Balladyn folded his arms as he leaned against the front door. “Do you remember what Rhi looked like, Shara? I’m toying with her. Do you have any idea what I could do to anyone that I wanted to destroy?”
She lifted her chin despite the chill of foreboding that settled in her gut. Shara knew what Balladyn could do, and it terrified her. “I won’t live in fear, nor will I live in chains, visible or not.”
“You’ll do whatever I tell you. You spurned your family, remember. Not to mention they would never dare to go against me. You have no one, Shara. No one but me. Remember that the next time you want to tell me what you will and won’t do.”
Across the entryway on the other wall was a mirror. Shara caught her image in the reflection and hated the red eyes. They had turned red the first time she kidnapped a human male. With the red eyes was a faint silver strip in her hair. It wasn’t until she’d kidnapped the girls that the silver became more visible as it was now. She touched the strip of silver, despising it.
“You’ll have more soon enough,” Balladyn said, misinterpreting her actions.
Shara’s eyes skated away. She stilled when she caught sight of a door that hadn’t been there earlier, a door that stood less than twenty feet from the stairs.
A door she knew she had never seen in the times she had been in the house.
Her eyes jerked to Balladyn who walked to the stairs and placed a booted foot on the first step as he gazed upward. Two Dark appeared at the top of the stairs shaking their heads. Balladyn gave a sound of fury and turned to the other Dark searching the bottom.
“Anything?” he demanded.
“Nothing,” one responded.
Balladyn pointed outside and told them, “Go help the others search.”
Shara glanced at the new door. Suddenly she knew without a sliver of doubt that Kiril was through that doorway. She wanted in there with him, but she didn’t dare draw attention to it. Even if she was the only one to see it, she refused to let Balladyn know.
“The moon is hidden again tonight,” Shara said.
Balladyn looked at her and shrugged. “Your point?”
“His car is here, but he isn’t. Where else would a Dragon King be but up in the sky?”
Shara didn’t have to say more as Balladyn grabbed her. They appeared in his chamber where he deposited her before he vanished. She glanced around to see she was alone. That she was inside the chamber. He probably had others guarding her, and since she couldn’t teleport out, she was going to have to think of something.
She pulled open the door, prepared to ask one of the guards a question, when she discovered the hallway empty. Finally, something was going her way.
Shara slipped out of the chamber and closed the door behind her. She walked with purposeful steps to the doorway that would lead to the Blackwood estate. Just before she stepped through, Shara veiled herself. The moment she was back on earth, she teleported to Kiril’s estate.
She let the veil fall when she found herself alone. Immediately, she walked to the door and paused. She still didn’t know how she saw it, but it didn’t matter if it led her to Kiril. Shara twisted the knob and pushed. The door opened easily. She was surprised it wasn’t locked, but since she assumed it was supposed to remain hidden from view, there wasn’t a need for it to be locked.
Once she walked through the doorway, she softly closed the door behind her. When she turned to look into the dimly lit room, she froze as she stared down at the most magnificent and frightening sight she had ever witnessed—a dragon.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Shara’s knees buckled at the sight, and she fell back against the wall. The dragon lifted its massive head from its paws and regarded her silently with slanted, faceted royal blue eyes.
The burnt orange scales glistened with a metallic sheen in the light of the lamps hanging from the walls. His head was wide, his eyes unblinking. The dragon’s nostrils flared as if scenting her. Then he drew in a huge breath, his body lighting up from within with a blue glow for several seconds. Her mouth dropped open in wonder and surprise.
“Kiril,” Shara whispered.
In all her dreams, she had never imagined anything so spectacularly frightening. She wanted to go to him, to touch his scales, but trepidation kept her rooted to the spot. It was no wonder the Dark were panicky any time the Dragon Kings were mentioned.
Kiril shifted his shoulders, causing his wings to brush against the top of the cellar, triggering mortar dust to drift around him. It was wrong that he was hiding in such a small space when he should be soaring among the clouds.
“No one knows I’m here,” she said and scooted to the first step. “I swear.”
He blinked his huge blue dragon eyes.
Shara drew in a shaky breath. “Your original plan isn’t going to work. We need a new one.” When Kiril didn’t respond, Shara urged, “Please. I want to help you. I need to help you. It won’t right the wrongs I’ve done, but it’s the only way I know to do something.”