“Good.”
Kellan crossed his arms over his chest. “Con, you need to rest.”
“I’m fine. We have work to do.”
Dmitri rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced at the floor. “The police came by about an hour ago. They wanted to see if the shop was damaged.”
The shop. Con had completely forgotten to have that cleaned up for just such a visit. He couldn’t forget something so simple as that. All it would take was one small mistake to crumble their now very fragile existence.
“We took care of it,” Kellan said.
Dmitri nodded. “Aye. Nothing out of place. It had them scratching their heads.”
“That’s one spot of good news,” Con said, more relieved than the other two would ever know. “Good work.”
Dmitri threw a thumb over his shoulder. “What of Thorn and Lexi?”
Con’s gaze slid to the doorway, but there was no sign of the couple. “We’ll know soon enough, I’m sure.”
“Thorn is taking her to the mountain,” Kellan said. “We caught the Dark who led the attack here. He’s the same one who killed Lexi’s friend.”
Con lowered his gaze to the floor and inhaled deeply. “She deserves her revenge. If she can no’ kill the Dark, Thorn will.”
* * *
Lexi didn’t think there was ever a time she was more nervous. When Thorn beckoned her to go with him after Con healed Rhi, she quickly followed.
When they reached a door, Thorn held it open for her. She walked through it, stunned to find herself in a tall, but narrow, tunnel inside a mountain.
Cool air brushed over her skin. She glanced behind her at Thorn who closed the door and stepped around her.
“This way,” he said as he started walking.
Lexi followed him while she took in everything. Right at the entrance, and appearing about every ten feet, was a sconce in the mountain throwing off light so she could see where she was going.
Never was she more grateful than when she saw the carvings and etchings of dragons along the walls. Everywhere she looked there were dragons. The carvings were so spectacular that she was having a hard time following Thorn and not stopping to run her hands over the artwork.
Lexi hurried to catch up to Thorn and belatedly realized the floor was pitched downward. The farther down they went, the more she saw of doorways from the cave that branched off.
She wanted to explore them. Especially when she glanced inside a cavern and saw a massive dragon carved along an entire wall breathing fire.
She was completely enthralled until she walked a little farther and saw another cavern—with four large silver dragons sleeping in a cage.
“Those are dragons,” she said in awe, stopping.
Thorn halted and turned his head to look to the dragons. “Those are Ulrik’s Silvers. They wouldna stop following his orders or leave with the others, so we had no choice but to use our magic so they would sleep.”
“And if Ulrik wakes them?” she asked.
Thorn looked at her over his shoulders. “We willna allow them to hurt any humans.”
Which was all fine and dandy as long as Thorn and the other Kings were around. What if Ulrik won against Con? He would then be King of Kings and making the decisions.
Lexi gazed at the Silvers, the color fading from a deep silver at the base of their necks and along the spines to pale silver under their stomachs.
These weren’t Dragon Kings that shifted, but real dragons who cared not about puny humans. It made Lexi wonder what her world would have been like had there not been a war between their two species. Would magic be a way of life? Would seeing dragons or hearing their roars be as common as the sound of a jet?
“Do you want a closer look?”
Lexi shook her head and looked at Thorn.
He faced forward and continued on. “Just a little farther.”
By the look on Thorn’s face, she knew she had done the wrong thing. “I’m not afraid of them,” she said as she followed. “It’s just that after seeing you, nothing else compares.”
He slowed, allowing her to catch him. There was a smile on his face as he looked down at her.
They came to a halt then with Thorn turning her toward an entrance. She looked in and couldn’t believe her eyes. There in the middle of the small room was Gorul. The very Dark who had killed Christina.
The Dark was surrounded by four Dragon Kings. Whatever they were doing kept the Dark from teleporting away. Gorul was turning in a circle looking at the Kings with contempt. Then he spotted her.
He looked her up and down and sneered. “You should be dead.”
Thorn moved behind her and whispered, “They’ve been holding him for you.”
If there wasn’t such a surge of anger at seeing the Dark, she might have cried for what the Kings—and Thorn—were doing for her.
She glanced at Thorn and touched his hand as she walked into the cavern. Her gaze then turned to Gorul. “Taraeth didn’t keep me for himself.”
“As if I believe that,” Gorul said.
Lexi shrugged and stopped in front of him, her arms crossed over her chest. “I don’t give a damn what you believe. But I’m here. What does that tell you?”
“That you’re going to get what your friend got.”
For the first time in … days … Lexi wasn’t afraid. She knew the Kings were powerful. She knew they wouldn’t allow Gorul to do anything to her. Then there was the fact she had been through so much, as well as having killed a man.
She would have to deal with the ramifications of taking a life later, but for now Gorul didn’t scare her as he once had.
“You’re not going to lay a finger on me,” Lexi said. She felt Thorn move up beside her.
Gorul looked at Thorn before the Dark’s gaze slid to her. “You got yourself a Dragon King. It won’t matter. Not in the end.”
Con came in from another entrance that Lexi hadn’t seen. He stood opposite her behind Gorul. The Dark Fae swung around and began laughing when he saw Con.
“Your days are numbered, Constantine.”
Con stared at Gorul with soulless black eyes. With some unspoken command, Darius and the other three Kings guarding Gorul stepped back.
Lexi didn’t move. She was waiting to see who was going to kill the Dark. Watching the life fade from his eyes would finally give Christina justice.
“You attacked Dreagan,” Con’s voice rang clear and strong in the cavern. “You attacked and killed mortals on our land. You were part of a plan that took Lexi away from safety and attempted to take Shara.”
“She’s a traitor,” Gorul said of Shara. “She was Dark.”
“Was,” Con said softly.
“Taraeth has put a price on her head. They’ll be coming for her.”
“Let them try,” said a deep voice to Lexi’s right.
She turned her head to see a man with wheat-colored hair and shamrock green eyes blazing with a warning. He must be Shara’s King.
Lexi wondered what it would feel like to have Thorn come to her defense like that. She knew what it felt like to be in his arms and to witness his power. But to be the center of his world? It’s what she longed for.
How did she tell him she loved him? Thorn wasn’t like other men. Nothing they had done had been normal. How did she even know if there was anything more for them?
Gorul lunged at Con. Lexi expected him to be drawn up short from magic that kept him in the cavern, but there was nothing. Right before he reached Con, Thorn was there, holding Gorul’s arms behind his back.
“The almighty Constantine can’t fight his own battles?” Gorul asked.
“I willna be killing you,” Con stated.
Lexi was shocked when Thorn turned around with Gorul. He leaned close to the Dark’s ear and said, “She’s going to do it.”
Lexi didn’t hesitate in taking the blade Darius held out for her. All she kept seeing was Christina’s lifeless eyes, her cold, naked body laying so awkwardly on the wet cobblestones. Lexi took the few steps separating them and plunged the dagger into Gorul’s heart.
“You won’t be hurting anyone ever again,” she said before twisting the blade.
His face went gray as shock and surprise filled his red eyes. He struggled to draw in a breath before his eyes rolled back in his head, and he slumped in Thorn’s arms.