Passion Ignites (16 page)

“
Without a doubt.
”

“
Have you seen Ulrik?
”

Darius shuffled the cards. “
We've no'. Should we expect him?
”

“
Possibly. He disappeared and then showed back up at The Silver Dragon. Now he's gone again.
”

Now that got Darius's attention. “
He vanished? All the cameras you have up around his shop and you still couldna see where he went? Are you sure he's no' inside?
”

“
We're sure. He was exiting the shop by the back entrance when he simply vanished.
”

“
You think he's with the Dark?
” Darius asked.

“
We know. They were quick enough so that many of the cameras didna catch them, but one of the new ones Ryder obtained was able to capture everything. We saw the Dark.
”

Darius began to set up another game of solitaire on the table. “
We've known he's worked with the Dark. Why is this news we should be concerned over?
”

“
Because he was gone a long time, and now he's gone again.
”

“
Or he's been back and you've no' known it. We doona have cameras inside his shop, remember.
”

Con all but growled, “
Doona remind me. Keep your eyes open for him either way.
”

The link was severed, causing Darius to shake his head. He knew being King of Kings was a right only the strongest, the most powerful of them could have. However, Darius wouldn't take on Con's responsibilities for all the treasure in the world.

Ulrik was unpredictable, which made it nearly impossible for them to try to stay ahead of whatever he might do. It put the Kings on the defensive instead of offensive. That automatically put them on the losing side.

If only Ulrik hadn't gotten his magic unbound. Darius knew that taking Ulrik's dragon magic had been their only option. Now, after so many eons, Ulrik wasn't just coming for Con; he had his magic. Out of all the Kings, Ulrik was the only one who could challenge Con and possibly take over as King of Kings.

Darius was surprised Ulrik hadn't woken his Silvers. Just thinking of the dragons sleeping caged inside the mountain made him long to see his own dragons. To have the sun glint off their dark purple scales.

“Thorn,” Lexi mumbled from the bed.

Darius shifted his attention to the mortal. She sat up, shoving her long hair out of her face. He remained where he was until she looked over the entire flat.

“Where is Thorn?” she asked.

Darius had been dreading this part. “Out.”

“By out, you mean he's left.”

Darius briefly thought about lying, but he could see by the lift of her chin she had pieced it all together. “Aye.”

Lexi stood and winced. She looked down at her side before she slid her gaze back to Darius. “What happened?”

“You were hit with Dark magic. Lucky for you, it merely glanced off your side.”

“Lucky, huh?” she mumbled. She slowly made her way to her luggage where she found another sweater before going to the bathroom.

Darius gathered the cards together and set them aside. “You are lucky.”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely,” came her voice behind the closed door of the bathroom, dripping with sarcasm. “I'm such a lucky person that my parents die and leave me alone. I'm so lucky I lose one of my best friends here. I'm so lucky I got hit with Dark magic.” The door opened and she leaned against the doorway. “I'm so lucky that Thorn left.”

Darius wasn't sure what to say to her. He motioned for her to sit. “All Thorn wanted to do was protect you. He feels he failed.”

“And our kiss?”

Kiss? A lightbulb went off in Darius's head. “I didna know of a kiss.”

Lexi shrugged and walked to the table. She took the chair opposite him. “Well, there was a kiss. A kiss that was…” She trailed off and looked away.

“I see.” Darius rested one arm on the table. “You mustn't be angry at Thorn for no' telling you about us. Everyone who knows finds themselves in extreme danger. We were shielding you and ourselves.”

She nodded and gathered her light brown hair at the base of her neck and wound it around her finger as she once more met his gaze. “The more people that know, the more likely your secret is told.”

“Aye.” Darius was happy she could at least see that. “For thousands of years few knew that the Fae walked this realm.”

“I don't ever want to meet another Fae.”

“The Light are our allies. They do take humans to their beds, but only once and they doona take their souls.”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Oh, that makes me feel better.”

Darius bit back a smile. “It should. The only ones wanting to kill your race are the Dark.”

“I want to know everything there is to know of your race.” She gave a slight shake of her head. “How can there be dragons so big around that no one sees?”

“We take to the skies at night. Few bother to look up anymore. Thunderstorms are also perfect times for flying.”

She squared her shoulders. “Tell me more.”

Since Darius knew Guy was going to wipe her memories there was no point in not telling her. “We've been here since the beginning of time. For millions of years dragons ruled. Then one day humans arrived.”

“Arrived?” Lexi asked with a frown. “How? From spaceships?”

Darius chuckled. He rose and uncorked a bottle of wine. He poured himself a glass and looked at Lexi. At her nod, he poured her a glass as well. Then he returned with a wineglass in each hand, handing one to her. “Nothing so grand. Your kind just appeared out of nowhere. No' only was your race mortal, but you had no magic. You were defenseless.”

“As we are now.”

“No' all of you.”

Lexi nodded in agreement. “That's right. The Druids.”

“As soon as the humans appeared, every Dragon King shifted into human form to be able to communicate. From then on we were free to shift from dragon to human and back again.”

“How many Dragon Kings are we talking about?”

“As many colors as you can imagine.”

She leaned on the table. “Now I remember. When I saw you in dragon form you were purple.” Her gaze went to her wine. “Thorn was the color of the wine. Deep burgundy.”

“Just as you humans have different races, so did dragons. All sizes, all colors. The strongest dragon with the most magic was king of his race.”

Lexi took a drink of wine before she raised a brow. “All kings? What, are you prejudiced against females?”

“No' at all. I'm sure had things continued we would've seen a Dragon Queen, but at that time, there were none.”

“What happened? Did you get tired of having us humans here?”

Darius swirled his wine as he looked at the claret color. “I'll admit that I wasna exactly happy to have the mortals around, but for several centuries things were fine. It started slowly. I doona think any of us Kings thought much about it.”

“What started slowly?”

“The humans' jealousy of our magic and the power we had.”

Lexi scrunched up her face. “That sounds like us. We always want to be the ones in charge.”

“The humans began to hunt the smaller dragons. We were shocked, but left things alone. The humans had killed a dragon here or there for food, just as a dragon had killed a human here and there for food. The dragons had never been told there was a being on this realm that wasna to be eaten.”

Lexi twisted her lips in revulsion.

“You eat nearly every animal on this planet, do you no'?”

“That's different.”

“Hardly,” he stated.

 

CHAPTER

TWENTY

Lexi waved away his words. “What happened next?”

“We were betrayed.”

“By who?” Lexi asked, surprised.

Darius merely looked at her.

Then her mouth formed an O as it dawned on her. “A woman.”

“I doona think the other Kings have thought about it, but once we were able to shift, every King was drawn to mortals. Many of the Kings had women as lovers, but there was one of us who fell in love with one of you. His name was Ulrik. He was the type who never found someone he didna like, and everyone liked him in return.”

“Christina was like that,” Lexi mumbled.

“Ulrik's best friend was Constantine. Con is the King of Kings, the one who keeps us all together. He learned of the betrayal of Ulrik's woman and sent Ulrik away to keep him from having to deal with the situation. After Con told the rest of us, we found her and killed her.”

Lexi swallowed into the silence. “What was her betrayal?”

“Ulrik didn't just have her as a lover. He brought her into his home and protected her and her entire family. He was going to perform the mating ceremony with her, which would make her immortal and live as long as he did.”

Lexi shifted in her chair. “I'm gathering that she didn't just cheat on him?”

“If only she had.” Darius took a drink of the wine. “Nay, she was going to try and kill Ulrik.”

She covered her mouth with her hand. What was wrong with people? This woman had it all. Why would she do something like that?

Darius smiled sadly at her response. “You're surprised?”

“Without a doubt,” she said after she lowered her hand. “Why would she do that?”

“I told you. The mortals didna want to allow us to stay in power. What they didna know is that we can no' be killed by anything they possess.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing then and nothing now. No' even one of your bombs or missiles. The only thing that can kill a Dragon King is another Dragon King.”

Lexi filed that information away. “That's incredible. I also guess it's something this woman didn't know.”

“Ulrik had no reason to tell her. She assumed that he could be killed as easily as a dragon.”

“What did Ulrik do when he returned?”

Darius's chocolate gaze looked away. “He went mad. He was furious that we had killed her, and blinded by his rage that she would betray him. He changed, seemingly overnight. His anger ruled him, and he turned it on the beings responsible.”

“Humans,” Lexi said.

Darius nodded and took another drink of wine. “Con tried to rein Ulrik in, but he was out of control. The more humans he killed, the more dragons the humans destroyed. The war was horrendous. There was death everywhere.”

Lexi cringed at the image Darius was painting.

“Kings turned against Kings as sides were taken between Con and Ulrik. Constantine proved he was the King of Kings when he gradually talked each King into rejoining him. Ulrik didna care. He continued his carnage, intending to wipe the realm of every last human.”

She drank her wine silently, loathe to interrupt Darius.

“Ulrik ignored every attempt by Con to stop, and with more dragons dying by the day, we had no choice but to take drastic action. We sent our dragons to another realm to save them. After the war, the humans couldna stand to see them. And we all knew that even if we found peace, the dragons would be in danger.”

Lexi was saddened for Thorn, Darius, and all the Dragon Kings to have sent the dragons away.

“There were four of Ulrik's Silvers who wouldna leave his side. We Kings gathered our magic and bound Ulrik's. We stripped him of his ability to communicate with the Silvers, banished him from our land, and sentenced him to walk the earth for eternity as a human. We then put a spell on his Silvers to make them sleep and keep them caged in a mountain.”

Lexi nearly dropped her glass. “There are still dragons here?”

“Aye. We ensure they doona wake.”

“And if they do?”

Darius issued a small shrug and met her gaze. “With the dragons gone, the Silvers hidden, and Ulrik taken care of, we returned to our land and slept away a century or two. When we woke, we discovered we had turned into legend and myth.”

“You've stayed hidden ever since?”

He nodded slowly. “It wasna easy during the first Fae War, and I worry that now will be impossible with as many humans as there are.”

“The first Fae War,” she repeated, remembering how Thorn had told her the Fae had come to take control of their planet. “When was that?”

“About eleven thousand years ago.”

Lexi couldn't wrap her head around that amount of time. “The Dark are in the city. They kill every night, and with little thought to be caught.”

“They want to be caught. They want you to know about them, the Light Fae, and the Dragon Kings.”

“Why?” she asked in confusion. “What do they think that will accomplish? We'd find out quick enough what they want, and we would never side with them.”

Darius's dark eyes hardened a fraction. “True, but then your race would be all too willing to try and kill a Dragon King. A Dark is scary, but he appears human except for his red eyes and his magic. A Dragon King is another matter entirely. We can fly, we breathe fire, we can shift, and we're massive.”

“I see your point,” she said, a little ill.

“We've protected your kind, even during the war between our races,” Darius said. “It's a vow we all take seriously. The last thing we want is to be fighting the Fae and humans.”

Lexi felt her hair fall loose. She wound it back up again to keep it out of her face. “No. That can't happen. How will you stop the Dark?”

“By continuing what Thorn and I were doing before. We'll keep hidden and kill every Dark that crosses our path. There are more Dragon Kings throughout each of the larger cities as well.”

“Just how many are you?”

Darius grinned. “Less than there were originally, but more than you think.”

“That's not an answer.”

“It's the only one you'll get, lass.”