Darkest Flame

“It’s the Dark, Kellan,” she stated flatly.

 

“I know.” He turned his head to her. After what had happened with Rhi and her Dragon King lover she could’ve turned her back on them, but she hadn’t. It showed just how deep her love for the King had been. If she only knew the truth …

 

“Kellan!” Denae called again.

 

Rhi blew out a harsh breath. “You’re a Dragon King. Do you know what the Dark Ones will do to you?”

 

The pitch of Rhi’s voice went higher. The Dark might not be able to kill a King, but the long-term effects of suffering their torture could do untold damage.

 

They had managed to capture two Kings during the Fae Wars. Kellan remembered all too well having to kill one King after the Dark released him and he set out to destroy Dreagan.

 

The other … the Dark had tried to use during a battle. Seeing a King held by Dark Ones had been horrible, but nothing compared to the King begging his brethren to end his life. It was Con who reached him first and killed him.

 

“She’s right,” Con said from the doorway as he and Rhys walked in. “The Dark can no’ capture another King.”

 

Rhi backed away when Kellan met her eyes. “I can do this with your help,” he told her. “The Dark Ones doona know you’re here.”

 

Kellan looked from Con to Rhys and back to Rhi. He couldn’t begin to explain his driving need to save Denae, only that he had to. It was an odd feeling after spending so much time hoping for the demise of all mortals. “I took responsibility for her. Because I gave Denae my word that she wouldna die this day. Because … I have to do this for her.”

 

Suddenly Rhi gave him a wink. “Just what I wanted to hear, stud.”

 

“You can no’ be serious,” Con said as he stalked angrily to Kellan. “You’ll never get free of the Dark Ones.”

 

“Thanks for the confidence,” Kellan said sarcastically.

 

Con closed his eyes and fisted his hands, as if he were searching for patience. When his black eyes opened, he pinned Kellan with a hard look. “I doona want to have to kill another King who has been in the hands of a Dark. I can no’. No’ again.”

 

“Kellan! You should see this!” Denae shouted while glaring at a stack of crates.

 

Kellan itched to answer Denae. He knew exactly how Con felt. It was strange to hear Con talk of saving a King over a human. It wasn’t something he had ever done before. Then again, it wasn’t every day that a Dark tried to capture a King.

 

Just what were the Dark up to? He had to know if she was part of the plot. He had to know if he was being betrayed yet again.

 

In all his thousands upon thousands of years, there had been just a handful of mortals he’d helped. There was something about Denae—and not just her beauty—that he associated with. How he wished he hadn’t, but once that connection was there, it was there.

 

Walking away from her, however, wasn’t something he would do. Not yet.

 

“I’m going to do this,” Kellan told the group. “I doona plan on being taken by the Dark, but I can no’ do this alone. Either you help me or leave.”

 

Rhys grunted. “As if we would leave. What do you want us to do?”

 

“Get the four MI5 guys,” Rhi said.

 

Rhys smiled, his eyes alight with anticipation. “I can handle them on my own.”

 

Kellan saw Denae look at a stack of crates to her left nervously. A Dark Fae must be there. She wasn’t afraid of humans, but she was smart enough to comprehend the Dark were something else entirely.

 

“There were a few of the Dark who were eyeing Denae,” Rhi said cautiously as she glanced at Kellan. “I don’t think they intend to let the humans have her as was originally planned.”

 

“They can have any woman they want,” Con said. “Why do they want Denae?”

 

“Because she was with us,” Kellan stated.

 

Rhi nodded in agreement. “If they want a King, it’s just like those jackasses to want a woman who spent time with one.”

 

“But Denae and Kellan didna do anything,” Rhys said.

 

“It doesn’t matter.” Rhi wrinkled her nose. “Their hatred for the Kings runs almost as deep as their hatred of the Light.”

 

Kellan’s mind sank into battle mode. Denae had a chance to live if the humans took her, but if the Dark took her, she was as good as dead. “It’s time to stop talking and get Denae free. Then we make sure the Dark Ones can’t get her.”

 

“We need a plan,” Rhys said. “One that involves Banan and Henry as well.”

 

Con slid his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. “MI5 can no’ get ahold of Denae. We didna get a chance to wipe her memories.”

 

Kellan set his shoulders. “No matter what, she lives. You made that much clear when I carried her out of my mountain.”

 

“Then I suggest you doona get taken by the Dark,” Con said.

 

*