Burning Desire (26 page)

And then he did.

Her eyes shifted to him and her smile grew. “Hello, Rhys.”

“I didna think you’d come,” Con said before Rhys could reply.

She shrugged a slim shoulder clad in a tight denim jacket with a lacy pale pink tank beneath. Skintight denim encased her legs while slinky heels in the same pink as her tank covered her feet.

Her smile vanished, and she pierced Con with a dark look. “As if I would ignore any information when it comes to Rhi.”

Rhys glanced at Con, but either the King of Kings had no idea that the Light Fae was known as one of the most famous actors in the world, or he didn’t care.

“Will you help us?” Con asked.

She regarded him silently for a moment. “No Light has ever gone into the part of our realm the Dark rule for one of our own.”

“Why?” Rhys asked.

Her gaze returned to him, as did a slight grin. “Because as sad as it is to say, a Light can become Dark, but a Dark can’t become Light.”

“Have you tried it?”

She frowned, as if never considering his words before. “No, we haven’t.”

“So the Dark take the Light, but the Light never thought to take the Dark?” Rhys asked with a dry laugh. “Fabulous.”

“You don’t know them as we do,” she replied quickly.

Con said, “We know them well enough. We also know the Light. I honestly didna think you’d come.”

“Rhi is important to us, to me,” she said.

Rhys frowned as he realized Con had actually gotten in touch with the Light Fae. He had a sneaking suspicion of who the Light was, but he needed it confirmed. “And just who are you?”

Her smile was blinding as she said, “Usaeil, Queen of the Light.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Shara stood in the middle of the small prison cell and tried not to fall apart. This was so much worse than being locked in her room. This was hell.

How could she have ever imagined Balladyn being the answer to her problems? Just like the rest of the fortress, there was no way she could use her magic to teleport out of the cell to somewhere safe.

No, she was well and truly stuck. The worst part was not knowing what Balladyn would do to her. After what she saw when looking in on Rhi, she feared Balladyn wouldn’t hold back his cruelty with her.

Would she be able to withstand what he had in store for her? And afterward he expected to go through with the Claiming. As if she wouldn’t fight that with all she had.

It hit her then that she would be doing it alone. She had turned her back on her family, so they wouldn’t come to her aid. Kiril, wherever he was, would have no idea she was being kept against her will.

She walked to a wall and leaned back against it before she slowly slid to the ground. Shara hugged her knees to her chest and rested her forehead on her knees. The anticipation of what was to come was most likely worse than what would actually happen. Or at least that’s what she tried to tell herself.

The darkness was something all Dark Fae sought, and yet Shara wished to see the moon. Ever since she’d found Kiril in dragon form, she wanted to see him flying through the night sky, the moon silhouetting him. What a magnificent sight he would be.

Whereas her people were among the humans, the dragons were gone from the realm. Sent away so the humans could live. Shara didn’t think either of the Fae would have allowed such a thing to happen. All the while, the humans thrived as the Dragon Kings remained concealed.

If that wasn’t enough, the Dark wanted to find something they had hidden. Shara lifted her head as she considered this. The Dragon Kings were completely immortal. There was nothing that could be done to them by any being that they wouldn’t survive.

It took a King turning on a King to kill one, and that happened on such rare occasions that the Dark couldn’t wait for that to happen.

The Kings protected themselves to the point that they would do anything for one of their own. So different from how she was raised, and yet the Fae might feel the same if their race was threatened.

Whatever the Dark searched for couldn’t be to kill a King. But it could be used against them.

It was like a lightbulb went off in her head. The only way a Dark could beat a Dragon King was with whatever they searched for. She hoped the Kings hid it well enough that the Dark never found it, because if they did, the realm of earth would be forever altered.

The idea of it left her numb. Odd how so much of her way of thinking had changed since she had come to know Kiril.

Her gaze snapped to the door when it suddenly opened. She quickly stood when she spotted a Dark Fae enter. Shara blinked and abruptly he was Kiril.

“What are you doing?” she demanded of the Dark.

Kiril smiled and took a step toward her. “It’s me, Shara. The Dark Fae is a disguise to allow me to move around this place.”

“I’m supposed to believe you?”

“Shall I prove it then?”

She merely looked at him, neither agreeing nor disagreeing in case this was some trick by Balladyn so he could punish her more.

“You found me in the cellar,” he said. “By a door hidden with my magic. You saw me in my true form—that of a burnt orange dragon.”

There was no way anyone else knew that. She ran to him and flung her arms around his neck as she held him close. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

“I’m here now,” he said and smoothed his hands over her back.

She leaned away. “How did you find me?”

“I saw Balladyn enter his chamber, and I knew you were in there. I waited for a while before I came down to get Rhi. That’s when I heard him toss you in here.”

“So you have Rhi?” she asked excitedly.

His face was bleak. “Nay.”

Shara’s hands slid down his shoulders to his arms. “Then let’s get her now.”

“We can no’. She’s being held with the Chains of Mordare.”

Shara jerked away, surprise making her heart pound faster. “That’s impossible. They’ve been missing for eons.”

“Balladyn found them. He’s using them on Rhi.”

Shara felt as if all the wind had been taken out of her sails. “He’s the only one who can unlock those chains.”

“Let’s get you out. I’ll return once we figure out another way to get those chains off Rhi.”

Shara knew it wasn’t right that she was being rescued when Rhi was being left behind. Kiril had come for Rhi, not her.

“I’m coming back for her,” Kiril whispered as he led her out of the cell.

As soon as they stepped out of the cell, Kiril’s face disappeared, once more replaced with that of a Dark Fae. “How are you doing that?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you when we’re out of here.”

He didn’t trust her, and she didn’t blame him. Kiril was surrounded by enemies. He was just being cautious. It was a lesson she needed to learn after all the mistakes she had made with her family and Balladyn.

She remained beside him with his hand on her arm as if she were his prisoner. As long as they didn’t encounter Balladyn, they should make it out fine. They made it up the first short set of stairs without incident. It wasn’t until they reached the top of the second flight that things went from bad to worse.

“Hello, Shara,” Balladyn said as he leaned a shoulder against the wall and examined a small dagger in his hand. “I knew you would manage to find your way back up. Who’s your new friend?”

She swallowed, and kept her gaze locked on Balladyn. “How am I supposed to know? I thought you sent him to fetch me.”

“It seems my warnings to you about lying need a better lesson.”

Shara began to shake. Kiril’s fingers tightened around her arm, giving her strength.

Balladyn looked up from the dagger to Kiril. “I sent no one. So that begs the question of just who you are.”

“I got orders,” Kiril said.

“From who?”

Kiril shrugged. “It was a Dark from Taraeth’s guard.”

Balladyn’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Taraeth isn’t here.”

“His guard is.”

Shara was glad Kiril was quicker with answers than she was, because he just might get them through this.

Balladyn suddenly threw back his head and laughed as he pushed away from the wall. “Ah, Shara, what a performer you are. I never had any doubt that you would deliver the Dragon King.”

Her knees threatened to buckle as realization sank in. And she knew by the way Kiril’s hand relaxed on her arm that if she fell, he wouldn’t catch her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice wobbly with outrage and anxiety.

Balladyn grabbed her and pulled her next to him. She stumbled, her eyes darting to Kiril in the hopes that he would know she’d had nothing to do with whatever was going on. The warmth in his eyes was gone. Possibly forever this time.

“Show me your true self,” Balladyn demanded.

Kiril’s smile was as frosty as the Arctic. “If that’s what you want.”

The next instant, his true face appeared once more. “No,” Shara said, but it was drowned out by the Dark who quickly surrounded him.

She watched as he was hauled back down to the dungeon without putting up so much as an ounce of fight. It wasn’t right, none of it was. Shara cried out as something sharp pierced her neck behind her ear. She stilled instantly when she comprehended that Balladyn held the dagger.

“No more lies,” he ground out in her ear. “You’ll forget about the Dragon King, because even if he gets free, he’ll think you betrayed him. My guess is that if he sees you, he’ll kill you before you have time to utter a single syllable.”

Shara sagged against Balladyn, the truth of his words slamming into her with the force of a tidal wave.

“You’re mine, sweetheart. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”

“But I don’t want you,” she said. It no longer mattered what happened to her. Balladyn was right. Kiril would never listen to her try to explain, much less believe her.

If she didn’t have him, she had nothing.

Balladyn snorted. “I don’t care what you want.”

To prove his point he kissed her brutally, painfully while keeping her tight against him. Shara desperately tried to pull free, but the more she fought, the more he hurt her.

He ended the kiss, pressing the point of the blade deeper until she felt something warm and wet slide down her neck. “I wanted you beside me ruling this fortress, but I’m just as content keeping you as my slave, chained naked in my room waiting for me anytime I want you.”

“Do what you want, but I’ll never go through the Claiming with you.”

“Sure you will.” His eyes were filled with a strange light that bordered on insanity. “Unless you want to watch as I torture Kiril.”

There wasn’t a need to ask if he meant it, because Shara knew he did. She turned her gaze away from him. “You make me ill.”

“I don’t need your mind as I’m fucking your body.”

As he pushed her into the arms of two of his Dark Fae soldiers who dragged her away, all Shara could think about was Kiril.

*   *   *

Phelan stood not five feet from Balladyn, but the bastard never saw him. Phelan made sure of it by using his power and concealing himself so that when Balladyn looked at the wall, all he saw was gray stone.

The hard part had been remaining still as Kiril was taken. Phelan vowed in that instant to kill Shara for her treachery. He almost left then to try to get to Kiril, but something held him back. It was a good thing he did, because he learned how Balladyn had tricked them all. The ass had only suspected the Dark leading Shara was Kiril, and he had counted on Kiril’s worry over whether Shara would deceive him or not.

Phelan’s beloved, Aisley, had once been forced by a
drough
to do horrible things. The same was happening to Shara except the horrible things would be done to her.

Phelan glanced down the stairs to the dungeon. He had given his word to Kiril to leave if he was taken and let the other Dragon Kings know what happened. Kiril would be guarded at all times, and since Phelan couldn’t get inside the cell to talk to Kiril, his only choice was to find the other Dragon Kings.

Phelan turned his gaze to Shara as she was half-dragged, half-led down the hall. Whatever awaited her wouldn’t be good, if the smug light in Balladyn’s gaze was any indication.

Now it wasn’t just Rhi who needed to be saved. There was Kiril and Shara as well.

Phelan followed the guards to make sure he knew where Shara was being held before he made his way back to the doorway. He stepped through the doorway back into the garden at the Blackwoods’ and stopped dead in his tracks when he came face-to-face with Con, Rhys, and Usaeil.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Kiril let his rage build and fester until it was as feral and uncontrollable as Ulrik’s Silvers had been when they killed humans.

Shara’s betrayal cut deeper than anything Kiril had ever experienced. He’d trusted her with not just his life but Rhi’s. And even though Shara didn’t know about Phelan, her betrayal affected him as well.

At least Phelan would be able to get out of Balladyn’s fortress and back to Scotland. It was small comfort, but anything was better than nothing.

“Wait until Balladyn gets ahold of you, Dragon,” a Dark Fae sneered, contempt contorting his face as they chained him to the wall of his prison.

Kiril looked at him calmly, hiding his fury completely. “Enjoy your reign, Dark, because it willna last forever.”

The solider looked at his comrade and they both laughed before exiting. The sound of the door closing reverberated in the silent, eerie dungeon.

Kiril took a deep breath and pulled on his chains. He wasn’t able to break them. Then he tried to shift, which would shatter anything that dared to try to hold a King. But for the first time, he wasn’t able to.

Just as he had guessed, they were spelled to hold a Dragon King—in all ways. The same kind of chains that had held Kellan—except Kellan had gotten loose with his mate’s help. Kiril didn’t have a mate.

His gut churned with the treachery Shara had dealt him. How could he have been so wrong about her? Her duplicity had given the advantage to the Dark Fae.

He fisted his hands. When he got free—because he
would
get free—he was going to hunt Shara down. He’d wrap his hands around her neck as before, except he wouldn’t release her or stop squeezing.