Ulrik smiled, though it didn’t reach his gold eyes. “A mistake I see now.”
“Why are you here? I doona believe it’s to help me.”
“It’s no’,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “I couldna release you if I wanted to.”
“And you doona want to.”
“When did any of you help me in the thousands of millennia I walked this wretched realm never able to see my Silvers held within Dreagan? When did any of you come to me through the long years as I suffered staring at the sky but unable to shift?”
As he spoke, his voice grew harsher, the hatred stronger. Kiril took a deep breath. “We thought we were doing the right thing. You were killing humans.”
“Who killed dragons,” Ulrik hissed.
Kiril looked down at the chains around his wrists and ankles that held him so securely that not even his dragon magic could get him loose. “Is this why you’ve come? To moan about your problems?”
“Nay. I’m here for another matter.”
Kiril’s head jerked up, but it was too late. Ulrik was already gone, the door closing softly behind him.
*
“What the fuck?” Phelan asked as he stumbled to the side after almost colliding with Usaeil.
“Watch that mouth of yours,” she said with a haughty tone. “You may be a prince of our people, but that doesna mean you can speak so … crudely.”
His gaze shifted to Constantine who had a smirk upon his lips. “Bite me,” he told the King of Kings.
Rhys held out his hand as they clasped forearms. “It’s good to see you, Warrior.”
Phelan nodded and returned the grip before releasing him. “No’ half as glad as I am to see you three. I was just about to contact Fallon so he could take me to Dreagan.”
Con’s smirk disappeared. “I gather you doona have good news?”
“The worst.” Phelan ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Kiril has been taken.”
“The Dark female betrayed him.”
Phelan narrowed his gaze on Con. “Why would you say that? Because she’s a Dark? You who sided with me against the other Warriors when Aisley was still drough.”
Usaeil’s silver eyes shifted to Con as she lifted her eyebrows. “And don’t dare say a Druid who gives their soul to Satan in order to have black magic is any different than a Dark Fae.”
“What happened?” Rhys asked before Con could respond.
Phelan moved away from the doorway and relayed the entire ordeal in quick order. “Balladyn didna know it was Kiril. He guessed, and he was counting on Kiril believing Shara deceived him.”
“Which she didn’t,” Usaeil murmured, her arms crossed over her chest.
Phelan shook his head. “Balladyn has her as well. I didna wait around to see what he would do to any of them.”
“Good choice,” Con said, his black eyes troubled.
Rhys rubbed his hands together. “I say we go in guns blazing, so to speak.”
“You would,” Con said with a shake of his head. “Nay. We need to be subtler. Kiril and Rhi are being held close together, which will make freeing them easier.”
Phelan licked his lips as he glanced at the Queen of the Fae. “You did hear the part where I said Rhi was being held by the Chains of Mordare?”
“Don’t even say those words,” Usaeil ordered, her skin going pale.
Con didn’t even give Usaeil a glance as he said, “I heard you. It doesna change the fact we need to get her free.”
“That isn’t possible,” Usaeil said. Her eyes met Phelan’s, and they were filled with sadness.
“Regardless of how heavy those chains are, they can no’ be too heavy for a dragon,” Rhys said. “If we can no’ get them off her, we take her—and the chains—to Dreagan.”
Usaeil was shaking her head of black hair before he finished. “You don’t want to do that. Those chains … just trust me. You don’t want them anywhere near Dreagan.”
“I’m no’ leaving her in there,” Phelan stated emphatically.
Rhys’s forehead creased in a frown. “How bad is she?”
“Terrible.”
It was all Phelan could say. There were no words to state how he had found Rhi. In the short time he had known her, she had always been bright and filled with laughter and a sarcastic reply at the ready.
He used to laugh at how often she changed the color of her nails and how they always matched what she was wearing. She was loyal to the Light Fae and to him to a degree that often put her life in danger. And despite a sordid history with the Dragon Kings, she had come to their aid several times recently.
“I can’t lose her,” Usaeil said softly.
That drew the eyes of all three males. It was Con who nodded and said, “We need a plan that will get us all in and out with our friends.”
“I’ll get Shara,” Phelan stated. “I know where’s she’s kept, and I know Kiril will want her freed.”
Rhys slapped him on the back. “Aye. You’re right. I’ll go with Usaeil and get Rhi.”