Fire Rising (Dark Kings) (31 page)

Hours later—or what felt like hours, it could have been minutes—she closed her eyes and rested. All her mind could conjure was Tristan and their steamy, passion-filled night of love.

His kisses had sent her reeling.

His body had been a work of art.

His hands had caressed her, teased her until she writhed with need.

Then he had joined their bodies. It was one of those perfect moments, as if everything in the world had come together just for them.

It had been special, exceptional.

Extraordinary.

And, like a fool, she had run from it. If only she had run to him, to what the safety of his arms provided.

If only …

Those were the words that would be etched on her tombstone. She had been aloof and cold to anyone who could have meant something to her just because she couldn’t handle the pain when that person left.

How many relationships had she let slip away that could have sweetened her life? Even if just for a few weeks? How many friendships had she let fade to nothing that could have been there for her?

Jane would never know how much Sammi needed her as a sister and a friend. Sammi had been selfish and unkind during their last conversation.

Now Jane would think that Sammi didn’t love her. Her own sister? How could Sammi have put Jane through that all those months? Jane, her sweet soul, had never given up on them.

Sammi rewarded her by saying some nasty things and running away from the only people who could have kept her safe. If only she had remained in the mountain she might not be held by the Dark wondering if it was the place she would die.

It was a sobering thought, especially when she wanted to tell Jane she was sorry and that she was the worst sister ever. There would never come a time she could make it up to Jane.

Worse, Sammi would never be able to hold Tristan again, to kiss his lips and fall under his spell. She wouldn’t get to tell him that somehow he had broken through her walls and made her feel again.

He had made her love again.

Love. That word was frightening and … exhilarating. It was freeing and liberating.

It gave her strength and hope.

It was a love she would never get to experience, a love she would never know.

Sammi opened her eyes. No longer was she in the brightly lit room. She was on the mountainside in the middle of a patch of heather. Above her she heard a whoosh. She looked up and saw Tristan flying, his large dragon form blocking out the sun as he circled above her.

She laughed and jumped to her feet. His apple green dragon eyes watched her expressively. There was love shining there, as well as happiness.

He landed, shifting into human form as he did. Sammi drank in the sight of his glorious body, tight muscles, and the black and red dragon tattoo covering his chest.

She ran to him, no longer able to be apart from him. He laughed as he easily caught her against him and kissed her roughly, urgently.

With his arms locked tightly around her, he laid her down on the grass and ripped her dress off.

“Mine,” he whispered while lovingly gazing down at her.

“Yours. Always.”

Sammi pulled him down for another kiss, and just as their lips met, he faded to nothing. The sunshine, heather, and mountains disappeared into the damp room.

It was too much for her. She screamed, jumping up to slam her hands against the walls, not noticing when her bones broke or when blood coated her.

*   *   *

Kiril finished off his fifth glass of whisky and pushed it away. He hadn’t had an update from any of the Kings since they landed in Ireland, and he was getting antsy.

“Another?” Farrell asked.

Kiril held up a hand, palm out and glanced at the bar to the pretty brunette he had spoken with outside the pub hours earlier. “I’m going to have to pass tonight.”

“You don’t plan on leaving?” the Dark asked with a grin. “There’s going to be a big party here in a few hours.”

Kiril knew then that Farrell realized he was a Dragon King. What Kiril didn’t know was if Farrell knew that he knew. Either way, Kiril was going to have to be extremely careful in whatever he said and did.

He slid from the booth and stood. “As much as I hate to miss it, I’ll be otherwise engaged.”

Farrell stood as well. “Trust me, this party will be better than anything you might be doing.”

Just as they’d planned earlier, the brunette sauntered up and wrapped her arms around him. “I was getting lonely,” she said, looking up at him.

Kiril placed a hot, lingering kiss on her lips. “I told you I wouldna leave without you, lass.”

“You mean you’ve been sitting with me while this lovely thing has been waiting?” the Dark asked with a wink to the brunette.

Kiril held the woman tighter when he felt her began to sway to Farrell. “I was waiting on her to meet me here. When she saw us talking, she opted to wait for me.”

Farrell whistled. “Amazing. I willna keep you from your night then.”

Kiril leisurely walked out of the pub and put the brunette in his car. He would have to take her back to his house since the Dark were watching it.

As calloused as it was, Kiril didn’t want to know the female’s name. He would make sure he always had a different woman on his arm so the Dark didn’t try to target any one woman he was with.

It was the only way to keep the females safe and continue with his cover.

“I wouldna advise ever going to that pub again,” he told the brunette as he drove away.

Kiril looked in his rearview mirror and saw Farrell standing in the doorway of the pub watching. His next step would be to invite his new friend over.

He hated dealing with the Dark Ones, but it was worth it if he could help end whatever uprising the Dark were trying to pull.

“I like that pub,” the woman said sullenly. “The men never let me sit for long without a drink.”

Kiril sped the Mercedes SLS AMG faster down the narrow road. “Do you want to have a long life with the possibility of a husband and children down the road?”

“Aye. Someday.”

He had a hard time believing the residents of Cork were really that unaware of the Dark. Or was it that the people liked the Dark Fae and their appeal?

“You’ll no’ have any of it if you return to
an Doras
.”

He pulled into his driveway and slowly drove down the gravel-lined drive until he stopped at the front. Kiril shut off the engine and looked at the pretty female.

There would be no going to help his brethren, not this time. His work was here—and just as dangerous. All Kiril could do was hope they checked in with him while he continued his spying.

If he didn’t find some way to take his mind off what was going on, he might do something to tip the Dark off. Too much was at stake for something that thoughtless.

“I’m famished,” he told the woman.

Her frown disappeared, replaced by a smile. “I’m pretty hungry as well. Do you have any cheese?”

“I wasna talking about that kind of hunger.”

Her smile widened. “What are we still doing in your car then?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Rhi could feel her essence fading away. Light Fae were creatures of happiness and pleasure. Just as the Dark could survive in the light, the Light could survive in the dark.

Except this wasn’t just any dark. The place was weighted with evil, subjected to pain and grief until the walls fairly bled with it.

In any other event, she could withstand the way the fortress affected her. This time was different. This time Balladyn had put the Chains of Mordare on her.

They were supposed to have been lost during the Fae Wars.

Just as Balladyn was supposed to have died.

How many other things was she told that were untrue? Not that she would get the chance to speak her mind about being lied to. She was going to suffer right where she was until she died, turned Dark, or until the end of time.

Rhi thought over what Balladyn had told her. He blamed her for his being Dark. Maybe she should have gone into Taraeth’s stronghold and searched for him, but it never entered her mind that Taraeth would actively seek out Balladyn.

The former mentor and friend was no longer the same. Balladyn’s mind had been twisted into something she no longer recognized. His face might look the same, but inside, he was a different Fae.

He was Dark, which meant he was lost to her.

He wasn’t the first to be taken. There was her father, her brother, her mother … and the most painful of them all … her lover.

Maybe Balladyn was right and she was to blame. She was the common denominator to all of them. She was the one to be left standing, so to speak.

The thought of turning Dark scared her. She would rather die, to cease to exist than have her world ripped apart and become something evil, something monstrous.

A loud squeak shouted into the silence, announcing Balladyn’s approach. Rhi kept her head turned away from the door. She couldn’t stand to look at him anymore.

“You look diminished,” he said coolly. “And filthy. You were always so put together, pet, so perfectly made up. How pitiful you look now.”

The weight of the Chains of Mordare held her arms down, making it difficult to move. The ones shackling her ankles were even worse.

“Get on with whatever you want to do to me, and just shut up,” she told him.

Instead of angering him and forcing him to begin the torture as she expected, Balladyn squatted in front of her. “You forget how well I know you, Rhi. Have you ever seen what happens to a Light when we torture them?”

She hadn’t, and he knew it.

His cocky smile grew larger. “I can smell your fear. The great Rhi, captured by me. I’ll become a legend when I turn you to the Dark.”

“I thought you wanted to punish me for leaving you. Making me a Dark Fae won’t accomplish that.”

“I didn’t say I was going to turn you Dark now. In time, remember. There’s no need to rush. There is plenty of … time.”

She looked at the ground and the puddle of water he stood in. For centuries she had mourned him and the Fae he had been, the friend.

“You were a hero to the Light. Once.” She smiled when she saw him stiffen. “I told Usaeil you were a Dark One the last time I saw her. Your name was stricken from the Hall of Heroes.”

There was a beat of silence. “As if I care.”

“I think you still do.” She lifted her gaze to his. “I remember how revered you were, how the females begged for your attention in the hopes of catching your eye and being your mate. I recall how you were chosen to lead the squadron. The queen shouted your accolades to all the Light.”

“Nice try, pet. You should’ve remained at your family estate and married a handsome Fae and had many children.”

“I wasn’t going to be left alone anymore. I refused to be the Fae who waited for news of loved ones and friends from the war. I would be the one to decide my life.”

He tapped the chains with one finger. “And look where that got you. First you do the unthinkable and mix with the Dragon Kings. Did you really think taking him as your lover would work? Did you really think he would stay? With you?”

His words were like weapons, slicing open her wounded heart. He of all people knew how she had mourned for her lover, how she had tried in vain to get him back.

“You see?” Balladyn asked. “All these centuries later you still mourn him. Does he even know? Have you told him yet that you still love him? Perhaps I should be the one to tell him, and then bring him here so he can watch you turn Dark. I bet he wouldn’t even help you.”

“You need someone to blame for what you’ve become. I’m an easy scapegoat. If I hadn’t been there, you would’ve found someone else to blame.”

Balladyn leaned close until they were nose to nose. “No one else exchanged a promise with me never to leave each other behind.”

“Look at that,” she said as she lifted her hand up with great effort, her arm shaking from the weight of the chains. “My polish is chipped. What a bummer. I’ll have to get that fixed.”

With a growl, Balladyn rose and spun away. He stalked away before he walked back to her, once more in control of his emotions.

“You want torture, pet? I’ve got it for you.”

Rhi watched as he spread his arms wide and a black cloud, yawning and dense, which sucked up the meager light in the darkness billowed from his hands and barreled right at her. She bit the inside of her mouth, tasting blood, in her effort to hold back her screams.

The cloud was suffocating, stifling. It beat against her in a disgusting, gloomy mass. Again and again it hit her without hands, slapping against her body until she was thrown against one wall and then another.

Every time she tried to call to her magic, the Chains of Mordare would send an electrical current straight into her brain.

*   *   *

Phelan, along with Charon, crept slowly through the tunnels. Part of the tunnel was so low they had to crawl on all fours to get through it, while other parts were tall enough Phelan was certain any of the Kings could stand upright in dragon form.

Charon thumped him on the arm to get his attention. Phelan looked to the narrow opening in the wall. That’s when he spotted Constantine walking through the tunnels confidently, casually, as if he had been there many times before.

“Was it coincidence he took the tunnel on the right?” Charon asked.

Phelan watched until Con was out of sight. “He might be looking for Rhi.”

“You told me yourself they hate each other.”

It was true. Was Con really there to rescue Rhi? Or make sure she was never found?

Phelan clenched his jaw tightly. “Damn.”

“As soon as we locate Sammi, we’ll start the search for Rhi.”

“We should’ve brought Broc,” he mumbled as he continued onward.

It didn’t matter if Con hated Rhi or not, she wouldn’t get left behind if Phelan had anything to say about it. No matter how much Con might hate her, Rhi would get saved.

*   *   *

Tristan wasn’t surprised when he turned the corner and found Balladyn leaning against the wall, twirling a long blade of grass between his teeth.

As soon as Balladyn saw him, he smiled. “I knew you’d come. Of course, you took your time finding us once you entered the tunnels.”