was so crazed to be a Dragon King, he would’ve grasped for anything,” Ulrik said, running a hand through hair. “He’s been after my throne since his father died.”

  Con scratched his jaw. “It passed to your father.”

  “Aye. And then me. I always said the battle with that neighboring clan who killed my father came out of nowhere. We’d had peace.”

  “Unless Mikkel began the skirmish, thinking with your father gone, he’d be the next King.”

  Ulrik fisted his hands. “Everything makes sense now. But I’m going to get him to confess. Then, I’ll kill him. He’ll never interfere in my life again. Nor will he get the chance to hurt Eilish or any other innocents.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  Ulrik stalked from the cavern. “Let’s find Eilish.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Eilish was within the confines of Dreagan. Smack dab in the middle, surrounded by Dragon Kings. It felt so surreal. And it hadn’t truly hit her until Ulrik woke.

  The relief she’d felt after he opened his eyes quickly turned to irritation when he wanted to leave her out of the fight with Mikkel. There was no way she was going to let that happen. And it wasn’t just what Mikkel had done to her. She wanted to be there for Ulrik—not that he needed her.

  She was returning to Donal when she realized she must have taken a wrong turn in the maze of tunnels. Eilish pivoted and began to retrace her steps when she heard a voice—one that she recognized.

  “You can’t keep me here!”

  She stilled before slowly swiveling her head to look behind her. That British accent was almost as hated as Mikkel’s. She turned and continued down the tunnel, passing several caverns until she found him.

  Stanley Upton.

  At first, she didn’t recognize him. His graying blond hair was in disarray, and his eyes were wild. Though he was well cared for. His clothes were clean, and there was a tray of untouched food on the floor. Yet there were no bars or door at the opening of the cavern.

  “You,” he said and rushed toward the entrance.

  Eilish took an instinctive step back, but she shouldn’t have been worried because he bounced off an invisible barrier.

  “How did you get here?” Upton asked in a hushed voice, his gaze darting around.

  She shrugged. “I strolled in.”

  “You have to get me out before they return.”

  Unable to help herself, Eilish decided to mess with him. “Who?”

  His eyes widened. “Don’t you know where you are?”

  “Yeah. An office building in London.”

  “No. We’re in a cave.”

  Eilish looked around before pointing to her left. “The lift is that way. The water cooler is to my right, and there is a conference room behind me. Not to mention all the cubicles around us. Why don’t you step out of the women’s bathroom, Stanley? There’s a line of people who need to use it. Me included.”

  His mouth moved as he frowned, looking at her as if she were completely off her rocker. “Y—you’re wrong.”

  “Stan, people have been looking for you for days now. Don’t tell me we called the authorities for nothing? If you’ve been hiding in the restroom, they’re going to want to know why.”

  “A dragon took me,” he said, a vein protruding in his forehead.

  It was all Eilish could do not to laugh. “A dragon? You do know they don’t exist, right?”

  “That’s not true. They do. They live on Dreagan, the place we’re standing. And you’re a Druid. You have magic.” He nodded vigorously. “That’s right! Mikkel brought you to us. We put you in a room, and you did some kind of mind thing with Kinsey and Esther so we could get to the Dragon Kings.”

  Eilish shook her head, twisting her lips. “Wow. Have you ever tipped into crazy town. It’s too bad I don’t have magic. Perhaps I could’ve made you give me that raise I asked for last mon
th.”

  “But … no,” Upton stated and took a step back, his face contorted in confusion.

  She peered inside the cavern. “Is Harriett with you? We long thought the two of you had something going on. We haven’t seen her either.”

  “No!” he bellowed, anger finally pushing through. “She’s not with me! She’s probably with Mikkel. You need to find him. The plan was for us to fly to Ireland to meet up with him if anything went wrong.”

  “Impressive,” someone said.

  Eilish turned her head to find Ulrik and Con standing together. Ulrik wore a grin while Con bowed his head in salute to her. She shrugged. “Sorry. I couldn’t resist.”

  Con came to stand beside her. “He’s refused to tell us anything about Harriett or Mikkel. You got what we couldn’t.”

  “Wait, what?” Stanley said as he looked between them. “What’s going on?”

  Ulrik walked to stand on Eilish’s other side. When Upton saw him, he stumbled back so quickly, he nearly fell.

  Stanley pointed at Ulrik, his hand shaking. “Get him away from me.”

  “Where in Ireland were you to meet Mikkel?” Eilish pressed.

  Upton looked away and mumbled to himself, “This isn’t happening. We were supposed to win.”

  “Come on, Stan,” she pressed. “Tell me what we need to know, or I’ll let Ulrik in there with you.”

  Stanley’s head snapped to her. He hesitated, his chest moving up and down rapidly. “We were to send a special message, and Mikkel would arrange transportation from London.”

  “It’ll be a private plane,” Ulrik said to Con.

  Con turned on his heel. “I’ll get Ryder on it.”

  Ulrik put his hand on her back and guided her away while Upton shouted for them to return. Though Eilish wouldn’t mention it, she was happy to see that Ulrik appeared to fit right back in with Con at Dreagan. Because it’s where Ulrik belonged.

  “You did good,” he said.

  She grinned and lifted a shoulder. “As I said, I wanted to have some fun. He’s always been a jerk, thinking that his money and position made him better than anyone else. But why do you need Harriett? You can find Mikkel.”

  “Aye, I can. But while I’m looking, Ryder can search for Harriett, helping to narrow the field. If she went to my uncle, it was because he has plans for her.”

  “Or he could turn her over to the Dark Fae.”

  Ulrik walked her through more tunnels. “That’s definitely a possibility. He will no doubt do that, but he’ll use her first.”

  “For what? He’s already attacked you and taken my finger rings.”

  They finally stopped, and Ulrik faced her. “By now, Mikkel will know that I’m no’ dead. There will be another attack, and he’ll use Harriet. She’s mortal, so she’s expendable in his eyes.”

  “But you don’t care about her.”

  “That’s right. But Con and the other Kings will if she’s a threat to the humans.”

  Eilish sighed loudly. “Shit.” She thought about that a moment. “But Mikkel wouldn’t know I brought you here.”

  “He doesna. Mikkel believes I’ll be weak enough for him to kill. Then he’ll head straight for Dreagan. With the Kings focused elsewhere, there will be few here. He’ll use that to get in and attack Con.”

  She cocked her head to the side as she crossed her arms over her chest. “How do you know this?”

  “I’m a good strategist. And I know my uncle.”

  “But you haven’t seen him in ages. You changed. He could’ve, too.”

  Ulrik shrugged indifferently. “He’s no’ changed enough. In the time I was with him, I learned how he thinks, as well as the moves he’ll make to get ahead.”

  “Are you ever wrong?”

  “Never,” Con said as he walked up.

  Eilish raised a brow at Ulrik. “Well, look at you. You are indeed all that and a bag of chips.”

  The grin Ulrik hurriedly wiped from his face made her smile. It was a vast improvement over him yelling at her to stop when she told him of her love. She’d said it in case she died. Instead, he’d almost been the one to lose his life.

  “We need to plan,” Ulrik said and walked into a brightly lit cavern.

  Con motioned for Eilish to proceed. She dropped her arms and followed Ulrik, looking around to find more of the lights and no cords. Was it dragon magic or the power in the land that kept the lights working? As cool as it was, she couldn’t get past the fact that they hadn’t left the mountain.

  “Why are we doing this here?” she asked.

  Ulrik’s gold gaze landed on her. “What do you mean?”

  She looked at Con. “Why aren’t we in the manor?”

  “Eilish,” Ulrik began.

  She ignored him and stared at Con. “Everyone saw Ulrik. They know you helped him.”

  “That they do,” Constantine said.

  Ulrik spoke before she could. “This is as good a place as any.”

  She slid her gaze from Ulrik to Con. Though the King of Kings had allowed Ulrik to stay and even healed him, Ulrik was still banished. As she digested that, she remained quiet as Ulrik filled them in on what he believed Mikkel’s plans would be.

  “He could use Harriet in a lot of ways,” Con said.

  Ulrik nodded. “It could be in London to pull the Kings far from Dreagan.”

  “No,” Eilish said. “It’ll be in Scotland. Mikkel detests anything to do with this country. He even hides his accent. The Kings love Scotland, so he’ll strike here.”

  Ulrik blew out a breath. “She’s right, but Mikkel will no’ send Harriett to a large city.”

  “It’ll be the village,” Con said and briefly closed his eyes.

  “Close enough to Dreagan so that every King could pitch in to contain Harriett while he sneaks in and readies to fight you. The magic of Dreagan will strengthen him.”

  Eilish smacked her lips. “We can put a big crimp in Mikkel’s plans by taking my rings.”

  “He’ll expect you to be with me,” Ulrik said.

  She grinned. “Unless I’m not.”

  “Meaning?” Con asked.

  “He needs to discover that I’m somewhere else. And by discover, I mean see.”

  Ulrik raised a black brow. “How do you intend to get him to you?”

  “Oh, I don’t think it’ll take much to get his attention. Especially if I do it at Graves with lots of people listening, including his spies.”

  Con turned his gaze to Ulrik. “I like her thinking.”

  “After he sees Eilish, I’ll challenge him,” Ulrik said.

  Eilish kept her smile hidden. If the boys thought they could keep her out of the battle, they were mistaken. “Once Mikkel goes off to fight you, I’ll follow.”

  “With what?” Ulrik asked.

  She lifted her wrist to show him the cuff.

  Con dropped his chin to his chest, but not before she saw the half-smile he attempted to hide from Ulrik.

  “That way, Mikkel thinks he’s only fighting you,” she continued. “He won’t see me coming until after I’ve already taken my rings back.”

  “Then you’ll return to Dreagan,” Ulrik said.

  She wanted to argue, but it was actually a sound plan. Especially since she knew Mikkel didn’t stand a chance with either Ulrik or Con. Though she wouldn’t be in a big hurry to return to Dreagan. She was looking forward to seeing Mikkel get his ass kicked, even if she wasn’t the one delivering the punishment.

  “Deal. Just make him suffer,” she said.

  Violence glittered in Ulrik’s gold depths. “You can count on it.”

  “Where do you want me?” Con asked.

  She found it fascinating to watch the two Kings interacting. Despite the hatred Ulrik claimed he had for Con, they worked well together. There was no animosity from either of them. It gave her a glimpse of the friendship that had once existed between them, a bond that no one thought could break. And it hadn’t. Not really. It had bent to such a degree that it cracked
. But it hadn’t fractured apart.

  There was still hope there. She wasn’t sure if Ulrik saw it, but Con’s willingness to heal him and then help fight Mikkel said a lot in her eyes. Surely, Ulrik saw it, as well. She worried that Ulrik’s centuries of hatred might blind him to it.

  If she couldn’t have his love, she might be able to help him bridge the chasm that separated him from his brethren.

  For so long, she’d searched for the missing piece of her identity through her mother. It was only a thimble of what Ulrik felt after being banished from Dreagan. Because he’d always known where his missing piece was. Now, he had a chance to mend what had been broken, to retake his place.

  She hadn’t cared to develop relations with Druids—or anyone, for that matter—while she was searching for her mother. Seven years in Ireland, and she didn’t have one friend. She had plenty of acquaintances, but no friends. Not until Ulrik. To have a Dragon King as a confidante and lover opened her eyes to things she hadn’t wanted to see before.

  Now, everything was laid out before her—yet just out of reach. She wouldn’t change the fact that she’d fallen in love with Ulrik. He’d given her tenderness, hope, and love. He’d never lied to her or tried to use her. He’d only ever wanted to help her.

  It was inevitable that she would fall for him. No doubt he had other women who were in love with him, as well. He tried to hide his good side, but in the end, he’d shown her his true colors. And they were glorious.

  While she could, she would help him end Mikkel. She was partly to blame for the predicament so she’d do her share.

  Because she wanted him to be happy.

  Because he deserved peace.

  Because she loved Ulrik with her entire heart and soul.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Never had Ulrik second-guessed himself before. But he was now.

  He’d gone over and over the plans against Mikkel for the last few hours, making sure that he’d looked at every angle while Eilish was with Donal, and Con was doing whatever it was the King of Kings did. But Ulrik knew in his gut that if Eilish went with them, something would happen to her.

  “She’s verra pretty,” Con said as he walked into the cavern.

  Ulrik didn’t reply. Instead, he asked, “Did she finally eat?”