No wonder all the women seemed to have a secret among them. Now Lily understood why the bond between the group of women was so strong.
Rhys continued, saying, “We were in a battle with the Dark when I sustained an injury. You must understand, Lily, that the only way a Dragon King can be killed is by another Dragon King. There is no other way for us to die.”
“That’s…” She couldn’t even finish the sentence. It was all so preposterous, and yet, she couldn’t deny she was accepting Rhys’s tale. “You said you were injured. How?”
“With magic. I expected it to heal quickly as all wounds do, but it didna, and the pain was excruciating. I lost consciousness while returning to Dreagan. When I woke, my wound was healed, but the pain remained, reminding me that something wasna right. I was able to shift back to this form, but when I next changed into a dragon, I almost couldn’t. The agony was insufferable, but the worst was when I tried to shift again.”
Lily could have hit him when he paused. “What? What happened?”
“It was killing me.”
The breath left Lily as if sucked out. She stared in complete devastation. Even before she was told Rhys was immortal, she’d expected him to be invincible, indomitable.
Unconquerable.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
The distress on Lily’s face was a balm to Rhys. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and simply hold her. That’s all it would take to wipe away the torment of the past few weeks.
“You said you couldn’t die.”
He smiled at her. “The injury I sustained was from a mix of Dark Fae magic and dragon magic. I told you the only way a Dragon King could be killed was—”
“By a Dragon King,” she said over him. “So a Dragon King gave you the wound.”
Rhys nodded. “Rhi used her Light magic to halt the cycle I was in and give me a choice. I could remain in dragon form for all eternity, or I could shift one more time.”
“You shifted one more time,” she said, her brow furrowed. “Why? If you’re a dragon, this must be a version of hell for you.”
“You’ve no idea. I watch every night as the others take to the skies while I am stuck down here.”
“Then why did you shift again?”
If he told her the truth, she would know just how deeply he cared for her. But if he didn’t, she would never realize how much she meant to him, or how much he was willing to do for her.
“For you. It was the night your flat was broken into.”
Her eyes went large as she covered her mouth with her hand. She gawked at him a minute, then dropped her hand. “I don’t understand.”
“Yes, you do,” he said softly.
“We rarely spoke. You barely even looked at me. You were gone to Ireland and wounded, and I didn’t even know about it.”
Rhys fisted his hands so he wouldn’t reach for her. “I looked, Lily. Every damn day. I sought you out while you were working. I hid in the shadows and looked my fill, because I knew if I ever got too near, I would never want to leave.”
He waited for her to respond, but she simply gazed at him. Rhys cleared his throat. “Say something. Anything.”
“I’m afraid to.”
“After all I just told you, you’re afraid to speak?” he asked, a rueful smile pulling at his lips.
She licked her lips. “I don’t want to hope too much.”
“Hope, Lily. I willna let you down. I’m telling you all of this because I have feelings for you.” He wanted to tell her she was his mate, that he loved her more than life itself, but he was afraid of scaring her off.
She blinked, her black eyes gazing at him with wonder. “You’ve always made me hope.”
He touched her face, in awe of the woman before him.
“Ulrik is the one who hurt you?”
“He is.”
“He’s the one Dennis works for?”
Rhys nodded again. “We know Dennis is using you to get onto Dreagan. Tell me what’s going on, and I can help.”
She turned her back to him and put her hands on her hips. It was everything Rhys could do to remain in his spot and not go to her, beg her to believe him and return his feelings. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she wasn’t willingly helping Dennis, but he wasn’t so sure of her feelings. She’d enjoyed their night together. However, so did plenty of other women.
How ironic that the one woman he wanted above all others might not want him.
It was an eternity later when Lily faced him once more. “Dennis was the one who broke into my flat.”
“I guessed as much.”
“He was in my flat the day before yesterday when I arrived home. That’s when he told me I was going to help him get onto Dreagan. When I refused, he threatened to kill someone from Dreagan.”
Rhys twisted his lips. “The women. As mates to a Dragon King, they’re immortal as well, only dying if their King is killed. So you doona need to worry about that. That means you doona have to help Dennis.”
“I told him I would tell one of you what he was doing, and I knew that there was no way those at Dreagan would allow anything to happen to any of the women. Dennis apparently knew what I would say, because he had another threat.”