“What just happened?”
The queen helped her to her feet and guided her back to the chairs. Once Shara was sitting, Usaeil resumed her own seat. “I could’ve brought you here anytime I wanted, and you could’ve left at any time. I watched you as a child. I watched as you decided to end the suffering of the humans you kidnapped for your family, but you weren’t ready yet. Then I saw you with Kiril. I saw how you looked at him, how you touched him. I saw your love.”
Shara folded her hands together. “How do you know it’s love? I’m not even certain.”
“Yes, you are,” she said with a wink. “Otherwise, why would you have been ready to give your own life for him? That’s what changed your eyes, Shara.”
She touched the corner of one eye timidly. “Because I loved him?”
Usaeil gave a little wave of her hand. “That was part of it. Anyone can love. You loved your parents, your family, and yet that didn’t alter you. Your love for Kiril opened your heart and your world. Your willingness to give your life for his is what ultimately changed you.”
“I did … awful things before. How can all of it be wiped away so simply?”
“It isn’t simple. I don’t think you understand how love can heal. And forgive.”
Shara rose and walked to the mirror once more. She stared into her reflection, trying to recognize herself. “So this is me now?”
“This is you. If you want it to be you.”
Shara smiled, giddiness making her want to dance. “Oh, yes.”
“Good. Now. Let’s talk Kiril.”
*
It had taken Kiril and the others in dragon form to move Rhys into the mountain so he would be hidden. With every minute that ticked by and he didn’t heal, Kiril could see more and more of the Kings blame Ulrik.
The blame couldn’t lay at another’s feet. The Dragon Kings that were awake had all been accounted for, and the ones still sleeping in the mountains had remained asleep. And yet it didn’t make sense. Why would Ulrik attack Rhys? His hatred was focused on one individual—Constantine.
“He’ll heal,” Kellan said from beside him as they gazed at Rhys. “Con had a similar wound once.”
Kiril turned his head to him. “When? I don’t remember that.”
“Few know of it. He’s had two such wounds. One when he fought the King of Kings for the throne. The second was when he and Ulrik fought before Ulrik was banished.”
Kiril shook his head in confusion and took a step back. “I might be old and my memories many, but I would recall if Con had been injured.”
“Nay, you wouldna,” Kellan said cryptically.
Kiril grabbed Kellan’s shoulder and spun him around. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that Ulrik and Con had a confrontation before Ulrik’s magic was taken from him. They fought. Both were injured severely.”
“How did I no’ know of this?”
Kellan shrugged. “Con didna want anyone to know. Neither of them did. It’s why they fought well away from any one of us seeing them.”
“Why tell me now?”
“I probably would’ve shared it sooner had I no’ been sleeping for thirteen hundred years.”
“There were millennia before that you could’ve told us.”
Kellan looked away, a muscle jumping in his jaw. “I was dealing with other things.”
His revelation was so perplexing that Kiril almost forgot the first part of it. “You said Con was injured like this twice.”
“Did you ever want to be King of Kings?”
Kiril scrunched up his face. “Never. I had enough to deal with with my dragons.”
“Most Kings have felt the same, but a few coveted that crown. A select few have it in their destiny.”
Kiril thought back to Con’s predecessors. “In all our time, we’ve only had five take the throne.”
“Aye.”
“What are you no’ telling me?”
Kellan clamped a hand on his shoulder and changed the subject. “Have you heard anything about Shara’s whereabouts?”
“Nothing, and it’s driving me insane.” Kiril knew he had changed the subject on purpose, and he would allow it for now because his mind was full of her.
“There is someone who can help.”
“Broc.” The Warrior could use the god inside him to find anyone, anywhere.
Kellan nodded and dropped his hand to his side. “It’s a thought.”
“What’s a thought?” Tristan asked as he walked up and peered at Rhys’s wound. “I do believe it’s gotten a little better.”
Kellan grinned at Kiril and strode away. Kiril watched him walk to his mate, Denae, and the two of them disappeared deep into the mountain, arm in arm.
“He’s more mysterious at times than Con,” Tristan grumbled.
Kiril chuckled and faced the newest Dragon King. Tristan had once been a Warrior with his twin, Ian. All the Warriors thought Tristan had died, but he had been reborn as a Dragon King.
“He mentioned I could ask Broc to find Shara,” Kiril explained.