Dragon King: A Dark Kings Novella (1001 Dark Nights) (11 page)

He stared out the window for a time. Grace tried not to fidget in her chair, but the silence was cruel and unusual punishment when she knew Con wanted answers.

She drummed her fingers on the arm of the leather chair and looked around the room, seeing a medium-sized chest with a rounded lid off to one side. It looked ancient. There was a sideboard where a decanter filled with a gold liquid and several crystal glasses sat.

It was the pinging on the window that drew her attention. Grace looked outside to see the sky had darkened, as if night had changed its mind about allowing the day to break.

Lightning flashed in the distance, forking over the mountain. Grace barely noticed the dots of white on the mountain until the sheep began to run in a group to shelter.

Another storm. This was the last thing she needed. She gripped the arm of the chair and tried desperately not to show how she was affected.

Then Con turned and pinned her with a look.

And she knew it was too late.

Chapter Eleven

Arian didn’t look around the manor at all the changes that had taken place while he had been sleeping. With Con visiting each of the sleeping Kings and updating them on the goings on in the world and how humans had advanced, Arian was up to date on technology.

No, Arian’s attention was on Grace. She gripped the arms of the chairs tightly, making her knuckles white in the process. She was nervous, and she had every right to be.

Constantine hadn’t changed in six centuries, not that Arian expected him to. If anything, Con had gotten colder, more aloof. He was completely detached from the world.

“
Keep the storm going,
” Con said in his head.

After everything he and Grace had shared with each other, Arian felt ashamed for what he was doing. Yet, he told himself that the sooner Con got his answers, the sooner Grace wouldn’t need to endure her fear anymore.

Arian turned away from the window and grabbed the shirt folded on the edge of Con’s desk. It was plain and white, but Arian didn’t really see it. His focus was on Grace.

She convinced him of her innocence. All she needed to do was persuade Con as well. The problem was that to Con, everyone was an enemy.

Nothing Arian had tried to argue on his and Grace’s journey to the manor swayed Con. Con’s argument was that Arian hadn’t been involved in the shite that had been happening.

In other words, Arian was soft.

Which infuriated him. Arian might not have been fighting these past months, but he fought plenty enough before. He was one of the last to find sleep after the Fae Wars. Not to mention that it took a lot to convince him to change his mind once he made a decision.

Con, however, had used a low blow. He suggested that Arian had been influenced because of Grace’s body.

“Tell me what brought you to Dreagan, Grace,” Con asked.

Arian could hear the weather getting out of control. That was his doing because he couldn’t get a handle on his anger. He drew in a deep breath and slowly released it, the storm abating some.

Grace swallowed and looked Con in the eye. “As I told Arian, I checked into the B&B where I’m staying. From there I went driving, looking for a place that was quiet and where I could be alone. I drove deeper into the mountains. I had no idea where I was going. I drove until I reached the mountain and could go no further.”

“There was no road there.”

She gave a slight nod. “It’s true the road was more of tracks in the grass. I was curious and wanted to see where it would take me.”

“How long did you drive before you came to Dreagan?”

“I didn’t know it was Dreagan,” she said in an unsteady voice, her gaze going to the window as the rain pinged against the glass. “As for how long I drove, I’ve no idea. I wasn’t timing myself.”

Con walked around the desk and came to the front of it, leaning his hands and hips back against it. “You don’t know what time you left the B&B?”

“It was around ten or so,” Grace said with a shrug.

Arian wanted to go to her and stand beside her. To give her strength and to show Con that Arian was going to protect her. It might come to that, but Arian sincerely hoped it didn’t. Surely Con would come around to see what Arian already had—that it was merely fate that brought Grace to him.

“When did you arrive at Arian’s mountain?” Con asked.

“I don’t know. An hour or an hour and a half later. I didn’t really look at my watch. I had no one waiting for me or anyone to answer to. Why would I keep track of time?”

Con looked down at her boots. “You dressed for hiking.”

Grace laughed wryly as she straightened her leg so that it was horizontal as she regarded her shoes. “These aren’t hiking boots. They’re old tennis shoes that wouldn’t do me a bit of good,” she said, her voice growing louder in her anger. “Would you like to comment on my raincoat? Do you think I can make it rain at will?”

“Oh, I’m no’ worried about you having that ability,” Con said and glanced at Arian.

Arian fisted his hands. He might have told Grace much about his race, but he hadn’t told her about his ability to control the weather. He rarely used the ability, preferring to let the realm take care of itself.

But there were instances, like earlier when he needed to keep her in his mountain, that it came in handy.

Grace’s gaze swung to him. Arian gave her a small nod. If she saw it, she gave no response as she returned her eyes to Con.

“That’s right,” Grace said, jerking when more thunder boomed. “I’m just a human. I’m mortal. I’ve no magic or the ability to shift into a dragon. I am who I say I am—a novelist. I’m sure with the money Dreagan brings in that you have the ability to do a search on me. Do it. Find out all that you need. Hell, go to a bookstore and find my book.”

Con raised a blond brow. “Perhaps you made up everything that we’ll find. We’ve friends in MI5, Ms. Clark. We know what lengths someone will go to in order to hide who they are.”

“Not me,” she insisted. Her voice pitched higher in frustration. “I’m a freaking nobody! I came here to try and find my muse again. My writing groove left me. It said
adios
and vanished months ago. If I don’t turn that book in three weeks from now, I lose my contract. My book is set in Scotland. That’s why I’m here.”

Arian knew Ryder had already given Con all there was to know about Grace. Ryder, in his infinite skill, had dug up every single thing there was to know about Grace from the day she was born until now.

Even Ryder had cleared her. So what was Con up to?

“And how did you find the cave entrance?”

Grace gaped at him. “This again? I saw it. With my eyes. Why is that so odd?”

“Because it was cloaked with dragon magic,” Arian answered.

Grace’s eyes went wide. “I don’t have an answer then. I saw it.”

Could Grace have been meant to find his mountain and him? Arian was beginning to think so. Because there was no other explanation. The barrier around Dreagan hadn’t kept her out, and she’d seen his cave entrance—both of which had dragon magic.

“I doona believe in accidents, Ms. Clark,” Con said in a soft voice. “I doona believe you just happened to find Arian’s mountain.”

Arian inwardly cringed. That voice had lulled plenty of others before Grace. It belied the anger and awareness within Con, as well as his purpose.

Grace blew out a breath, her face going white as lightning speared from the sky to the ground. “Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree then, because I believe life is nothing more than a multitude of accidents and coincidences.”

“You make light of your situation?”

“Absolutely not,” Grace stated. “I know how serious this is. I also know that Arian believes me. Why isn’t that enough for you?”

“Because I believe Arian is being ruled by his cock.”

Grace gasped the same instant Arian narrowed his gaze on Con.

“
Trust me,
” Con said in Arian’s mind.

Arian had always trusted Con, but to have him talk in such a way to Grace was nearly impossible to bear. Slowly, he released the tension in his body.

Grace was shaking her head. “You think so little of Arian then? That’s...well, that’s just sad.”

“Sad?”

“Yes,” she said firmly. “I ran into that mountain to escape the storm. A few hours later, I saw Arian in dragon form fighting the Fae. If I’m to believe everything Arian has told me, all of you are in the middle of a war. You should trust your people.”

There was a push against Arian’s mind and then Con said, “
Ramp up the storm. I need lightning.
”

Arian hesitated. Never before had he wavered in doing as Con ordered, but now he was having serious doubts. Grace was shaking, her face was white, and she was sweating from her fear. To put her through more was too much. Arian couldn’t take it.

“
Arian,
” Con urged. “
Trust me.
”

Trust. That’s what Grace had put in him. Arian had vowed he would protect her from everyone and everything. He wasn’t doing that now. She was innocent. Con would see that. He had to.

With a deep breath, Arian did as Con requested. The first flash of lightning made Grace jump in her chair and squeeze her eyes closed.

It killed Arian to purposefully scare her in such a manner, but if it could end the interrogation earlier, then he would make it up to her later and explain his power.

If she let him.

“Trust is something I doona give lightly,” Con said as his head leaned to the side while he studied Grace. “What about you?”

Grace pulled her eyes away from the window to look at Con. Her head nodded jerkingly. “Yeah. I trust easily. Don’t bother to tell me it’s wrong. Plenty of others have.”

“So you trust Arian?” Con pressed.

Grace jumped when more lightning flashed, followed by thunder that sounded all around them. She yelped, then said, “Yep. I do.”

Arian exchanged a look with Con. Would this be all Con needed?

“
More lightning and thunder,
” Con demanded.

“
She’s afraid of it. Can you no’ see that?
”

“
Of course I can.
”

Arian should’ve known he wouldn’t get an explanation, but then again, it went unsaid. Everything Con did was to ensure their secrecy.

It hurt Arian physically to put Grace in such fear, but he had no choice. If Con didna get what he needed then Grace would have her memories wiped. She would wake up at the B&B never knowing how deeply she touched his soul when they kissed or how he ached to be buried inside her once more.

She would never know how much he wanted to be with her.

Con was in favor of wiping her memories regardless of if she was working with Ulrik or not, but Arian wasn’t going to let that happen.

He needed Grace. It was because he needed her that he did as Con asked once more.

After this was all over, Grace might leave and want nothing to do with him. Arian wasn’t about to give up on her that easily though. If something was worth having, it was worth fighting for.

That meant against his own kind as well as Grace.

There was something special between him and Grace. It was something profound, something that never came near Arian before.

Until Grace.

He watched her complexion pale with each bolt of lightning. Her body tensed as the thunder rumbled loudly around them. Each moment that passed made her curl into herself.

And it was slowly killing him.

“
Get on with it, Con!
”

Con cut him a look before he focused on Grace. “Who do you work for, Ms. Clark?”

“Myself,” she answered without taking her eyes off the window.

“That’s no’ true. Who do you work for?”

She shrugged, slinking farther into the back of the chair. “My pub...publisher. I work for my publisher.”

“You work for Ulrik, do you no’?” Con pressed.

“No.” She let out a shriek when several rounds of lightning struck in quick succession.

The more anxious Grace became, the angrier Arian got. And the more extreme the weather became until he couldn’t get it under control.

Arian desperately tried to rein the weather in, but it was nearly impossible as he listened to Con push Grace again and again to see if she would change her answer.

Every trembling “no” that fell from her lips only infuriated Arian more. She gripped the chair so tightly that he heard the wood crack.

“What are you doing at Dreagan?” Con demanded.

“I already told you!” Grace screamed as thunder made the manor shake.

Arian looked to Con to find Con watching him. Even with that icy stare, Arian knew Con’s thoughts. Con recognized that somehow in the few hours Arian was with Grace, that something transpired between them. Something more than just sex.

And Con wasn’t happy.

“
Finish it,
” Arian insisted.

Con’s gaze slid to Grace. “Do you work for Ulrik?”

“No! For the twentieth time, no!” Grace screamed.

But there was something in her voice that sent warning bells off in Arian’s head. He looked to her then. Grace’s gaze moved from Con to the window to Arian and back to Con several times.

Her face crumpled as she rose and hurried around the chair to put distance between them. She shook her head as she stared at Arian with navy eyes that were filled with sadness—and a hint of anger.

“Grace,” Arian said and took a step toward her.

She held up a hand to halt him. “Stop,” she ordered and blinked past the tears that began to fall. She then pointed to the window. “That’s you. You’ve been doing this. All this time here and in the mountain. You used my fear against me. How could you?” she yelled.

“I ordered him to do it,” Con said.

Grace ignored Con as she stared at Arian, wincing as another bolt of lightning struck. “I thought you believed me.”

“I do,” Arian said.

Grace sniffed and turned to Con then. “Do whatever you’re going to do to me, but I’m done here.”

“Grace,” Arian began.

But Con stopped him. “Give her some time, Arian.”

Arian waited for Grace to look his way. After several tense moments, he realized that wasn’t going to happen. It took numerous tries to halt the storm. When he had, he left the room with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach growing with every step he took away from her.