“I do. Stop them.”
“I can no’,” he said and closed the file before she saw anything. With one push of a button, the e-mail went back to its original form.
Rhi put her hands on her hips and glared. “You can.”
“Apparently you believe I hold more sway with Taraeth than I do.” Ulrik rose and walked around the desk to her. “You’re joining the fight, I presume.”
“I’ve already killed several.”
“I think it’s a mistake.”
She looked at him as if she didn’t know him, which she really didn’t. “This is your home the Dark are taking over. Doesn’t that matter to you?”
“This realm was the dragons’ long before mortals came. Now they get to live freely while the dragons languish on some other realm? I’ve long wanted the humans gone.”
“And the mates to the Kings?”
Ulrik shrugged and leaned a hip on his desk. “That’s no’ my worry.”
“I thought…” she trailed off.
“Thought what?” he pressed.
Rhi’s silver eyes were filled with doubt. “You helped Rhys. You brought Lily back from the dead.”
“Are you sure I was helping Rhys?”
She took a step back. “It wasn’t that long ago you assisted Warrick in protecting Darcy. Or so I thought. I heard you tried to kill her.”
Ulrik smiled coldly even as a faint glow began to surround Rhi. “I stabbed her and left her for dead.”
Rhi flew at him, the force of her magic knocking him in the chest. He tumbled head over heels backward and landed on his back with Rhi straddling him as light emanated from her, blinding him.
“Why?” she demanded in a voice filled with fury.
Rhi wanted to control her voice, but the word came out as a yell. She was rage, she was darkness.
Even though she knew she was glowing and that at any moment she could destroy the entire realm of Earth, she couldn’t rein it in.
Did she even want to?
Was this her punishment for ignoring Warrick’s call and sending in the Warriors and Druids? She was sick to her stomach for abandoning the Kings before, and the need to take it out on someone was strong. Too strong.
“The darkness within you has grown since the last time we spoke.” Ulrik’s voice was soft, calm.
She noticed then that he wasn’t fighting her, but merely lying on the floor with his hands by his head waiting for her to do whatever she would.
His words penetrated her mind, and it was like a fire being doused with water. All the anger went right out of her.
Rhi turned her head away and climbed off Ulrik. She leaned her back against his desk, hating her new self. It was like she no longer had control of who she was becoming.
Worse, she wasn’t sure she could determine when the darkness was taking over and making decisions. The Light inside her was dimming.
“Look at me.”
She blinked and found Ulrik squatting before her. His face was set in hard lines, his gold eyes glittering with anger.
“Get your arse up,” he ordered.
Rhi frowned, not sure why he was talking to her in such a way. “Why?”
“Now!”
She climbed to her feet. He stood before her with his long black hair falling to his shoulders. The sleeves of his tan sweater were pushed up to his elbows, and he was barefoot in his jeans.
“You’re a Fae,” Ulrik said as he stared at her as if she were gum on the bottom of his shoe. “Act like it. I’ve told you from the beginning that you have the ability to determine if the darkness remains or no’. Make the choice. Either accept it—as well as what you’ll become—or cut it from you.”
“You make it sound as if I haven’t tried to get rid of it,” she argued. Rhi tried to turn away, but he spun her back around.
His gold eyes pierced her. “You have no’. It’s as simple as that.”
“I don’t want the darkness. I want it gone.”
“Then let it go.”
Rhi threw up her hands. “I’m trying!”
Ulrik’s smile was cold, hard. “You forget, Rhi. I know how powerful you are. If you didna want that darkness, it would be gone in a blink. You doona want to let it go. Whether it’s because it allows you to think and do things you wouldna normally do, or if there is some other reason, it doesna matter.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head as if that would make what Ulrik was saying a lie.
His eyes narrowed for a second. “Or are you holding on to the darkness because it gives you the strength to let him go?”
She turned away. Why did Ulrik have to bring up her lover?
“As I thought.” Ulrik came up behind her. He didn’t touch her as he lowered his mouth next to her ear and whispered, “You’re strong enough to cut out the darkness and let him go.”
“Am I?”
Rhi waited for him to respond. When he didn’t she looked over her shoulder to find herself alone. If she didn’t watch it, there wasn’t going to be anywhere she belonged.
She teleported from the store back to Edinburgh. It was time to take out her anger on the Dark.
CHAPTER
THIRTY
Halloween dawned with Lexi doing whatever she could to help. She cooked, she washed, and felt as useless as mud.
The Warriors healed almost immediately, and the Druids were able to repair themselves of any injury with their magic. It proved to Lexi just how inept and inadequate she was in this war.
She kept them fed and gave them a place to rest, but that wasn’t even hers. She was a squatter in the flat. That was never more apparent than when she was alone like now.
Thorn left not long after dinner the night before, and he hadn’t been back. None of the Kings had, actually. It was through Thorn that she discovered Con and Guy remained in the city to help.
Lexi walked to the window, her arms wrapped around her. She had promised to stay in the flat, but she was tired of being in the same clothes.
There was only so much cooking, baking, and cleaning a person could do before they went crazy. Lexi was nearly at that point.
She had no idea what was going on out there. While the others risked their lives, she was safe in the apartment watching the horrors below.
If only she could help somehow. But she wasn’t immortal and she didn’t have magic. She would only be a hindrance.
Lexi tried to dispel the anxiety that had gripped her in the middle of the night. She had sent off texts to Jessica and Crystal about steering clear of anyone with red eyes.
She should’ve called them, but she didn’t want a lecture from them on returning home. But Crystal’s response to the text with “LOL” proved that her friends weren’t taking this as seriously as they should.
There was nothing she could do. All the warnings in the world couldn’t make someone realize they were in danger if they didn’t want to see it. She hadn’t seen it until it had almost been too late.
Lexi’s hand went to the glass when she spotted Thorn at the entrance to an alley. He looked up at her and nodded. A smile pulled at her lips. Seeing him had done wonders to help push away the ominous feeling.
Then she frowned. His shirt was gone. Blood and grime covered much of his bare chest, and his jeans had holes burned in them.
“Thorn!” she said through the glass.
With a wave, he was gone.
Lexi lowered her forehead to the glass and closed her eyes. She was going nuts not being able to help and not knowing about Thorn.
How long was she going to have to remain here? She turned and looked at her phone. She could call the spa and tell them she wasn’t coming back, but what about her apartment? What about all her things?
And that was assuming Thorn wanted her to stay.
She could always get a job in the city—if the city survived. Her faith was in Thorn and the Kings, but the Dark were many.
Then there was the fact that Thorn never told her he wanted her to stay. There hadn’t been any time alone to talk of their night together and where they might be headed. If they were headed anywhere.
Lexi wished she had some semblance of answers to her questions. She couldn’t remain here much longer. Not just because she was going nuts in the flat, but because she had a life in South Carolina.