Passion Ignites (6 page)

Thorn stayed with her, and a few seconds later, Darius let him know the three Fae were dead. The rain never let up, and neither did the mortal. She walked constantly, stopping occasionally when the rain got too heavy.

It was past midnight and the streets nearly deserted when the rain finally stopped. He could hear her coughing and the wheezing of her breathing.

He and Darius had piled bodies of Dark Fae all through the city. Thorn didn't think the mortal saw them any longer. Her focus seemed to be staying on her feet.

Darius caught up with him after another skirmish with the Dark. “I'd have thought she would've stopped by now.”

Thorn slowed when he realized she was shuffling her feet. “More rain is coming. She needs to get dry. Why does she no' find a hotel?”

“Maybe she doesna have any money.”

Why hadn't Thorn thought of that? That had to be the reason, because though the female might be reckless, she wasn't stupid.

“Thorn.”

But he had already seen that the female had stopped and was weaving. He closed the distance between them, catching her as she fell over. He felt her fever as soon as she was in his arms. She was pale and her breath rattled each time she drew air.

“I know where we can take her,” Thorn said.

Darius shrugged as he looked around. “Lead the way.”

Thorn couldn't remember the last time he had walked so fast. Even then, he didn't outrun the rain. He found the building and waited for Darius to open the door. Thorn raced up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

“Where are we?” Darius asked.

Thorn stopped beside the door and waited for Darius to use his magic to unlock it. The door opened and Thorn stepped inside. “Darcy's flat.”

Darius stood at the doorway and looked around. “This is the place Rhi warded against the Fae.”

Thorn smiled as he made his way to the bedroom. “The verra one. The female will be safer here than anywhere else in the city.”

 

CHAPTER

SEVEN

Dreagan

Con calmly set his hands flat on the table and looked over the double row of monitors to Ryder. It took everything he had not to explode with fury. But control was what he was known for. It was his trademark, his tool used effectively against friends and foes alike.

When he wanted to bellow and smash the expensive new monitors, he merely took a deep breath and slowly released it before he asked in an even voice, “What do you mean, you lost him?”

Ryder set down his half-eaten jelly-filled donut and wiped the powder from his lips. “As I explained, Ulrik just disappeared.”

“Impossible.” None of the Dragon Kings had that ability. Even if Ulrik had his magic back, there was no way he could've picked up something new after thousands of millennia without magic.

Ryder shrugged, his hazel eyes never wavering from Con. “I can play the clip again, if you'd like.”

“Nay. Have you located him?”

Ryder shook his head. “He could be anywhere.”

“Or nowhere.” Ulrik was proving to be impressively skilled at evading Con's watch. Con had made the mistake of thinking Ulrik's dragon magic would be bound for eternity.

He'd never expected Ulrik to find a Druid with enough power to handle dragon magic. It was the last mistake Con would make regarding his old friend. “What about Rhi?”

Ryder's blond brows rose. “Rhi? You've never asked to find her before. What's up?”

“Just tell me if you can find her.”

“You won't find her,” said a voice behind Con.

He straightened and turned to find Henry North standing in the doorway. Henry was a mortal who worked for MI5, but he had proven himself a trusted friend and ally to all at Dreagan.

The only issue was that Henry had fallen—hard—for the Light Fae despite everyone warning him to keep his distance from Rhi.

“The Dark are easy enough to track because they aren't keeping themselves hidden,” Henry continued, his English accept clipped with frustration and a dose of anger.

Con should've realized Henry would've been trying to find Rhi while he tracked the Dark over the world. No wonder the mortal had been on edge of late. “You think Rhi is hiding?”

“Yes.” Henry ran a hand through his short brown hair. “There's no sign of her or Balladyn anywhere, and my network of people don't miss anything.”

Ryder finished typing on his keyboard and leaned back in his office chair. He stared intently at the rows of screens that made a semicircle around him.

Con walked around the desks to view them himself. He looked from screen to screen, hoping to find a hint of Ulrik or Rhi—or both.

He had a bad feeling that Ulrik had strengthened a bond with Rhi when he carried her out of Balladyn's fortress where she had been held captive. Rhi was more powerful than she realized. If she sided with Ulrik … Con didn't even want to finish the thought.

“You think Rhi and Ulrik are together,” Henry said into the silence.

Con glanced at Henry and nodded.

“She wouldn't do that.” Henry's brow furrowed deeply. “Did you hear me? Rhi wouldn't side with him. She knows Ulrik is the one out to destroy Dreagan.”

“Ulrik is out to destroy me,” Con corrected.

Henry waved away his words. “By coming at Dreagan and the Kings. Rhi has people she counts on here. She wouldn't turn against any of them.”

“Rhi … hasna been the same since Balladyn tortured her. Doona put your faith in her, Henry.”

“Everyone talks about how much you hate her,” Henry said, his lip lifted in contempt. “You'll do anything to put her in a bad light and turn people against her.”

Con opened his mouth to reply, but Ryder beat him to it.

“Henry, you've no' slept in thirty-two hours. Take a rest and eat,” Ryder urged. “You'll feel better once you do.”

Henry looked from Con to Ryder before he turned and stalked from the room.

“He's in love with Rhi,” Ryder said as he looked up at Con. “Do us all a favor and try to remember that when you're doing your usual bashing of her.”

Con ignored his words. “I want to know the moment you find Ulrik. It would be even better if we could discover who else is helping him. Ulrik is good, but he couldna do all of this on his own. He has people. Let's find them.”

“Will do,” Ryder replied.

Con started out of the room, but paused at the door. He looked back at Ryder to find the Dragon King watching him. “I do remember Henry's feelings. It's why I didna tell him what I truly think about Rhi and Ulrik.”

“You think she's turning Dark.”

It wasn't a question, and Con didn't treat it as such. “When was the last time you saw her wear pink?”

Ryder shrugged. “I doona know.”

“Before Balladyn kidnapped and tortured her. He kept her in his fortress for weeks, Ryder. He used the Chains of Mordare.”

“She broke the unbreakable Chains of Mordare,” Ryder stated with a grin.

Con still couldn't believe Rhi had broken them. Every Fae throughout eternity who had worn them had died horribly. And yet Rhi had shattered them. “That she did, but it doesna alter the fact that she is changed.”

“So was Kellan after the Dark tortured him.”

“Rhi is refusing to see the queen.”

At this news, Ryder's eyes widened. “That can no' be right. Rhi's greatest achievement was being a Queen's Guard. She adores Usaeil.”

“
Adored
would be the correct word. It doesna help that Usaeil was having her followed by another of the Queen's Guard.”

“She's going to lose Rhi's trust.”

Con lowered his gaze as he thought back to what he'd heard the last time he visited Usaeil. “She already has.”

“You've certainly taken a keen interest recently with the Queen of the Light.”

He'd wondered if anyone had tried to discover where he had been going. Now he knew. He was going to have to be more careful. “Update me as soon as you find anything.”

Con walked back to his office. He was more worried than anyone knew, because they had yet to put the pieces together. Ulrik was dangerous and could bring down the Kings with the help of the Dark.

Rhi knew things about the Kings because of her lover, some of which she could use against them.

Put Ulrik and Rhi together, and Con wasn't sure if the Kings could win.
That's
what kept him up at night.

The latest with the Dark making themselves known in Scotland was infuriating and was something that needed to be handled immediately.

The only good thing was that the Dark's attempt to discover the weapon that could destroy the Dragon Kings had been put on hold. But for how long?

Every decision, every move he made was with the thought of the Kings' survival. He was thinking of every conceivable notion and attempting to prepare. The wrench in everything was Rhi.

Would the Light Fae turn against the Kings? Or would she continue to stand beside them?

He'd known the moment he first saw her all those centuries ago that she was trouble. Rhi had her own set of rules, and despite being a great fighter, she was stubborn to a fault and extremely dangerous when her temper was up.

And lately her temper was always up.

The same power that allowed her to revive a dying world could destroy one without even realizing it if she couldn't control her anger.

Con wouldn't change the past or what he had done or said to Rhi. Thankfully, there was a King who considered her a close friend. Now all Con had to do was convince Rhys.

*   *   *

Thorn stared down at the woman as a new day dawned. She was huddled beneath the blankets. Naked.

That part had been … difficult. He was a male, after all. It was in his makeup to look at a woman. And he hated himself for wanting a peek of her when she was ill.

It had taken both him and Darius to get her out of her soaked clothing. Thorn shielded her as much as he could, which meant he was holding her while Darius cut off her clothes. Then Thorn had buried her under a mountain of blankets with the heat cranked up.

What worried him was that she had yet to stop shivering. Her fever was just as high as it had been when he carried her into the flat.

“We could ask Con to heal her,” Darius said from the doorway.

Thorn shook his head. “He willna. Con will protect the humans as a race, but he willna risk coming here and the Dark seeing him to save one female.”

“Her name is Lexi Crawford.”

Thorn raised a brow as he looked at Darius. “You snooped.”

“I got tired of calling her ‘the female.' I found her identification in her jacket.”

Thorn rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “This place is safe enough to leave her, but she's too sick.”

“She needs medicine.”

“Aye, but what kind?” Thorn threw up his hands in defeat. “I doona know the first thing about treating a human illness.”

Darius made a sound at the back of his throat. “Then are we no' lucky to have so many humans as mates to the Kings? Call one of them.”

Thorn berated himself for not thinking of that sooner. He pulled out his phone and dialed Darcy. The Druid answered in the middle of the second ring.

“Hey, Thorn,” she said cheerfully.

“Hello, Darcy.”

“Oh,” she said, her voice dipping low and her Scots accent deepening. “You don't sound good. Is everything going all right? I know Warrick wants to be there helping you.”

Thorn looked down at Lexi. “He needs to be there with you.”

“Then what's going on? I can tell by your voice that something is wrong.”

“There's a sick woman.”

There was a beat of silence before Darcy said, “Then ask her what's wrong.”

“I can no'. She passed out hours ago and has yet to wake.”

“Okay.” Darcy blew out a breath. “Tell me her symptoms.”

“She has a fever. When I touch her skin, it burns.”

“Not good,” Darcy mumbled. “What else?”

“She's shivering, her breathing is labored and wheezing.” Thorn swallowed. “She was out in the rain all day yesterday.”

“You were following her?”

Thorn didn't want to reveal too much or have Darcy read too much into things. “Darius and I spotted her several times following the Dark. I suspect one of them killed someone close to her, and she's out for revenge.”

“Except,” Darcy urged when he paused.

“They're on to her.” Thorn closed his eyes. “She's no' quite immune to them, but they doona affect her as they do others.”

Darcy grunted through the phone. “You mean how they affected me that first time.”

“Aye. And, just so you know, I brought her to your flat.”

“I was going to suggest that. It's the only place the Dark can't get to her in the city. You said she's been unconscious?”

“She has.”

“Thorn, she needs medicine and a doctor. It could be nothing more than a simple cold, or it could be the flu. Either way, you can't let her fever continue. It has to be broken.”

She was talking to him as if Thorn would know how to do something like that. “How do you break a fever?”

“Medicine, usually, but my mother put my sister in a bath filled with ice water once.”

That he could do. “What else?”

“She needs fluids. She can't get dehydrated.”

He frowned. That wasn't going to be as easy. “Anything else?”

“Find a doctor.”

“You know we can no'.”

“If the fever doesn't break, you won't have a choice unless you want her to die.”

That was something Thorn wasn't going to allow.

 

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Thorn filled the tub with cold water. He didn't see how putting Lexi in cold water was going to break the fever that was caused by her being cold and wet the day before, but then again, he knew very little of the human body.