“When did you fall in love with her?” Rhi asked gently.
Rhys dropped his chin to his chest. It never entered his mind to lie. “Somewhere between the time I first saw her at Dreagan and today.”
“Don’t be a stupid asshat and push her away.”
He looked over to Rhi when he heard the catch in her voice, but she had turned her face away. “I doona push Lily away to be mean. I keep my distance because I doona deserve her.”
“You do deserve her,” Rhi said and faced him, her silver eyes bright with unshed tears. “Love is rare, Rhys. You found it without even trying. I had that kind of love. It’s a gift, a type of magic all its own.”
“I can talk to him,” Rhys offered. “He needs to know you still love him.”
“No,” Rhi said loudly, her face once more a mask of indifference.
Rhys bowed his head in acceptance. It was the same answer each time he’d asked through the centuries. “As you wish.”
“Now,” Rhi said and cleared her throat. “I’m going to go see Ulrik and figure out why he targeted you.”
Rhys wanted to know that as well. Out of all the Dragon Kings, why had Ulrik chosen him? Unless it was because Rhys was always butting heads with Con. He recalled Shara’s words about how the Dark would try to divide the Kings until they were fighting each other. It would make the Kings weak, make them easy to overpower.
Rhys turned to look at Dreagan. “Aye. I need to return home.”
“Good,” Rhi said and put her hand on his arm.
In the next blink, Rhys was standing in his room at Dreagan Manor. “What the hell?” he asked and jerked away from Rhi. “Dammit, Rhi.”
She put her hand to her lips. “Shh.”
“You did that easier than before.”
“I suppose,” she said with a shrug.
“Rhi,” he said, concern filling him. He wasn’t sure she understood just how much had happened to her while Balladyn held her prisoner with the Chains of Mordare. “How much magic do you have within you?”
“Apparently quite a bit.” She glanced away. “Balladyn unleashed it.”
Rhys shook his head back and forth. “Nay. You released it when you broke the Chains of Mordare. Those chains were unbreakable.”
“You say that as if I didn’t have them weighing me down, filling me with pain each time I tried to use my magic. I know exactly what I had on my wrists.”
“What set you off? What was the final straw that made you break the chains?”
She turned away to look out the window. She didn’t respond, because she couldn’t lie without feeling great pain.
But her aloofness said it all. Balladyn had spoken about her lover, and whatever he said brought about a surge of fury within Rhi that shattered the indestructible Chains of Mordare and leveled the ten-story compound.
“If anyone finds out about how much more magic you have now they’ll do anything to get you on their side,” Rhys cautioned.
Rhi took interest in something outside the window. “Don’t worry about me, handsome. You should be more concerned with things closer to home.”
Rhys walked to her side and looked out the window. That’s when he spotted Lily walking with Denae around the back of the shop. The manor was far enough away from the rest of the distillery that Lily would never see him, but Rhys’s eyesight had no trouble soaking in every detail of Lily’s too-large red sweater and ankle-length black skirt.
“Do you wonder why she wears those clothes?” Rhi asked.
As if Rhys paid attention to Lily’s clothes. “Nay.”
He expected Rhi to make another comment. A few minutes later he looked over to find her gone. Rhys turned back to Lily. She lifted her face to the sun and closed her eyes.
Her wealth of midnight hair lay straight and thick down her back. The sun seemed to shine a spotlight on Lily, highlighting her skin as soft as down. Her large eyes fluttered open, her long lashes and gently arching brows accentuating her eyes. She had wide, full lips that enticed, invited.
Seduced.
Did she have any idea how he fought not to go to her? How it went against everything he was not to take her and make her his?
He spent his many years bedding woman after woman with no other thought than his immediate needs and pleasure. The women were forgotten, their faces fading instantly. How many times had Lily seen him with those women? Too many to count. Though that wasn’t what made his heart clutch in fear.
No, that was reserved for his greatest terror—that Lily would only want him for one night.
CHAPTER TWO