“It seems my warnings to you about lying need a better lesson.”
Shara began to shake. Kiril’s fingers tightened around her arm, giving her strength.
Balladyn looked up from the dagger to Kiril. “I sent no one. So that begs the question of just who you are.”
“I got orders,” Kiril said.
“From who?”
Kiril shrugged. “It was a Dark from Taraeth’s guard.”
Balladyn’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Taraeth isn’t here.”
“His guard is.”
Shara was glad Kiril was quicker with answers than she was, because he just might get them through this.
Balladyn suddenly threw back his head and laughed as he pushed away from the wall. “Ah, Shara, what a performer you are. I never had any doubt that you would deliver the Dragon King.”
Her knees threatened to buckle as realization sank in. And she knew by the way Kiril’s hand relaxed on her arm that if she fell, he wouldn’t catch her.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her voice wobbly with outrage and anxiety.
Balladyn grabbed her and pulled her next to him. She stumbled, her eyes darting to Kiril in the hopes that he would know she’d had nothing to do with whatever was going on. The warmth in his eyes was gone. Possibly forever this time.
“Show me your true self,” Balladyn demanded.
Kiril’s smile was as frosty as the Arctic. “If that’s what you want.”
The next instant, his true face appeared once more. “No,” Shara said, but it was drowned out by the Dark who quickly surrounded him.
She watched as he was hauled back down to the dungeon without putting up so much as an ounce of fight. It wasn’t right, none of it was. Shara cried out as something sharp pierced her neck behind her ear. She stilled instantly when she comprehended that Balladyn held the dagger.
“No more lies,” he ground out in her ear. “You’ll forget about the Dragon King, because even if he gets free, he’ll think you betrayed him. My guess is that if he sees you, he’ll kill you before you have time to utter a single syllable.”
Shara sagged against Balladyn, the truth of his words slamming into her with the force of a tidal wave.
“You’re mine, sweetheart. The sooner you realize that, the better off you’ll be.”
“But I don’t want you,” she said. It no longer mattered what happened to her. Balladyn was right. Kiril would never listen to her try to explain, much less believe her.
If she didn’t have him, she had nothing.
Balladyn snorted. “I don’t care what you want.”
To prove his point he kissed her brutally, painfully while keeping her tight against him. Shara desperately tried to pull free, but the more she fought, the more he hurt her.
He ended the kiss, pressing the point of the blade deeper until she felt something warm and wet slide down her neck. “I wanted you beside me ruling this fortress, but I’m just as content keeping you as my slave, chained naked in my room waiting for me anytime I want you.”
“Do what you want, but I’ll never go through the Claiming with you.”
“Sure you will.” His eyes were filled with a strange light that bordered on insanity. “Unless you want to watch as I torture Kiril.”
There wasn’t a need to ask if he meant it, because Shara knew he did. She turned her gaze away from him. “You make me ill.”
“I don’t need your mind as I’m fucking your body.”
As he pushed her into the arms of two of his Dark Fae soldiers who dragged her away, all Shara could think about was Kiril.
*
Phelan stood not five feet from Balladyn, but the bastard never saw him. Phelan made sure of it by using his power and concealing himself so that when Balladyn looked at the wall, all he saw was gray stone.
The hard part had been remaining still as Kiril was taken. Phelan vowed in that instant to kill Shara for her treachery. He almost left then to try to get to Kiril, but something held him back. It was a good thing he did, because he learned how Balladyn had tricked them all. The ass had only suspected the Dark leading Shara was Kiril, and he had counted on Kiril’s worry over whether Shara would deceive him or not.
Phelan’s beloved, Aisley, had once been forced by a drough to do horrible things. The same was happening to Shara except the horrible things would be done to her.
Phelan glanced down the stairs to the dungeon. He had given his word to Kiril to leave if he was taken and let the other Dragon Kings know what happened. Kiril would be guarded at all times, and since Phelan couldn’t get inside the cell to talk to Kiril, his only choice was to find the other Dragon Kings.
Phelan turned his gaze to Shara as she was half-dragged, half-led down the hall. Whatever awaited her wouldn’t be good, if the smug light in Balladyn’s gaze was any indication.