“Are you trying to get me to kill you?” Balladyn asked between clenched teeth.
With a shrug, the man said, “You can try. Now, I’ve found us something else to use to hurt the Kings and get the weapon.”
Henry perked up, as did the Dark. He wished he were closer to the three so he could hear every detail.
“There’s a woman working for Dreagan, a human,” the man said. “She’s weak and broken. The man who broke her works for me. He’ll use her to get inside Dreagan.”
“A human hiding from the Kings?” Balladyn threw his head back and laughed. “It’ll never happen.”
The man’s gold eyes sharpened, hardened. “There isn’t a play I’ve made that hasn’t moved our goals forward. Only a fraction of my plans haven’t worked out perfectly, but I’m steps ahead of the Kings. They’ll never see what I have coming.”
Daniel glanced back at his agents. “And what do you want with MI5?”
“You’re going to take her family as incentive to get her to do what we want.”
“Hold them?” Daniel asked. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“You’re MI5,” the man said menacingly. “You and your comrades told me MI5 would be of benefit. Most of your colleagues are dead. Are you now telling me as high ranking as you are within MI5 that you can’t find a place to hold one family?”
“Give them to me,” Balladyn said.
The man considered Balladyn as he shifted his focus to the Dark Fae. “They would certainly be contained, as well as soulless in a matter of hours.”
“Isn’t that what needs to happen?” Balladyn asked.
One side of the man’s lips lifted in a half-smile. “Right. Because then I would have leverage to use.”
“What about the woman?” Balladyn asked. “She’ll need to be disposed of after.”
The man blew out a long breath. “Yes, she will. However, I’m going to use MI5 for that.”
Balladyn dropped his arms and took a step toward the man. “If the Dark couldn’t keep a Dragon King from coming after their women, what makes you think MI5 can hold against them?”
“Bloody hell,” Daniel muttered. “We’ve nothing to stand against a Dragon King.”
The man sighed heavily. “Gentlemen, gentlemen. You’re not seeing the big picture. This woman I speak of isn’t attached to any Dragon King. They might notice she’s gone, but they’ll just replace her with another worker. No one will be the wiser to where she’s gone.”
“Then give her to us,” Balladyn said tightly. “We deserve some compensation for our losses.”
“Your losses?” Daniel asked in disgust.
The man held up his hands. “It’s true MI5 has lost men, but the heaviest toll has been on the Dark. There is a reason, Balladyn, that I want the girl with MI5.”
Daniel raised a dark brow littered with gray. “And that is?”
“I want the Kings’ focus away from the Dark and centered squarely on the humans if they look for the girl.”
Henry briefly closed his eyes. Ah, but the man was smart. Little by little he was making the Dragon Kings turn against the humans.
Balladyn gave a nod. “Fine. While the humans have the female, what will we be doing? You don’t expect us to wait around while your man gets the weapon?”
“Not at all,” the man said. “He’s going to find where the weapon is being hidden and bring it to me. Once I have it, I’ll turn it over to you.”
“You’ll turn over the very thing that can kill you as well?” Balladyn asked with a loud snort.
That made Henry frown. He didn’t know of a weapon the Kings had, but then they didn’t tell him everything. Obviously, whatever it was could kill the Dragon Kings. Since only another Dragon King can kill a Dragon King, this weapon could turn the tide of the war.
“Our goal is to rid this realm of those pesky Dragon Kings,” the man said.
Balladyn took a step back. “You did find us the secret doorway. Let’s see if you really can locate the weapon.”
The man gave a slight nod to Balladyn. “There are still a few matters to work out on the first issue, but let’s move on to the second. Traitors.”
Henry saw some men beside him stiffen. He wasn’t worried. He was good at his job, and he covered his tracks well. No one there would ever know that he was spying for the Dragon Kings.
“Traitors?” Daniel repeated.
The man nodded and walked among the Dark Fae. “There is one among us, one who would take everything he’s learned here and report to our enemy.”
Balladyn faced the man. “My men wouldn’t betray me.”
“No, they wouldn’t.” The man stopped and looked right at Henry. “But he would.”
Chaos erupted as agents were shoved aside as Dark Fae grabbed Henry and he was forced onto his knees. That’s when he recalled a conversation when Banan had told him they suspected the man responsible for everything was a Dragon King who had been exiled eons ago—Ulrik.