Smoke and Fire: Part 3 (7 page)

She was getting ready to leave and call to Balladyn so that he might take her to his library to see the texts about the Reapers when she turned the corner.

Rhi came to a halt when she found Balladyn standing next to Taraeth. They were talking to someone, but he was hidden by a column.

Balladyn was in all black, his silk shirt molding to every contour of his body. His look was understated, yet powerful. A direct contrast with Taraeth who wore black leather pants, a silver shirt, and what looked like a black satin robe left unbelted so that the red inside could be seen.

Crass and showy. Just like Taraeth.

She moved forward. Balladyn’s gaze jerked her way. He couldn’t see her, but just as the first time she’d veiled herself in the Dark palace, he sensed her. Balladyn didn’t say anything. His expression told her just how annoyed he was that she was there.

Rhi caught sight of a gray suit. There was something about the way the man moved that had her shifting to the side to see who it was. That’s when she caught a glimpse of black hair pulled back in a queue.

Ulrik!

Rhi should’ve known. It was no secret that Ulrik was working with the Dark, but seeing it was a reminder of how bad things were for the Dragon Kings. And the Light Fae, if Rhi were honest.

Ulrik traveled fast to have been in Austin with her, and then in the Dark palace—changing into his suit. Rhi wasn’t sure why Ulrik did anything, but it infuriated her that he’d found her in Austin and spoken so ambiguously.

There was no way the Light would be able to stay out of the war between the Dark and the Kings for much longer. The Fae Wars would happen all over again.

Unless Ulrik could be stopped.

Yet Rhi didn’t teleport to Dreagan and notify them of where Ulrik was. Why should she? The Kings wouldn’t venture onto Dark property to find him.

Ulrik was a friend. Or was he? Rhi wasn’t sure. She didn’t want him to die, which was what had to happen for the war to stop before it really began. Because the only other option of Ulrik forgetting his revenge wasn’t going to happen.

Though Con was a complete dick, Rhi didn’t want him to die either. Unfortunately, one of them would have to. It was the only way.

She pressed herself against the wall as Balladyn and Taraeth came her way. Rhi tried to look around them to catch another glimpse of Ulrik, but he was walking the opposite way. There was a woman beside him, a Dark Fae who he had his arm around.

So Ulrik had found a woman. Rhi wasn’t surprised it was a Dark. There was too much hate and bitterness for Ulrik to be with a Light. And with his abhorrence of humans, he’d spend eternity alone before he took a mortal to his bed again.

Rhi followed Taraeth and Balladyn. After fifteen minutes of listening to Taraeth ramble on about how great he was, Rhi rolled her eyes, wanting to remove his ability to speak.

She turned her thoughts to the new set of OPI polishes for the Venice collection. The alert had come over her mobile, and she was itching to get to the store and pick up a bottle of each shade to see what Jesse could do with them.

With names like A Great Opera-tunity, Tiramisu for Two, and Gelato on My Mind, how could she resist?

“Do you see my point?” Taraeth asked Balladyn.

Balladyn bowed his head. “Of course, sire.”

Rhi frowned. Damn. She should’ve been paying attention instead of thinking about the new polishes. What if she’d missed something important?

Taraeth gazed at Balladyn for a long moment in silence. “I’ve been through a lot of men in your position, Balladyn. You’ve remained the longest.”

“Because I’m good at what I do.”

“Yes,” Taraeth said with a nod. “Too good at times. I’m not above … removing you … should I begin to question your loyalty.”

Balladyn’s impassive face changed. A muscle ticked along his jaw, and anger radiated from his red eyes. “Question my loyalty? I’m one of the few you should never mistrust.”

“You’ve been preoccupied of late.”

“My job is to protect you and carry out your orders. I’m making sure that any decisions you make won’t come back to cause damage.”

“You actually think it would?” Taraeth asked with a laugh. He held up his only hand and looked around. “In my palace?”

“You’ve allowed Dark to be recruited by them. Him,” Balladyn quickly corrected himself.

Them? That hadn’t been a slip of the tongue. Balladyn knew something he hadn’t bothered to share with her. Because she hadn’t asked the right questions.

Now she would.

Taraeth walked in a circle around Balladyn, the robe flowing behind him dramatically. Rhi rolled her eyes. “The Dark would never follow him. They know who their true master is. I could call them back any time.”

“The longer they’re with him, the more he feels as if he’s in control.”

“I’ll set him straight soon enough.”

Balladyn clenched his jaw. “And if he wins? He’ll wipe the world of the mortals, thereby driving us out of this realm.”

“We won’t be leaving this realm.”

“It’s a possibility. Regardless of what he’s promised.”

Taraeth took a deep breath and stopped before Balladyn. “This is your reasoning for acting so different these past few months?”

“Of course. You may believe the word of a Dragon King, but I don’t. I’m going to make sure that regardless of the outcome that this place is protected.”

Rhi nearly laughed. Taraeth was so full of himself he’d missed Balladyn’s choice of words. No doubt Balladyn was going to protect the palace—for himself. He wasn’t doing anything to protect Taraeth.

Without a word, Taraeth walked away, leaving Balladyn in the corridor. Balladyn looked to where she was standing and gave her a curt look.

Rhi gave him a flat look. If he only knew how long she’d been in the palace, then he might have a reason to be angry.

She followed him down the hallway to a Fae doorway. As soon as she stepped through, she recognized his compound. It was no longer in ruins. Rhi waited until her watcher was with her before she continued after Balladyn.

Once she was in Balladyn’s chamber, she pushed the door closed and unveiled herself. Balladyn had her pressed against the wall a second later.

“Have you lost your damn mind?” he demanded, anger and worry filling his gaze. “Do you know what Taraeth would do to you if he ever got his hands on you? I can’t believe you were so reckless.”

Rhi tried repeatedly to get a word in edgewise, but Balladyn was having none of it.

“It was beyond stupid for you to go there. You shouldn’t even be here with me,” Balladyn said and whirled around. He ran a hand through his long hair and paced the width of his chamber.

“I was veiled.”

That stopped him in his tracks. His head jerked to her as he gave her a fierce glare. “I can sense you, Rhi. If I can, others could as well.”

But he didn’t sense her watcher. Ever. It was more that he was attuned to her, which was why he was able to sense her. Yet Rhi decided to keep that tidbit to herself. With the mood Balladyn was in, he wouldn’t want to hear any of it.

“Taraeth still believes I’m searching for you to turn you Dark,” he said with a snort.

She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “And whose fault is that? You’re the one who kidnapped me in the first place.”

“Don’t remind me.” He put his hands on his hips and hung his head. “I can’t take that back, but I can keep you away from him. If you’d only cooperate.”

Rhi dropped her arms and walked to him. She stopped before him and put her hands on his face, bending her knees so she could tilt her head to the side and see his face. With a smile, she lifted his head so she could stand straight. “I know what I’m doing.”

“You’re good and lucky. Don’t get cocky.”

“Yes, sir.”

That made him grin. His red eyes softened as he gazed down at her. “Now that I like coming from your lips.”

“Don’t get used to it,” she warned with a wink.

Balladyn wrapped his arms around her, bringing her against him. “You’d never let me.”

Rhi rested her head on his chest for just a moment. It felt good to have someone again. She closed her eyes and savored the moment—because it couldn’t last long.

“Why were you at the palace?”

Rhi lifted her head and stepped out of his arms. “I wanted to see what the Dark were saying about the Reapers.”

“And you couldn’t ask me?”

“Yes, but I wanted to hear it from them.”

Balladyn shook his head “Rhi.”

“I was hoping to run into you though.”

“To see my library and what I found on the Reapers, right?”

She flashed him a smile. “You’re so smart.”

“This way,” he said and turned on his heel.

Rhi could feel her watcher’s displeasure increase the moment they left the Dark palace and arrived at Balladyn’s compound. Well, in truth, he hadn’t been pleased to be at the Dark palace to begin with.

“I could’ve brought these to you,” Balladyn said. “It would’ve been better than you coming here and chance being seen.”

Rhi lifted a shoulder nonchalantly. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

“The Fae have said that around the humans so often that it’s become one of the mortals’ favorite phrases.”

They walked through a large arched doorway from his chamber. Rhi smiled when she saw the sheer number of bookshelves and books lining the walls.

A massive light hung from the ceiling with what appeared to be candles, but Balladyn was obsessive about his books. He’d never let fire anywhere near them.

There were standing candelabras all around the room. They brightened as Balladyn walked past, alighting the chamber in a warm glow.

Balladyn strode to a large table where books were stacked and others lay open. There was a tablet of paper with his writing on it.

“This is everything I found,” he said. “And I looked through every book I have.”

Rhi took another look around the room and the mind-boggling number of books. It must have taken him days to go through each one while continuing his duties as Taraeth’s right hand.

She came to stand beside him. “Take me through what you found.”

Chapter Thirty-two

Kinsey was never happier to see the sun setting behind the mountains than she was then. Another day passed without any answers. She and Ryder weren’t the only ones frustrated.

Even Thorn and Dmitri were agitated since they were in the room and learned whenever they got close—then found nothing.

Although Ryder never discarded anything. Whatever they found—however inconsequential—he kept, tucked away in case they needed it later.

There were dozens of those kinds of finds. Anything that caught Ryder’s eye was put into a file. Kinsey tried to discern what he was seeing that she wasn’t, but she had yet to figure it out.

Ryder was gifted with all things electrical and even mechanical. She was still awed by the fact he’d built every camera used on Dreagan. They were so small and obscure, hidden so that no one ever saw them, and yet showed the most amazingly detailed pictures on the screens.

Kinsey looked around the computer room. Everything in there Ryder had built. Did any of the other Kings even realize how astonishingly gifted he was? Did they have a clue how fortunate they were that he was able to do all he did?

Ryder kept Dreagan ahead of even the prototypes coming out of big corporations without stealing from or spying on them. This was all in his head.

How the hell had Kinsey not seen this when they were together?

The answer to that was easy—she’d been in love. She’d been too engrossed in her feelings and being with him. She hadn’t looked for secrets or anything.

As if realizing she was staring at him, Ryder shifted his head toward her. “We’ve done enough for the day.”

Which meant he was sending her off while he kept working. Not this time. “I’m fine. I just need a little break.”

“As do I,” Dmitri said. “Dinner is nearly ready.”

Kinsey glanced at Dmitri as both he and Thorn stood and walked from the room. They were leaving as if everyone was gathering together. For the past few nights, she and Ryder had taken their meals in the computer room.

“It’s fine,” Ryder said. “I keep a recording of the cameras and will go back over it later.”

She nodded, listening with half an ear.

“You ready to go down?”

Her eyes jerked to him. Go down? That’s what he’d just asked, right? Surely he didn’t mean that they were going to sit around a table like one big happy family.

Right?

Ryder chuckled as he leaned an elbow on the arm of his chair and scratched his chin. “It’s no’ as bad as it sounds.”

“Which part? I’m assuming everyone will be there.”

“No’ all of us. Some are still patrolling, just no longer from the air. Concessions needed to be made with MI5 here.”

“You have the cameras though.”

He shrugged and motioned to the monitors Dmitri had been staring at. “Cameras and our magic only do so much. Our barrier of magic keeps out nearly all humans as well as causing the Dark considerable pain if they pass through it. Anyone or anything that ventures onto our land through the magic and we’re alerted.”

“I gather you don’t chase after every rabbit?” she asked with a smile.

Ryder laughed as he pushed back his chair and got to his feet. “Our magic lets us know when it’s an animal or not.”

“Are the Dark able to shift into animal form?”

“Thankfully, no,” he said as he held out his hand for her.

Kinsey took it and let him pull her to her feet. They walked slowly around the monitors to the door. “That’s a plus. Now, you said
nearly
all humans.”

“There are rare instances like with Grace. She saw right through our magic and entered Arian’s mountain unaware of where she was. Though we have no’ found anything, I suspect she has enough magic from an ancestor that gave her the ability to look past ours.”

“Was she interrogated?” Kinsey asked with a side look.

Ryder’s face lost his smile. “At length.”

Wow. Well, she had asked. Perhaps Kinsey was lucky in getting to search for those responsible for putting her at Dreagan. Or maybe she should really be thanking her stars that she knew Ryder, otherwise she might be questioned like Grace or Esther. Which reminded her …